15 Tips to Increase Your ACT Score

I still remember the first time I took my ACT test!    As a first-generation college student, I am passionate about giving high school students the necessary tools needed to succeed.  This summer I am reading and listening to a variety of sources to provide my future students with the tools to reach their full potential.   Sometimes to reach those full potential goals, one has to pass a test.  Now, the number of schools going test optional are increasing.

But…..

Remember, the university can change its policy.  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) did this recently.  So unless  you are sure that your college will accept you and will not change the test optional policy — TAKE THE TEST.

Here is a list of tips that I have summarized from a podcast that interviews Ted Dorsey – owner of Tutor Ted.  He scored a 36 on the ACT and preps students for the ACT in his online courses.

English Section 

75 questions in 45 minutes

Tip #1:  The shortest answer is probably correct on rewrite problems.

If you have taken a practice test, you’ll notice questions about rewording parts of a sentence or paragraph.  Most professional writers, and the ACT, like brevity.  So if you are not sure about which answer or indecisive between 2 answers that seem correct, go with the shortest one.

Tip #2:  Know your comma rules and lean away from using commas.

Overall, students use too many commas according to the ACT test.  The test usually leans away from commas.  If you are not sure about a question, then answer without the comma.  But know your rules!  The ACT test does use the Oxford comma.  The oxford comma is the last comma in a series such as “goat, milk, and cheese.”  The comma before “and” is an Oxford comma and the ACT does accept that.  I know you may have seen a series without it and not been corrected.  But this test is a college entrance exam.   I think one reason could be because colleges use APA (American Psychological Association) formatting much more than MLA (Modern Language Association).  APA format requires the Oxford comma.

Tip #3:  Read the question carefully so you know what they want.

This tip is pretty obvious and works with any large exam.  Be sure to highlight the important part of the question and find that in the text.  If you don’t know what the question is asking, it is hard to choose an answer.  I always have my students read the questions first, highlight the key part of the question, and then start reading the passage.  Since this test is so fast, you may not have time to do that.  Instead, you may just have to highlight and find the key part of the question after reading the passage.

Math Section 

60 questions in 60 minutes
4th grade through 11th grade math
for a perfect score, know some statistics

Tip #4:  Use your calculator.

This is not the time to show off your mental calculating abilities!  You are allowed to use a graphic calculator on the test.  I would use this tool to check and recheck your answers.  I would also use this to have a few programs of simple items you know will be on the test such as finding the distance between two points on a coordinate plane, y-intercept, the mean of a data set, and the quadratic formula for example.

Tip #5:  Know the vocabulary.

I know it isn’t an English test.  But you need to know the vocabulary to answer the questions.  A lot of mathematics up until 7th grade could be considered somewhat intuitive.  My students in advanced math could figure out most things up until 7th grade.  After that mathematics becomes much more heavy on vocabulary words, and you can’t answer if you don’t know what the word means.  Get a practice test or two and highlight any word you do not understand 100%.  Go through those words and practice those calculations until you have it 100%.

Tip #6:  Know SOH-CAH-TOA and Plug & Chug on Last Question

This might be two tips in one.  Know your trigonometric ratios and SOHCAHTOA.  These are easy points to obtain.  Here is a review video.
The last question on the test usually looks complicated and has a formula that you may or may not have ever seen.  Do not skip this question.  It looks complicated, but usually you just need to plug and chug the numbers into the formula.  What do I mean by plug and chug?  Substitute the algebraic letters with the corresponding number.  For a very simple example, if I give you the equation F=ma, then the question says that mass is 5 kg and acceleration is 4 m/s squared.  Plug in F =(5)(4) and chug F= 20.  Answer is 20 Newtons or 20 N.

Reading Section 

40 questions in 35 minutes
Yes, you read that right.  40 questions in 35 minutes.  This is a speed test.

Tip #7:  Pick an Answer and Move On.

Do not go back.  You (probably) won’t have time.  Pick the answer and move on.  Even fast readers like myself have a difficult time getting through this much material in a short amount of time.

Now, if you do have time somehow to go back and doubt yourself, this will statistically increase your score.  In a 2020 study, over 29,000 nursing students on a multiple choice exam changed their wrong answer to a right answer and gained points 55.3% of the time with 18.3% losing points.

Tip #8:  It is not like a school test.

Generally, as I said, I recommend students read the questions first and then read the passage.  This works for almost every school exam and our state assessments as well.  But the ACT is not a school test.  You have limited time.  You have to change strategies and cannot go into it like a school test.  Read the passage and answer the questions.  You need to answer as many questions in the time allotted just to get a score.  No points are gained by leaving the questions blank at the end because you ran out of time.

Tip #9:  If A is correct, then pick it and move on.

If you know A is correct, do not waste time reading the rest of the answers.

 

Science Section 

40 questions in 35 minutes
6 or 7 passages to get through
Again, this is a speedy reading test!

Tip #10:  Data and Research Passages Read the Question First

There will be data representation passages that include graphs.  Read the question FIRST and then go back and look at the graph.  The answer is in the graph.  If you need to read the passage, then skim for the general idea.  But this is a speed test and you must be selective about how long you will take to dig for an answer.

Tip #11:  Conflicting Passages Read the Passages First

When you have conflicting viewpoints, it is best to read these passages first.  You need to understand the points of view of each scientist before answering the question.

Tip #12:  Don’t Study Science for the Science Test

This tip might sound silly.  But little detailed science vocabulary is needed on the test.  You still need to know the basics like dependent variable, independent variable, and variables.    The terms I have seen are taught in middle school, so they should not require a lot of review.  Instead, take practice tests.  This time spent practicing will allow you to understand the structure and timing.

But you SHOULD already know the formula for density = mass  /  volume.  And pH levels:  7 = neutral, 1-6 = acid, 8-14 = base (alkali).

 

Essay Section (Optional)

40 minutes
This test is completely optional.  I would go through the colleges you are looking at applying to and verifyif they require it.  If you are looking into UCLA, Harvard and schools of that caliber, you will need to take it.

Tip #13:  Plan for 5 Minutes

Again, not many students have had to encounter a timed essay.  Therefore, you need a strategy.  A common problem if you start writing from the start of the 40 minutes, students tend to run out of ideas or wrap up too soon.  You don’t want to run out of things to say with 10 minutes left on the clock.  Take 5 minutes to outline and plan the essay.  How?  I never start with the introduction.  Ever.  I will develop a thesis statement or one idea I am going to prove.  Next, write your body paragraphs.  Then, write your introduction which is an overview of these main ideas in the body paragraphs.  Finally, write the conclusion.

Tip #14:  Develop Your Own Perspective

The essay gives you a contemporary issue and you may agree with a perspective given on the test.  However, this route would lead to regurgitating what the perspective has already said and would be difficult to illustrate your analysis skills.

Tip #15:  Write a lot.

When taking the last few minutes to edit, it is much easier to remove then to add.  If you look at the example high score example on the ACT website, you’ll notice it is in the standard 5 paragraph format.  This is introduction with thesis, main idea paragraph 1, main idea paragraph 2, main idea paragraph 3, and conclusion.

 

Who Gets in and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions

Guidance for counselors, students, parents, and anyone looking at possibly going to college.  As a first-generation college student myself, I would have benefitted from more information like this on college admissions!

This week I interviewed a parent, a school counselor, and read Jeffrey Selingo’s “Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions.”  Here is the summary of what I learned for those that are counselors in training (like myself), a parent (like myself), a teacher, or interested in students’ futures.  As the first person in my family to go to college, I include information that I wish I had known.

Section 1:   Is college just another luxury good?  This is an interesting question for us to ponder.  We should consider the tension between two things:  emotions and practicality.

This concept also resonated in a seminar that I attended.  The realization of how much college costs.  When most kids are only used to paying for gas and maybe car insurance, it is difficult to really fathom what $80,000 per year actually looks like.

Section 2:  How different universities evaluate students.

Emory University uses 4 categories:  high school curriculum, recommendations, extra-curricular, and intellectual curiosity.  They score students from 1 to 5  scale in these categories.

The University of Washington uses 3 categories:  academics, personal and overall (mirrors one of the other two).  They score students on a 1 to 9 scale in these categories.

Harvard University uses 4 categories:  academics, extracurricular, personal qualities, and athletic ability.

Remember: colleges are creating a student body.  If they need a tuba player, then they will admit a tuba player.

Legacy status:  From 2005-2015 Harvard accepted 34% of its legacy applications.  Compare this to 6% of the general population.

Section 3:  Application Contents

On average, admissions spend 8 minutes on each application.

Selective Colleges:  take the most rigorous courses you can take; better a B in hard class

Senior year rigor must be emphasized.  If colleges see you are taking all easy classes because you cannot handle senior-level work, then that will reflect on their reviewing the application.

Overall, colleges weigh the SAT/ACT score lower than the GPA.  This makes sense as the colleges want to base the future achievement of a student based on the prior 4 years, not 4 hours.  I have read that it does not matter which test you take.  I have read in Selingo’s book that you should take both the ACT and SAT to see which score is better.  Although, a parent recently told me the ACT is still accepted more widely in the Midwest and the SAT is accepted on the coasts.  Of course, the universities that are swinging between no test and test will affect that as well.

Essay Tips:  Do not write about mental health UNLESS it explains grades or the struggle that made you stronger.  It is more important HOW you write and not WHAT you write about.  Nobody can compile 17 years into 650 words.   Essays are there to help admission get the depth and consistency of your story.
-these lift the student that is on the edge of being or not being admitted

Recommendation Letter Tips:  Ask teachers during junior year (maybe the end of junior year?)

-include detailed information that other parts of the application don’t cover
-include specific examples and stories of how you worked hard for a grade, how you faced adversity, how you engaged in learning
-ask teachers that are outside your major area; for example, if you are majoring in biology, ask an English teacher for a recommendation letter
-detail your potential
-the best letters elaborate on the course content while illustrating a unique student narrative
-mention specific activities that align with the application
-the worst letters go on about procedures, have content that can be found elsewhere on the application, including extracurriculars, elaborate on the course taking (obviously you took the course because it is on the transcript)

STEM Resources

Free STEM Resources Galore

Over the years, I’ve linked and saved quite a few (okay a LOT) of STEM resource webpages.  These are pages directed towards one resource or sometimes a whole list of resources.  I have not had time to do STEM as much as I have in the past.  Plus I don’t think I should keep these all to myself!  Some STEM websites are whole free curricula and some STEM resources are one site.  Either way – I want people to realize there is a LOT of free resources out there.

Engineering Games and Projects – This website does say TitleMax I know.  But they have a lot of websites towards the bottom I had never seen before.  The top part is more career exploration.

STEM Games for Kids – Sourced from Maryville University

Denver Public Library IdeaLAB – Links and craft instruction cards at the bottom

STEM Challenges – Sourced from Vivify, you will need to sign up, but they do not spam me

STEM Curriculum – Sourced from Oregon State University for grades 4-12

TeachEngineering – Units, lessons and activities; you will find every grade and subject imaginable all free with printable worksheets

STEM Activities for Families – the Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed this database of activities

Lego and Hands-On Activities – Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls

NASA –  1,750 activities are listed in the NASA database.  I would search for an “educator’s guide” if possible which yielded the most information such as this Rocket Unit that I based my STEM Camp on.

Mystery Doug – Encourage curiosity using brief science questions and answers from Mystery Doug

Activities Finder – K-12 activities; 345 activities; Paper and virtual activity; If you need an activity, Concord Consortium has you covered

Arts Integration – Here is a jackpot of all things STEAM!  I am so excited to try out the cake lesson this year!  Oodles of quality STEAM activities for K-12 that I’ve done in the past in other workshops and new activities like the cake lesson.

College Timeline for Parents: Resources for Birth to High School

My son has entered 9th grade — eek!   As a former stay-at-home mother, I have always tried to be financially aware of our current finances and future ones as well.  And college is a HUGE one!    This post is for anyone with a child ages 6 months to 18 years old and cannot pay full price for college.  And if you can pay full price, this is for you, too!

I am hoping that this post is one of a series of posts navigating the college and financial route.  Below I have highlighted the items that I have learned from so far this year.  Some will be locally based here on the outskirts of St. Louis, Missouri, but hopefully, your city or town has something equivalent.   All resources have links for more information.  In parenthesis, I suggest the grade in which your child is in that you should seek out this information.


Image Source: https://www.missourimost.org/

529 Programs by State
Missouri MOST 529 Program

(Birth)
A 529 plan invests money into an account for your child’s college expenses.  The biggest benefit is that the money grows tax free.  In addition, you will not be taxed when the money is withdrawn.  At least here in Missouri, our plans are mostly invested in Vanguard funds which from personal experience have grown 13% over the past 5 years.  Considering that most money market and savings accounts pay only .005% presently, I personally found this to be a good investment.  You can use up to $10,000 on private elementary or secondary schools as well.

Image Source: https://www.thrively.com/

Strengths Profile

(4th – 8th grade)
Thrively is a service for teachers and counselors to assess student strengths.  It includes social-emotional lessons for a fee, however, the strengths assessment is FREE.  Once you are signed up, go to the “Dashboard” and decide on how to invite your class.  You can import from Google Classroom using “Actions” and “Add Students”.  Or you can use the link in the upper left.  This is how I imported my students.  There is an Action to Add students manually, too.  I see there is a red “Student Log in Info” link in the upper left and it looks like students can join that way as well.   Be sure to print their certificate after they assess their strengths!  This option is also under “Actions” on the dashboard.

Image Source: https://www.truity.com/

(1st-3rd Grade)

Career Exploration
Begin career exploration with the Truity Photo Career Quiz.   Students can take this quiz with no words and begin to think about jobs and careers.  There are a ton of photos, so you may need to read them the directions and show them how it works.

(4th-8th Grade)
Truity has a Holland Code Quiz that students can use for free without logging in. Then, students can use their code to search careers in O*Net.

Image Source: https://www.onetonline.org/

(6th-10th grade)
Career Exploration

O*Net – Search by specific career or “I Don’t Know” Section
This website has many common occupations, a summary of that occupation, how much education you need, and how much money you may possibly make.

Image Source: https://portal.missouriconnections.org/

Missouri Connections

(7th-10th Grade)
For Missouri — Missouri Connections (Use “Guest Login” in lower right corner) – Under “Assessments” you can find interest surveys and students can explore what jobs match their interests.   The inventory is 72 questions, so be prepared for a chunk of time.  They also have videos for each job cluster (although the videos are little dry).

Missouri School Counselors can create a school login and password so that students can create accounts. This account will save their interest profile. Explore “Reality Check” to see if your career choice will support your “individual style.” (Under Assessments tab). To access your completed assessments: Go to “My Portfolio,” “Sort and Assessment Results.” Click on “Report” to see suggested careers based on your assessment results.

Image Source: https://mentors4college.org/

Mentors4College

(9th or 10th Grade)
This non-profit organization should be one of the first ones to contact if you live near St. Louis, Missouri.  We filled out the form and someone contacted us within a few weeks.  My son was able to talk to someone in a field he was already interested in.  She was able to answer some questions about area colleges.  She also confirmed specific college programs in the area that her company uses for hiring.

This amazing program is also important for the next step, course selection. School Counselors have hundreds of students on their caseload, so getting one on one discussions with someone in the field is invaluable. It costs nothing but time and they can help you decide which courses are worthwhile.

Image Source: Unsplash.com

Parent Teacher Conferences

(9th Grade)
Parents – course selection can be a daunting task for high schools with a ton of options. Options are great! Navigating them… not so much. The best advice I received came from parent-teacher conferences. Normally, parents may skip them or see certain teachers where a student is struggling. That’s totally okay! But if there is a parent teacher conference you get a one on one chat. Be sure to have specific questions about courses. I asked about science options and what classes were available for someone pursuing math and science. This would work of course with any field: music, writing, social sciences, etc.

Image Source: unsplash.com

Visit Colleges

(9th-11th Grade)
Visit colleges!  I was a first-generation college student.  My only idea of what college was like came from watching movies which left me woefully unprepared.  Plan vacations around college visits.  Visit the campuses of nearby colleges in 9th or 10th grade in order to get a feel for how college is structured.

Image Source: Unsplash.com

Take the PSAT

(10th Grade)
Plan and take the PSAT in 10th Grade.  This test can help you get a National Merit Scholarship.  This is also practice for the ACT and SAT. See your counselor about taking this test in 10th grade!

Source: unsplash.com

Begin College Research

(End of 10th Grade)
Begin College Research. My career counseling classes led me to a lot of career exploration websites like I have listed: ONet and such. I think this step is important because it will help you focus on which college you want to look at. For example, you want to major in aerospace engineering. Well, that limits the college choices right off the bat! Looking to go into journalism? Again, that limits some school choices as well. Once you have an idea of the career area, start looking at college tuition, majors offered, size of the campus, academics of the student body, average time to graduate, and what percent of need will be gift aid versus self paid. Ask the same questions at every college. This will allow you to compare answers. Take notes! You will remember the last college you visited the best.


Begin prepping for the ACT and SAT test.  I usually purchased books and practice tests when I was a student.  I know our school has a prep class as well they offer for a small amount.

Image Source: Unsplash.com

(Beginning of 11th Grade)

Sign up for the ACT or SAT! I understand many schools are now removing this requirement. You should check with the colleges that you intend to apply.

Missouri Only – Additionally, here in Missouri there is money awarded depending on your ACT/SAT score. Bright Flight Scholarships are available based on those scores. You don’t have to apply. You will receive a letter in about 8 weeks after the test for eligibility.

Image Source: Wikipedia.org

(Beginning of 12th Grade)

Register for the Common Application. Revise and Edit Essays. Have an advisor to review application and essays. Submit in the Fall 12th grade.

Source: collegefinancial-consultants.com

FAFSA

(October 1, 12th Grade Year)

Federal student aid comes in lots of forms. As a parent, if you went to college and remember the FAFSA you filled out 20 years ago like me – this one is different. It is very easy and the online version makes it quick to receive information.

October 1st is when the FAFSA opens. I have been told it is first come first serve on some things, so you would apply as soon as possible. You can register October 1st and complete/submit it later if needed. I used this service personally with my graduate work. Although I did not receive much in aid (probably since I already have my undergrad and a Master’s degree in Education?), I am glad I applied.

Image Source: https://cssprofile.collegeboard.org/

CSS Profile

(Fall, 12th Grade)

A CSS Profile has been mentioned on several websites. However, this is the ONE website I have NOT had personal experience with. I tried to create an account, but when I follow the directions it says “Bad Gateway 404”. Hopefully, you will have better luck. From the website description, you will have access to other scholarships and many schools require you to fill this out.

References:
https://www.savingforcollege.com/intro-to-529s/name-the-top-7-benefits-of-529-plans

Podcasts for Kids

I had posted previously on my favorite podcasts – My Favorite Podcasts.  However, after listening to them for over a year, there are some episodes not appropriate for school age students.  The podcasts below ARE for school-age students.  One, they are short!  About 10-30 minutes.  Two, they have an entertaining hook!  Three, the podcasts relate to the age of the kids.  Here are the fun podcasts we have been listening to at school and at home.

Source: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/who-smarted/id1533462141

Who Smarted? – A short, funny, and informational podcast channel!  My kids young and old like these on road trips.  Sign up as a teacher or parent to get the newsletter with activities to go along with the podcast.  They always have something new and fun to discuss like where did tacos come from?  Or why do mosquitos itch so much?

Imagined Life: Family Edition – These are shorter podcasts from the original Imagined Life podcast.  The 30-minute podcasts are from 2nd person point of view.  You are the person and you find out about a famous person’s life before they became famous.  I love them because it is a unique way of storytelling and the kids love the mystery.

Image Source: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/474377890/but-why-a-podcast-for-curious-kids

But Why?: A Podcast for Curious Kids –  Kids send in questions to the podcast and the hosts provide answers!  I think of this as like Mystery Doug but over audio instead of video.  Episodes run 15-25 minutes long.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Source: https://www.smashboom.org/

Smash Boom Best – If you like conflict, drama or things that go boom – then this is the podcast for you.  A lot of critical thinking goes on in this podcast as the hosts battle cats versus docs.  Tacos versus pizza, and more.  Debate and argumentation is essential in most professions to a certain extent.  This might be one that you all enjoy.

Free School Counseling Curriculum

 

Source: Missouri Department of Secondary and Elementary Education

Missouri DESE School Counseling Curriculum

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education provides a comprehensive K-12 curriculum for school counselors. Each lesson connects to one of the American School Counselors Association (ASCA) Mindsets and Behaviors.

Source: Chooselovemovement.org

Choose Love

Choose Love is an amazing resource that has K-12 lessons for schools, parents and caregivers, and communities. One, it is free! Two, the lessons build upon a sequence of learning. Three, there are PowerPoint presentations to go with the lessons! So you do not need to make those because they made them for you. I know from being on the receiving end that they have weekly emails for the stakeholders as well so that all parents and students are on the same page. It will require you to join before accessing TONS of materials. The company does not spam you or call you and I signed up several months ago. There is training available but not required in order to access the curriculum and resources.

Source: overcomingobstacles.com

Overcoming Obstacles

Overcoming Obstacles curricula is broken down into early elementary, late elementary, middle school and high school. Standards, objectives, and lessons are laid out. You can download the entire curriculum at once, or you can select lessons individually. Each lesson lays out the objectives, activities, and extensions. Activity materials are also included for download. For example, the grades 3-5 lesson on respect already has scenario cards created for you and a sheet for sharing with the students.

Source: https://counselor1stop.org/wiki/lesson-plans/

Counselor1Stop

Counselor1Stop is a collection of K-12 lesson plans. However, mostly I see high school career lesson plans. Indiana has created an entire Google Folder full of career lesson plans. Towards the end of the website are a list of websites for K-12 which include Missouri which I already have included above.

Source: https://seelearning.emory.edu/node/5

SEE Learning Program

Emory University’s Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics created the Social-Emotional-Ethical (SEE) Learning program. This one stands out to me because it incorporates ethical learning that most social-emotional programs do not address. They have a section on why and how ethics is included with the curriculum. You do have to sign up for access to the training that will lead you to the free program. The training was relatively short and valuable. Once complete, you can download the elementary, middle and/or high school curricula. This program includes another aspect that some lack: training. The training videos help explain the theory and practice behind the SEE curriculum lessons and units.

Social Emotional Lessons for Gifted Learners

Gifted education specialists around the state of Missouri gathered together to compile lessons specifically for gifted learners. These 73 lessons include social emotional issues found prominently in the gifted education population such as: perfectionism, self-advocacy, coping with boredom, overexcitabilities, and gifted traits. I know some of these ladies personally, so I am pretty proud of this resource. I have used some of them myself.

Source: https://www.varsitybrands.com/

Free Journals for Students: Believe in You Empowerment Journals

Varsity Brands is a high school branding company. I know! I was confused at first. But a counselor in the ASCA Scene posts mentioned that they really enjoyed using their journals. Here is the link to the journals for grades 3-5, middle school and high school. There are Google Slides to go along with the free PDF journal that has a lesson for every Monday and Thursday.

Trails to Wellness

Trails to Wellness is a website that I found via a Counselor Facebook group. Most of the materials are geared for 6-8 and 9-12. However, there are some for grade 3-5 as well. If you need group session materials that are free, you will find them here. They have materials for anxiety, depression, depression and anxiety, coping with Covid-19, relaxation, mindfulness, and suicide assessments.

Gottfredson and Career Counseling in Schools

In career counseling, I learned that Laura Gottfredson created the theory of circumscription and compromise.  I have created a slide presentation on how to incorporate it into a counseling session with an emphasis on gifted students.  As an advocate for gifted and twice-exceptional students, I believe more and more information must be created to communicate to professionals about this population.

 

Summer Camps and Ideas

These camps are mainly in the St. Louis, MO area.  I have compiled them from a webinar that I attended.  Oodles of ideas for all-day camps, overnight camps, drop-off camps, virtual camps and of course – ideas for rainy days!  I have checked that all of the links are valid.

Please CLICK ON THE NEWSLETTER BELOW for the PDF file that has the links!

Visual Thinking Strategies in the Classroom

Visual Thinking Strategies

 

Ready to increase critical thinking and engagement in class?  I found a GREAT resource that will help both of these goals called Visual Thinking Strategies.   I read about these strategies first in books about medical students having class at the art museum.  In Michael Blanding’s article Museum Studies, “Educators use the paintings and sculptures in nearby museums to help [medical] students to not only develop empathy and talk about their feelings but also to hone their diagnostic and communication skills and their ability to work in teams.”

All of my photographs in my lessons are from the New York Times and in particular the New York Times Learning Network page What’s Going on in this Picture?   The discussions that result from this short 15 minute activity are wonderful!  Students are discussing and I make sure we talk about agreeing and disagreeing with “ideas” and not the person.  Students are connecting and building on each other’s thoughts.  Some students really dig deep into their empathy skills to describe the feelings and emotions of the people in the photograph.

I created a Google Slideshow that I show below to tell students what the goal is for this activity and the learning target.   After 1-2 activities, the kids are SO excited to get into Google Classroom and find the next photograph.  I post it in Google Classroom as “Materials” so they can zoom in and out.  I think it draws them in when they can interact with the photograph.  Plus, they can see things in the photo with zooming in than when I have just the slideshow up.  The older students use their chromebooks to research items like license plates which I thought showed great initiative and research skills.

CLICK HERE to create a copy of this Visual Thinking Strategies Slideshow.

STEP ONE:  Students get 1-2 minutes to silently view the photograph.   I have them jot down notes to “What’s going on in this picture?” in their notebook or on scratch paper.  To help guide students, I suggest maybe thinking about who, what, where, why, when and how.

STEP TWO:  For larger classes, they turn and talk about what they thought was going on in the photograph.  Next, I ask for volunteers from the pairs.  I point to the part of the picture they are talking about.  I paraphrase what he or she said in similar words, or I will use synonyms or clarifying words that help illustrate what the student meant.  I try to connect that student’s ideas to the next when possible.  Paraphrasing I find SO important to help show students how to communicate and build that vocabulary.  You might try with “I hear you say….”  or “It sounds to me like you said….” or “I hear you say…. because…..”.  You can restate using different words and those words can help clarify what the student means.

Students are encouraged to come up with “maybes” and “probably-s”.  There is no wrong answer.   The students can disagree and need to be taught how to disagree.  I emphasize disagreeing with the idea and not the person.  I offer sentence stems like “I understand why you think…., but here is why I think……”  or “I agree with your idea that ……., and here is why I think…..”

STEP THREE: After the student is finished, I will ask “What in the photo makes you say that?”  The student tells us what he or she saw in the photograph to back up their claim.  The student will tell us how the inference was created.  You can use various ways to do this depending on the age of the students.  Sometimes they include this in their first answer.

STEP FOUR: Finally, to go to the next student I ask “What else can we find?”  Just like a medical doctor trying to make a diagnosis or a crime scene detective looking for clues, the next student finds more in the photograph.  Or, the next student may find something that agrees or disagrees with a previous idea.

At the end, I do share the reveal.  We discuss many successes and celebrate what the students figured out all on their own.

STEP FIVE: A new piece I added was to have them mark where in the world that we are.  I find the area on Google Earth and show where we are in reference to where the photograph was taken.  Students use a marker to highlight the place on earth that we found each week.  Eventually they will have a map full of places that we have “visited”!

Here is the World Map that I printed for each student.

It may or may not go well the first time around, but the students learn REALLY fast how to do this and get better and better each time around.  Keep it up!  You will be AMAZING!