powerup self-guided tour - lexia learning...lexia® power up literacy® is designed to help...

SELF-GUIDED TOUR

© September 2019, Lexia Learning www.lexialearning.com/powerup

Lexia® Power Up Literacy® is designed to help struggling students in grades 6 and above become proficient readers and confident learners. The adaptive, technology-based system identifies the appropriate starting point for each student across three strands: Word Study, Grammar, and Comprehension. Students then work at their own pace through each strand to close skill gaps and advance their literacy skills. This document is a guide to navigate the content across all three strands of PowerUp using the Educator Demo mode. Because it does not save data, this mode does not simulate the full student experience, which includes a student progress dashboard and game-based motivational elements like streaks for series of correct responses.

1. GETTING STARTED

1. Navigate to http://lexiapowerup.com in your web browser.

2. Click the Educator button and enter the email address [email protected] and the password success.

3. Click Enter. 4. A pop-up window will ask you to confirm your identity.

Click Yes.

A welcome video will automatically start; this is the video students see when they first log in to the program. Click anywhere on the screen to skip the video.

2. PROGRAM OVERVIEW The first thing you will see is an overview screen that introduces PowerUp.

• Program Highlights In the Program Features section, you can click the arrows to view highlights of the adaptive, online student program and the offline resources for face-to-face instruction. This overview sets the stage for what you will experience when you access the online program. • Scope & Sequence If you keep scrolling down the page, you will be able to access the scope and sequence of the program, broken down into the three instructional strands of PowerUp: Word Study, Grammar, and Com-prehension.

See the Full Student Experience At the bottom of the screen, there is a series of videos. We recommend that you take the time to watch these videos to get a better understanding of the student experience and how PowerUp utilizes game-based motivational elements to engage the adolescent learner. In Educator Mode, many of these features are turned off to allow educators full access of the program.

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3. ACCESSING THE ACTIVITIES

To navigate through the Educator Demo, use the tabs labeled: Word Study, Grammar, and Comprehension at the top of the screen. Each tab includes an overview of the literacy strand and lists the strand levels: Foundational (K-2 skills), Intermediate (3-5 skills), and Advanced (6-8 skills). Level ranges are included in Educator Mode only; students will not be able to view this information.

Selecting Content To access the interactive content, you will need to select a strand level and then drill down to a specific activity and unit. On the following pages, we have listed recommended levels, activities, and units to access in this tour. For example, when you see Word Study 4.1.3, you will click the Word Study tab, select level 4, and then choose activity 1 and the unit labeled 3 on the pop-up screen. .

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Please note that in this Educator Mode, you are able to quickly move through units without answering questions by clicking on the orange arrow button at the bottom right of all activity screens. This feature is not included for students.


4. WORD STUDY In Word Study, students develop accuracy, automaticity, and fluency in reading by focusing on the reliable and recurring patterns in spoken and written words. Students practice letter sound patterns in the context of multisyllabic words similar to the ones they encounter in grade-level texts in multiple content areas. Activities are at the word, sentence, and passage-level and include the application of spelling rules. Skills covered in Word Study range from working with syllable types to understanding Greek and Latin roots.

INSTRUCTIONAL BRANCHING Word Study 4.1.3 (Silent E Categorization) On the navigation screen, select Level 4 (Closed and Silent E Syllables), Activity 1 (Letter Patterns, Sounds & Meaning), and Unit 3 on the Word Study tab.

● In this foundational Word Study activity, students apply their knowledge of syllable types, which helps them decode words. The program will review newly acquired skills while incorporating new skills–in this case, the student will learn about the Silent E syllable type. Students are then given directions on how to complete the activity.

● Your Turn! ○ The goal of this exploration will be to review the program’s instructional branching. ○ Enter an incorrect response. The program provides a hint and the student must attempt the item a

second time. Enter the response incorrectly again and the student receives immediate corrective feedback.

○ Answer a second item incorrectly and the program will branch to provide additional instruction.

● In the instruction step, the student receives scaffolding instruction targeting the error made. The program reduces

the task complexity to focus more intensely on the skill taught. Here you can see that the task now has only two categories and single- rather than multisyllabic words.

● Once the student completes the Instruction Step, they move back to the Standard Step. ● Consider how the work students do in this activity helps build academic language, with words like compute and

invade.

Return to Navigation Screen

When you are ready to move to the next activity in the tour, click the back arrow on the top left of the task screen to return to the navigation menu.

Standard Step Instruction Step

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ACADEMIC VOCABULARY Word Study 11.6.5 (Passage Comprehension) On the navigation menu, select Level 11 (Prefixes, Roots, and Suffixes), Activity 6 (Sentence Completion), and Unit 5 (Passage Comprehension) in the Word Study tab.

● As students advance through Word Study, they apply their growing knowledge of word parts to reading texts. Explicit instruction in Latin prefix, suffix, and root meanings as well as Greek combining forms helps students develop structural analysis skills that aid vocabulary and academic language development.

● Your Turn! ○ In this more advanced Word Study activity, students are

asked to apply their knowledge of prefixes to an informational text.

○ Notice how the student applies their knowledge of prefixes while practicing reading comprehension in another content area.

5. GRAMMAR In the Grammar strand, students improve written composition and reading comprehension by focusing on how written language works. Students learn how parts of speech function in sentences and how parts of sentences convey meaning. Activities vary and focus on parts of speech, parts of sentences, capitalization, punctuation, and text structure. The skills in Grammar range from identifying nouns and verbs in simple sentences to recognizing verb tenses in compound-complex sentences.

ENGAGING ADOLESCENT LEARNERS Grammar 2.1.8 (Highlighting Prepositions) On the navigation menu, select Level 2 (Expanding Simple Sentences), Activity 1 (Parts of Speech), and Unit 8 (Highlighting Prepositions) in the Grammar tab.

• The first three levels of Grammar include content students may recognize—but skills that they might not have mastered yet. The program will review newly acquired skills while incorporating new skills.

• Your Turn! o First, play the instructional video on Prepositions, which explicitly

teaches this grammar concept with a fun, engaging song. o After the video concludes, the program audio will say, “A preposition

begins a phrase that answers when or where.” This reminds students of the concept they have just learned before they begin the activity.

o Now, highlight the parts of speech as prompted. This reviews previously learned parts of speech in addition to newly learned prepositions.

o Notice that the activity shows students two sentences at a time, which helps them identify patterns. Images in the activities reinforce meaning, which is particularly helpful for English Learners.

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6. COMPREHENSION In the Comprehension strand, students learn to become independent and strategic readers. The skills and strategies needed for higher-order text analysis are presented using increasingly complex texts that are appealing and relevant to student adolescent learners. Passages include original and authentic texts of multiple genres including informational, narrative, drama, and poetry. Skills including subject, main idea, details, and author’s craft are spiraled throughout the levels and culminate with synthesis of all skills in an analysis of two sources.

INCREASING RIGOR To show the breadth and depth of the texts and media included in the Comprehension strand, we encourage you to compare two units from those listed below.

Foundational (1.2.1)

Students build underlying language skills that are the foundation for reading comprehension.

Intermediate (11.3.1)

Students are systematically guided through the process of reading a text deeply.

Advanced (16.3.10)

Students practice close reading to analyze, evaluate, and compare two texts or other media.

FOUNDATIONAL Comprehension 1.2.1 (Listen: Text 1) On the navigation menu, select Level 1 (Transformation), Activity 2 (Informational – Sliding Ice), and Unit 1 (Listen: Text 1) in the Comprehension strand.

• In foundational levels, students build general vocabulary and word knowledge, develop sight words, and increase their understanding of basic text elements and structure to develop metacognition to improve comprehension.

• This unit focuses on both listening and reading to build foundational language skills and an understanding of informational texts. Note how kindergarten level skills are using age-appropriate content that respects the maturity level of an adolescent learner.

• Your Turn!

o The unit begins with an informational text that is read aloud for the student. Notice the simple format of this passage on glaciers. There is minimal text on each page with images that provide visuals to promote understanding.

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o Students are then asked to identify sight words they just encountered in the text. This helps students work on their automaticity and fluency before jumping into the text for themselves. This can be especially helpful for English Learners.

o In the next two activities, students continue to build the

knowledge necessary to read the passage independently. First, the student builds their academic vocabulary by matching terms from the text to the appropriate picture. Next, the program reviews nouns and verbs and asks the student to identify each in sentences. Pictures are used to reinforce meaning.

o Now the student applies their knowledge to read the text on their own. After reading the passage, the student completes sentences from the text by filling in missing words to work on their academic vocabulary.

o Finally, the student is asked a series of comprehension questions. The program guides the student through each question by showing where in the text the answer can be found and provides definitions of the components of informational texts.

Students can click the blue headphone icon on the top right of the screen to have passages read aloud in Listen Mode. This can help students struggling with decoding to develop comprehension skills and strategies while learning word study skills in the Word Study strand.

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INTERMEDIATE Comprehension 11.3.1 (Sensory Language) On the navigation menu, select Level 11, Activity 3 (Sensory Language - Hatchet (1), Hatchet (2)), and Unit 1 (Introduction) in the Comprehension strand.

• In Intermediate levels, students are taught standards-based skills that are necessary to read increasingly complex texts with a deeper level of meaning. Skills include finding the main idea, making inferences, determining the theme, and identifying tone and mood.

• In this activity, students learn about sensory language through excerpts from the young-adult novel Hatchet. Note, the increasing complexity of the text and the higher-order analytic questions asked in this activity compared to the example above.

• Your Turn! ○ First, you will review key vocabulary terms related to

the narrative text you are about to encounter to build vocabulary cards that can be referred back to later in this activity.

○ Next, play the text trailer video for Hatchet. This video introduces the text by piquing students’ interest and providing background information, in the same way that a movie trailer would.

○ Once the video plays, you have the opportunity to like or dislike it, similar to the way you might up- or down-vote videos on social platforms. Consider how social motivation can contribute to student engagement.

○ Before reading the text, you will be asked to click through the highlighted vocabulary words. Click on highlighted words to view definitions. This helps students build Academic Language before reading independently. Imagery is included to help reinforce meaning, which is particularly helpful for English Learners.

○ You will now be asked to read the text independently. Again, students can select Listen Mode to hear the passage read aloud by clicking the blue headphone icon on the top right of the screen.

○ When you have finished reading the text, click the arrow button at the bottom to proceed to the questions.

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ADVANCED Comprehension 16.3.10 (Synthesize) On the navigation menu, select Level 16 (Uniqueness), Activity 3 (Analysis & Evaluation – All Summer (1), Fine Art), and Unit 10 (Synthesize: Source 1 &2) in the Comprehension strand.

• In Advanced levels, students automatize and synthesize standards-based skills that are needed to read grade-level complex texts independently and proficiently.

• In this activity, students use their higher-order, analytical skills to evaluate and compare multiple sources. Earlier in the level, students are guided through a close reading of the science-fiction short story All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury and shown how media can be analyzed by examining two works of art: Poppies in a Field by Victor Gabriel Gilbert and The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali.

• Your Turn! o The student is asked a series of questions to compare and

contrast All Summer in a Day to both works of art. The toggle at the top of the screen allows you to refer back to all original sources to answer the questions.

o Students are asked to identify similarities and differences between these two different forms of art, to specify how themes are portrayed across sources, and finally to reflect on and compare the deeper understanding of these resources.

o Polling at the end of the activity provides students the opportunity to express which source they enjoyed the most. Again, giving students a chance to voice their opinions can drive engagement, as they can see how their peers voted.

o Consider the higher-order thinking and the level of difficulty of this activity compared to the foundational level shown in the first example, which was read aloud to the student. In one program, PowerUp can meet the diverse comprehension needs of struggling readers, all while utilizing texts that are appealing and relevant to the adolescent learner.

powerup self-guided tour - lexia learning...lexia® power up literacy® is designed to help...

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