I would suggest teaching test taking as a genre, a type of reading that has a specific structure and way to comprehend it. Lucy Calkins has a good book about this, but I can't recall the name. I will find the title and send it to you. I think students need to learn how to tackle the text and how to handle the type of questions, and this must be taught as a skill set and practiced. But it does not need to take over your reader's workshop or reading instruction. You just need to teach how the comprehension skills they use in their independent reading texts can be applied on an excerpt and how the questions are asked.
On Fri, Feb 24, 2012 at 6:58 PM, evelia cadet <[email protected]>wrote: > > > > > As I have said before, this is the first year I am following the Reader's > Workshop model. My district does not follow/support reader's workshop. I > am lucky to have the freedom in my school to use any teaching structure I > want. Out of almost 70 teachers, only 2 teachers in my school are doing > reader's workshop. We are trying to convert the other teachers in our > campus. They are noticing how our students are engaged in reading and are > forming a reading community that is extending outside the classroom. > However, people in my school are data driven (specifically standardized > testing data), and they will not consider any instructional method, unless > there is tangible evidence they drive results (standardized state testing). > Ok, this was just the introduction, here is my concern. My students > seemed to be enjoying reading and they are showing evidence of > understanding/applying the comprehension strategies/skills we are working > on in class. Nevertheless, when they take one of those practice test we > are required to give, everything seems to go downhills. It is like they > are unable to transfer what we are learning with authentic literature to > the context of the test. I honestly don't know what to do. I know there > are people in my school, including some in the administration, waiting to > see what impact reader's workshop has on test results. Any ideas or > advices. HELP!!!!!! Thank you. > > _______________________________________________ > 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
