See below for how to implement our ACT/SAT Pacing guides in longer settings.
This article is designed to provide guidance for teachers who have a full class block dedicated to test prep in which ChalkTalk is utilized as the primary curriculum.
How it works:
The full ChalkTalk curriculum is designed to be taught in about 55 hours of class time, which is around 1 full semester. This means teachers can go through each lesson in its entirety:
1. Lesson Slides (whole group): Complete all slides & examples from the lesson.
2. Group Activity (small group): Can be done as printables or online within the ChalkTalk app.
These are activities that ChalkTalk has for every lesson and can be printed as worksheets or completed online in small groups.
3. Adaptive Practice (individual): Practice makes perfect!
Practice is functional on mobile devices, but we recommend a laptop or tablet for an ideal experience. Please have students use Google Chrome to access the website.
4. Study Hall (self-paced, individual): Optional assigned classwork or homework that will drive score improvement.
Review Classes
Review classes are a cumulative grouping of adaptive practices from various lessons that have already been taught. This review covers the biggest weaknesses on everything students learned, and is tailored to each student’s specific areas of need. In order to include a lesson in the scope of Review Classes, you must take attendance for that lesson. Visit our help desk to learn more about Review Classes.
We recommend including a review class at the end of each unit that is taught so that students have additional at-bats with the concepts they are weakest in. Each unit includes a Summary Lesson highlighting the topics covered, which can then be followed by the review class adaptive practice session.
What to focus on:
While our shorter pacing guides focus primarily on the walk-through examples, with a full-semester implementation teachers will have time for each portion of the curriculum. Prioritize setting aside time for students to practice each topic (through adaptive individual practice), as this will provide important data that can be used strategically as the test approaches.
As the test approaches:
The week before the exam can be a stressful time and ChalkTalk has put some thought into how to maximize learning and review in the days preceding the exam. We recommend using our “Tips and Strategies” pacing guide (linked here in our Help Desk article) which includes summary lessons for each unit (hitting on all of the topics), a review of what to expect on the exam with helpful strategies for answering questions, AND a review of our unique questions structures slides (found in the study hall tab).
What if I have longer than one semester?
In the exciting case that you have a full year to teach the ChalkTalk curriculum, we have some recommendations:
Class-specific data driven approach:
Fall semester (full ACT or SAT scope & sequence): teach the course as-is for the first semester.
Spring Semester: use the second semester to review topics that students are weakest in. ChalkTalk provides data for each student from the adaptive practice of each lesson, which allows teachers to narrow in on areas of weakness before the big test. Choose which lessons to focus on based on student data provided by ChalkTalk skill level reports.
SAT/ACT boot camps:
Fall Semester (full ACT or SAT scope & sequence): with the time allotted, run through the full scope and sequence of ChalkTalk in the Fall with some level of practice.
Spring Semester, before the official test (ACT or SAT boot camp): use our scheduling feature and pacing guides to create a condensed bootcamp review based on the hours of class time before the exam. We have created hourly pacing guides that hit on the most important topics and examples from each lesson, meaning students get a targeted review and practice. This would start in the Spring and end right before the date of the ACT or SAT testing date.
Spring Semester, after the official test (ACT or SAT targeted review): by now all students have already taken the test. So in the last ~2 months of the semester, teachers can use ChalkTalk to teach select targeted lessons focused on student weaknesses.
Contact us:
Through the in-app Chat on the ChalkTalk platform
Email us at support@chalktalk.com
Schedule a meeting using this calendar