Sorry, it has been a while, but I have been working to understand Benchmark Advance. I know there are a lot of opinions out there about Benchmark, but for this post, I am going to talk about things that have worked for me. While I am still working to understand all which is involved in this program there are some things I have figured out. Shall we start at the beginning?
First, I was working on understanding the mini-lessons and workstations. I have read about people teaching all 3 lessons and then doing the workstations, people doing a lesson then a rotation, people struggling to do the lessons and not getting to the workstations. From this, I have come up with something that has worked for me.
I start out each day with the Read Aloud for 10 minutes with my class. I do not use the Read Aloud book because it seemed too much for my students and in the case of Unit 3 of grade 5, my students would check out on more information about corn BEFORE the lessons even started. So for my Read Alouds, I read chapter books such as The Giver, Wonder, etc. I enjoy these more and so do my students. This is especially true when you need to get to the lessons on reading with enthusiasm and dialect. Thus, my students get a 10-minute lesson every day not only on listening but on reading with enthusiasm and dialect. (Check for 2 skills in 1!)
When I have finished reading I pull one of my high groups to work with. This rotation is only 10 minutes but is enough time for me to work with them on a project or activity they will work on for the week. This allows me to meet with one of my high groups every day should I wish; now I don't do this every day but it does give me some play time with the groups.
From here I go into one of my mini-lessons. Now, I am not sure if most of you know this, but the TE for this program gives you the mini-lessons for the day and "in the number order" they should be taught. However, after researching and talking to a person at Benchmark, the lesson order is a suggestion (mainly for the upper grades 3+). This is different for the lower grades. Thus if your students are more focused on the beginning work on the most difficult lesson for them or the one which will be easier for them. Teacher's choice!
After this lesson, I go into a rotation where the students work on the independent or partner work which might not be done within the time of the mini-lessons. From here I repeat the process.
While I know most of you are going but where is the technology piece here? Well, here it is. If you have had a chance to work on the Benchmark website there are a few things which you can use during lessons and rotations. For example, Benchmark has games online to aid with the teaching or workstations for spelling and grammar. I use these to increase student understanding and give them something to do other than "boring work" according to my students.
In order to find these, I am going to type and show the process. These games can be given to students the same way you give assignments. So here we go!
Let’s start on the homepage: From here you are going to go to the drop-down menu at the top and choose Interactive Learning Games.
Once there it is going to produce all the games available for you. You will notice that the grades available are only K-2 which as an upper-grade teacher doesn’t help you, but it does! Instead of just choosing the grade level and unit you will need to look for what it is you are going to teach. There are 2 ways to do this. 1. Search through the list as a scroll down or search using the search bar at the top.
Now that you have found what you are looking for all you need to do is assign it to your students. You can click on the gear on the lower right (this is the easiest for me) and click add to assignment or drag and drop into the assignment. If you have not assigned something to your students before you will need to do so on the right-hand side of the screen.
You will need to make a name for the assignment. For this, I usually name it whatever skill the students are to practice or the workstation they will be doing the assignment in. From here it is quite easy to use. Next, you can give instructions should you wish. Next, you will need to select your students. This will take you to a new section of the assignment and you will need to choose your homeroom and then students.
Once you clicked on students you can either choose each student individually or go to the bottom and click select all.
Now that you have chosen your students, click done and it will send you back to the assignment page. Finally, give it a day and time to work on it and select save.
User Rating:
Overall, this rating will be for creating assignments in Benchmark Advance. I would give it a level 1 because creating the assignment is quite easy. It is the searching and determining what to use which is difficult.
Glitchy Review:
I will not be giving a review of this since I do not want to have people thinking I am evaluating the program which I am NOT. I am trying to help people use the digital system. Thus I will remain with the User Rating of ease of use and nothing more.
Please let me know if there is something you wish for me to write about or create a video for! Leave your comment below! Enjoy!
