Apr. 14—As STAAR testing begins April 15, two teachers at IDEA Yukon are taking different approaches they hope will engage students and make the ordeal a little bit more bearable.
Most of the month of April is taken up with the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. IDEA administers Mock STAAR tests in March to help prepare students for what to expect and help them see potential areas for them to work on.
Erick Trujillo’s ninth grade reading class and Grace Roa’s third grade math class have been making strides.
Trujillo’s mock scores are in the top 10% of the IDEA district as his students prepare for the test.
Roa is setting her students up for success by focusing on clear expectations, goals and encouraging students to be invested in their progress. Recently on Mock STAAR testing, she had one of the highest-ranking scores in the IDEA district.
She encourages her students to make sure they don’t just know the skills for math but understand the concept behind them to help them continue to build on their math foundations. Roa also serves as the grade team leader at IDEA Yukon and the regional math mentor for math teachers in the Permian Basin.
Trujillo said he conducts a lot of Socratic seminars and has discussions on topics that tie in with the test.
He said they watched the movie “The Truman Show” and asked some discussion questions.
“The students were able to understand themes of control and reality. So just cool things like that,” he said.
It sets them up for success in life and academics.
“We’ve been seeing it with numbers. They’ve been able to be in the top 10 and top 5% of the (IDEA) district every time,” Trujillo said.
This is Trujillo’s fifth year at IDEA. He graduated from an IDEA school in South Texas.
He said things are similar at IDEA to when he was a student. It’s the same structure, same format, the same energy from the teachers and the same goals for students, which is to set them up for life and to go to college.
Ideas to use in the classroom come up when he’s going about a regular day.
“For example, ‘The Truman Show’ is one of my favorite movies and I said, why not talk about this and connect it to themes of reality and control,” or have a discussion on the book “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Trujillo said.
He added that the students get very engaged. They want to finish The Truman Show and find out what happens.
“And in our Socratic seminars, for example, for ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ they just want to know what the thinking is behind what the characters do. They’re just pretty excited to talk about those things,” Trujillo said.
He added that it was eye-opening for students to see what the social structure was back then and connect it to real-life examples.
Reading and math are emphasized. Trujillo said even reading by itself and having some basic reading comprehension prepares them for life. He used inference as an example: When you see someone walk in a building with rain boots and an umbrella you think there is probably bad weather outside.
Trujillo said IDEA has about 120 ninth graders with approximately 25 students per class.
He refines his lesson plans and STAAR preparation as the year goes on.
“From the beginning of the year until now, I’ve been refining my lessons, polishing them … As my lessons get better, the students also started getting more engaged,” Trujillo said.
He added that their exam scores have “been increasing massively.
“I’ve seen about a 20-point increase on their (in-house) exam scores on average,” Trujillo said.
He has also seen good results on the STAAR.
“I’ve always had good results with the things that I do. But this year, since I’ve been polishing up my skills a little more I see way more results so it’s really exciting,” Trujillo said.
Results from the regular exams, he said, will translate into good STAAR scores.
“I try to connect everything that I do with the STAAR,” Trujillo said.
He added that he’s excited to be working with the students.
“I’ve seen them grow so much from the beginning of the year in their personalities, as well as in their academics. Students that have always had trouble with reading in previous years, this was their year to … grow and tell me Mr. T … I haven’t passed this exam in past years, but I passed it this time so I’m really excited. It’s really cool to hear those things,” Trujillo said.
Roa serves as the grade team leader and campus content lead for math for grades three to five and the regional math mentor for IDEA Permian Basin. That includes the Yukon campus in Odessa and IDEA Travis in Midland.
Roa said she has been doing intensive reviews in class for math.
“We do constant practice with the different testing strategies, although our focus is the different concepts or TEKS … But I also incorporate the different testing strategies,” Roa said.
She said she believes that no matter how well the scholars know the concepts, if they don’t know testing strategies it won’t help them reach their goal.
“For math, there are a lot of strategies for each concept,” Roa said.
Students have to master the concept for them to retain it and that includes constant repetition.
The strategies are modified to the student’s level. Many of her students struggle with word problems. She’ll use names for division and multiplication that stick with the students. For multiplication and division, she uses the word “get.”
For addition and subtraction, she uses PPT — part, part, total.
Roa, a founding teacher at IDEA Yukon, teaches 123 scholars in third grade. Her classes range in size from 28 to 32.
She has been teaching at IDEA for four years, but she is in her 15th year of teaching overall.
“When my third graders started third grade last August, they were at an average math level (of) 2.8,” which means it’s second grade and eight months, Roa said.
She added that that’s not really bad because of the two-month summer break.
“But what I’m proud of is the growth,” Roa said.
From 2.8, they grew to a 3.7 average.
“That’s almost a year by just January,” after five to six months in school, Roa said.
They also had the Mock STAAR to prepare students for the real thing and to help teachers determine where their students were at that moment, where they were struggling and what concepts they needed extra support for.
“I am proud to say that we … ranked first (in) the district of IDEA Public Schools,” Roa said.
She said it’s not just her. Her students are working really hard.
“I’m just the facilitator of learning in the classroom, but it’s my scholars’ work,” Roa said.