Hello Amy, This is a dilemma that most of us to face. I think the question depends on the population of students you are dealing with. For me, I teach in a school where 100% of the students qualify for free lunch, the composition is 70% latino, 30% african american, and almost all of the latino students are ELL's. For them, test taking produces soooo much anxiety. A lot of my kids are new to the country and haven't had to take a test like this. Also, because of limitated vocabulary and lack of background knowledge, they are at a disadvantage to begin with. To try to compensate, I do a lot of test taking preparation. I start at least a month before the CST/STAR tests and do mini lessons on how to eliminate wrong answers, asking yourself why is it wrong/why is it right, teaching test specific vocabulary, how to stay relaxed, managing your time, and simulating the actually testing environment. Also throughout the year I am constantly gearing everything towards "the battle" where they show what they learned throughout the year. That with the test prep puts them at ease, gives them more confidence, so that they can recall all the academic stuff (i.e., comprehension strategies/skills) that they did well with the rest of the year. Hope this helps! Stephanie
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello, my name is Amy Goodman and I am taking Nancy Creech's summer reading comprehension class. I will be graduating after completing student-teaching in the fall and couldn't be more excited to finally begin teaching and hopefully making the difference we all dream to make. The Mosaic of Thought strategies have changed the way I look at reading and reading comprehension. I hope to make use of these strategies throughout my teaching career in every aspect and content area of learning. I understand that these strategies have even been put to use when preparing students for standardized testing. My question then, is how much do we stray from class content to cover "standardized testing content"? As a new teacher I am at a loss between the two. Any suggestions or ideas on how to prepare for standardized tests without "straying too far" or cutting too much course content? Thank you in advance for your help, advice, and expertise. ~Amy Goodman ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
