How to PUMP UP Your Students for Testing! | Improve Confidence and Reduce Anxiety

the perfect way for students to show what they've learned all year long is by taking a standardized test said no student or teacher unfortunately standardized tests are currently no pun intended a standard in the world of Education at least here in the United States there are a lot of different opinions about standardized testing and I think mine is pretty obvious but they are something you just have to get through so for today's video I wanted to share my best tips and tricks for motivating your students for standardized testing the ideas I'm gonna share in this video do come from the perspective of a fourth-grade teacher however I think a lot of them can be adapted and used for a variety of grade levels also keep in mind that every test in every state is different so I'd recommend checking with your testing coordinator to figure out what is allowed and what is not allowed before you try any of these ideas because ain't nobody got time for testing violations let's jump right in with tip number one and hang up motivational posters one of my least favorite things about testing is the fact that I have to cover up or take down all of my anchor charts and instructional posters so my way to make up for it is by hanging up new motivational posters for my students if I'm going to cover existing posters my favorite way to do that is using bulletin board paper and writing motivational quotes on the paper that way my room doesn't look so plain and boring however I am changing classrooms next year so instead of covering my posters I'm actually just going to take them all down but then that leaves my room looking super bare so to cover up those empty spaces I created my own posters using my bitmoji if you don't know what a bitmoji is it is essentially a personalized emoji that you create to look just like yourself so if you have not already created one I will leave a link down in the description box for you now getting posters printed at a print shop can be kind of expensive so I actually print mine out on my printer at home I feel like a lot of people don't know this but you can actually print a PDF document poster size so it enlarges the pieces of paper and it creates almost like a mosaic that you can then assemble into a larger poster now obviously you can use this idea and create your own posters but if you do want some that are already pre-made and all you have to do is copy and paste your bitmoji onto the posters and print them out I have added my set of posters to my TPT store so I will link that for you in the description box they include both an editable PowerPoint document and editable Google slides you literally just copy and paste your bitmoji in and then you're ready to print and I included editable ones that you can create your own new phrases with once you have inserted your bitmoji into all of the posters and I do include instructions for that in the TPT product don't worry the next step is to save the PowerPoint or the Google slides as a PDF document once you have a PDF document you're going to go to print and then under the page sizing and handling section you're going to choose poster I personally change my tile scale to 200% so that it creates a 17 inch by 22 inch poster and I keep my overlap at five thousandths or 0.005 of an inch this will have the poster print out on four pieces of paper now in my printed I did have a slight white border around all of the pages you do want to keep the border on some of the pages because that's how you'll attach them together but you don't want it on all of the pages or else you'll have a big white line running through the middle of it so I actually trim my pieces I know this is confusing so bear with me I trim the top of the bottom two pages and I trim the left side of the right two pages using a paper cutter then I lay out the four pieces to create the poster and I attach them together using transparent tape now I have tried to attach them using a little bit of glue and then flipping the poster over and putting the tape on the back so it isn't as visible but I'll be honest because that white border is so thin the glue would not hold and as soon as I flipped it over they all fell apart so I just put the transparent tape on the front it's a little bit noticeable you know if you're up close looking real hard but from a distance you can't see it once I have assembled all of my posters I do run them through a laminator to make them more durable and it also helps to hold them together now if you don't want to go through the hassle of printing these posters poster size you can print them as just a regular old eight-and-a-half by 11 piece of paper just throwing that out there I really like the poster size because it just makes my face nice and beautiful and large for my kiddos but do whatever works for you I will say my kiddos love seeing these posters during testing week I think it makes it more personalized since it has my bitmoji in comparison to any motivational poster I could buy from a store tip number two is to give and testing treats as a kid one of the few things I remember about taking standardized tests is that my dad would always give me snack money on those days so I could get myself an extra treat from the cafeteria so personally I'm a big supporter of giving my students treats now the treats can be something like food or candy but they don't have to be if your school does not allow that you can give small trinkets like erasers or pencils or bubbles or basically anything that's not edible now since our testing takes place over the course of four days I like to give my students a different treat each one of those four days now I have done treats in the past where I put a cute little adorable tag on the front of every single treat for every single kid but let's be honest that's a lot of work so I found an easier way now what I do is put all of the treats for the class in a small gift bag and then put one tag on the front of the gift bag it honestly saves so much time and I wish I had started doing this years ago I got the white gift bags from the dollar store they were two for a dollar and then I created the tags on my computer and printed them out at home I'm not gonna add the tags to my TPT store but I did leave a link down in the description box where you can go and just download them for free I do have a few different food allergies in my class so I had to make sure that I picked treats that all of my students could have after the first day of testing my students will each get a small candy watch which I got from the dollar store in packs of ten for a dollar and the tag says great job taking your time you've got this after the second day of testing my students will each get a fruit roll-up which I got on Amazon and a box of thirty at for between five and six dollars and the tag says you're on a roll keep up the hard work after the third day of testing my students will each get a mini pack of Oreo or Chips Ahoy cookies which I also got on Amazon in a box of 34 between 6 and 7 dollars and the tag says you are one smart cookie don't cry yet you're almost done after the final day of testing my students will each get a Ring Pop which I got from the dollar store they were in a back of four for a dollar and the tag says done with testing has a nice ring to it see what I did there I like to put the bag of treats out on my desk in the morning that way my students can see it they can read the tag they can start trying to figure out what they think is on the inside and then I wait and give them the treat after they're done testing tip number three is to wear motivational t-shirts since all I can do while my students are testing is walk laps around my room I thought it would be a nice touch to wear a different t-shirt with a different motivational phrase each day of testing so that as my students look up at me they get a little extra motivation I get my shirts from a couple of different sellers on Etsy and they can take a few weeks to arrive so I recommend ordering them like at least a month in advance to the testing time the first shirt says you are more than a test score and I got this from Libby Wilson designs on etsy I am wearing the color royal and a men's size extra small the next shirt says rock the test and I got this from blow mined shirts on Etsy I am wearing the color black in a unisex size small the next shirt says you got this and I got this from Missy Lulu's on Etsy I am wearing the color black again in a unisex size small the final shirt says I believe in you and I also got this from Missy Lulu's on Etsy I'm also wearing a color black and it's also a unisex size small tip number 4 is to write motivational phrases on pencils even though our students complete their test on a Chromebook they still get scrap paper and a pencil to work through the problems so I love to give all of them a brand new pencil for testing I use an ultrafine sharpie to write different motivational phrases on the pencil so that my students can look up and see it while they are using it I also love to personalize the pencils with their names my students do have to sit in single file rows during the week of testing and they don't know where their seat is when they come in so by putting their pencil out at their desk with their name on it it helps them to find their seat tip number five is to give students motivational coloring pages studies have shown that coloring can reduce stress and anxiety which a lot of students and teachers tend to feel around testing time I love to give my students coloring pages that have different motivational phrases on it the week before testing and even the morning of to help them relax now you can find tons of these types of coloring pages for free online so I will link some in the description box for you another idea is to print these coloring pages for to a page that will shrink them down to a mini size and that way students can color them and actually leave them on their desk during testing or hang them up in a place that they will see such as their locker or give them to a friend tip number six is to write personalized notes one of my favorite ways to do this is by having each student's parent or guardian write them an encouraging letter to read the morning of the test you can send home a half sheet of directions to the parents to explain what you want them to do and you can actually staple a piece of paper and an envelope to the directions so it makes it easier for them parents can send their letter back to school in the envelope you can hold on to it and then pass it out to students right before they take the test obviously it's possible that not all students will get a letter back for a variety of reasons so one of the ways that I like to overcome that is by either writing them a letter myself or having one of their former teachers in the school write them a letter you can also have students write letters of encouragement to each other each student can randomly pick out the name of another student in the class write them an encouraging note or letter and then again hand it out right before they take their test now it doesn't have to be anything fancy you can literally give each student a sticky note have them write an encouraging note the whole point is for them to get some extra motivation to raise their confidence before the test tip number seven is to read aloud and picture books picture books are a great way to send a motivational message to your students and also allow them to connect with relatable characters one of my favorite books to read aloud during testing time is called the anti test anxiety society by Julia Cooke this book is about a girl who gets lots of anxiety before taking tests so her teacher invites her to join the anti test anxiety Society and teaches her 12 test taking strategies I love to read this book to my students the week leading up to the test in order to help those test-taking strategies and also help them to relax I will link this book on Amazon in the description box and I will also link a YouTube video of a read aloud of the book in case you don't have time to order it tip number 8 is to create anxiety confetti if you don't know what anxiety confetti is you're missing out in order to create anxiety confetti first give your students a sticky note and have them write out all of their worries and anxieties related to the upcoming test then have your students rip up their sticky note into small pieces to create confetti and put all of the confetti into a bag then you can hang the bag up on your board or around your room as a reminder to your students that they've gotten rid of all of their anxieties and worries and they can now relax for the test tip number nine is to show motivational videos there are a ton of motivational videos on YouTube there are only a couple of minutes long so I love to show a different one each morning before the test I will link some of my favorites for you down in the description box but you can also go directly to YouTube just type in test motivation and you'll find all of them now some of them are a little lame but I tell my students this up front regardless they always end up laughing and that helps to reduce some stress before the test tip number 10 is to give students and brain sprinkles now I have mentioned these in my videos before but I'm bringing them up again because seriously they are such a huge hit among my students brain sprinkles are just a container of glitter that I sprinkle over my kids heads before they take a test I started this when I taught second grade and I wasn't sure how it was gonna go over in 4th grade but I think my fourth graders loved it even more than my 2nd graders did to create this all I did was buy a glass sugar container from the dollar store and filled it up with silver glitter then I covered the spout and a piece of tape so that only a few pieces of glitter come out each time instead of having my kids showering and glitter every time I sprinkle it over their heads while this sounds like such a simple idea I promise you your students will love it and they will beg you for brain sprinkles every time they take a test the week of testing I stand out in the hallway in the morning and I offer the brain sprinkles to any and every fourth grader that walks past my room and trust me most of them take me up on that offer I have been used in this jar for five years and I still have a ton left so it was totally worth the $2 investment to give my students some extra motivation all right those are my top 10 tips for motivating your students before a standardized testing if you found these tips helpful and you got some new ideas go ahead and give the video a thumbs up also go ahead and share it out to your teacher friends if you have any extra tips that I did not mention in this video please leave them down in the comments also hit the subscribe button and the notification bell so you do not miss any future videos as always thank you for watching I love you all so much and don't forget to put your pots and pants on and I will catch you in the next one thank you so much for watching all the way to the end of this video and for supporting my youtube channel if you want to check out any of my older videos you can use the two links right down here if you want to subscribe to my channel so you don't miss any future videos you can use like right up here the links to all of my social media sites my teachers pay teacher's store my merchandise store my Amazon store are in the description box and I'll catch you guys in the next one

Channel: Pocketful of Primary

Views: 98,137

Rating: 4.9550562 out of 5

Keywords: teacher, classroom, vlog, 4th grade, pocketful of primary, tips for new teachers, tips for teachers, new teacher tips, teacher tips, classroom vlog, vlogger, teacher vlog, teacher vlogger, testing tips, testing tips for students, testing motivation, test motivation, test motivation for students, testing motivation for students, how to motivate students, testing hacks, testing motivation hacks

Id: MyaMobnsUPo

Length: 14min 12sec (852 seconds)

Published: Sun May 12 2019