I love this book. I bought it shared it with our literacy coach she read it and ordered it for every grad level and herself. I am in awe. The children really seem to get it. Pat K
"to be nobody but yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you like everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting." e.e. cummings On Mar 31, 2008, at 2:04 PM, Ljackson wrote: > Hello All, > > Keith asked me to get the ball rolling on the sharing of Test Talk, > which four of us were asked to review and share with you all. Thanks, > again, Keith and Stenhouse. > > Test Talk: Integrating Test Preparation into Reading Workshop > Greene & Melton > Stenhouse > > ISBN: 9781571104618 > > Why did I bother to include all of that? Basically, because I am > fairly convinced that you all are going to want to buy the book. I do > not know the authors of this book, but I could easily know them. They > are teachers that begin by describing a holistic teaching program > that aligns closely with my beliefs about literacy instruction, > describing their frustration and alarm when their school failed to > make AYP despite what they believed to be strong instructional > practice. I work with teachers and children in one of the most > impoverished counties in the country. AYP is little more than a pipe > dream for our schools--we make steady progress with our students and > flirt with making safe harbor. I am so fearful of what could be > pressed on our teachers, our district and our students in hopes of > making AYP. Reading First is not necessarily pretty in my state, > though I know it varies widely in state to state implementation. > > Early in the book, this quote spoke strongly to me. "[Steps we > take]...must be grounded in a staff's common beliefs about how > children learn, and in an unwillingness to waver from best practices." > The authors identify language, format and stamina as being issues that > stand between children and success on standardized tests. In the > remainder of the book, language, format and stamina are addressed in > detail with integrated lessons that address these concerns. The > lessons are intended to extend workshop instruction, rather than to > become isolated or separate test preparation. > > I believe so much in this book that I ordered it for all of our > building coaches and hope to have them all read it before the end of > this school year. Why? I think it would be extremely valuable > reading very early in the upcoming school year to center our > discussions around making some simple adjustments to ongoing > instruction to address testing concerns. Most specifically, I am > hoping that classroom teachers will feel comfortable thinking through > the vocabulary lessons in an effort to make sure children 'know what > they know' in terms of language they might encounter on a test; > incorporating just a few questions formatted similarly to our > standardized test across the school year and the curriculum; and make > changes to ensure that kids have adequate opportunities to build > reading stamina. > > Lori Jackson > District Literacy Coach and Mentor > Todd County School District > Box 87 > Mission SD 5755 > ' > >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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. > _______________________________________________ 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.
