I have learned over time no matter what subject area students are testing at the time, all of them boil down to being a Reading test. Students have to be taught how to read to glean information to help them to answer the questions posed to them. Before we start teaching we need to really take the time to analyze the test.
What information am I looking for you ask?
Here are some of the things I suggest in no particular order:
1. Read the questions and think about the vocabulary being used. List all the possible words you deem may trip students up and categorize them.
-----Create a word wall and start discussing those words now,
2. Look at the answer choices examine them for similarities, differences, and more importantly for tricky parts.
-----Talk about how to attack those parts, create these same type of questions with your content daily, don't be afraid to tell the students what you notice from previous test score analysis.
3, Teachers need to take the time and take the release or practice state test if it it available to them.
-----This will help you determine which questions you feel students will have the most trouble to understand what the student has to be able to do in order to be successful.
4. Identify what content material students need to know in order to be able to take the test
-----Use this as your whole group instructional points.
5. How did students score on the previous test? What skills did they master/struggle?
------ Make list and small strategy groups based off of these scores.
6. Make sure to teach the difference between reading for a test vs reading for enjoyment.
Most importantly give students time to read and discuss the content they are expected to answer questions. If students are not reading in class they need to be. The test is also an endurance test. They have to be able to sustain their reading pace and be focused. Reading teachers have the daunting task of making sure that students know how to read critically to understand what they read no matter what the genre. Students have to understand the characteristics of the Genre and what each characteristics job is in that Genre. I have found year after year that my students tend to lean toward the Fiction genre because it is not that technical and students tend to read more of this genre than any other. It is a story that has a beginning, middle and end. The story has characters, setting, a problem and a solution always. Students love to read for entertainment. They read poems, and Dramas during the Fiction unit. It seems most times they are able to answer questions that refer to these genres with minimal problems.
However, when it comes to the Nonfiction genre it's not always the students first choice. The students when they do read NF, get so overwhelmed with all the text features and academic jargon that they failed to understand what they are reading. It is our job as teachers to make sure to teach students how to read a Nonfiction book.
The first thing I start with when teaching the Nonfiction Genre is teach students how to make connection and determine what they already know about the topic.
The second think I do is teach and talk about the importance of the Text Features. So many times I see students just skip over the Text features especially when they are doing the formal Reading Assessments. They don't think they are important and they tend to ask about them on state test. At least the Release test that I have encountered. I make a point to create anchor charts, and make a production about the Text Features in my read aloud. I model how i use them to help me gain understanding of the text.
The third thing I focus on in the Nonfiction Unit is identifying and using one of the five Text Structures that authors used to present the information in NF text. We use graphic organizers to take notes in the form of the Text structure. I emphasize how knowing the structure helps them determine what is important in the text.
Fourth, we talk about how all vocabulary may not be important. What is your topic? What vocabulary is related to your topic and fits the Text Structure? We create Vocabulary banks in our Reading Journals.
As a teacher of Reading, I really work on teaching readers how to read critically and with intent in order to make sure they are understanding what they read. We talk about monitoring our understanding by stopping and jotting after every section. I use my small groups a great deal and I model using my own read aloud. I am constantly revising and editing my lessons daily. I also give students the opportunity to experience how the things I teach and model in class will look on an assessment. I may use release passages from previous years or teacher made activities as a formative assessment. My goal is to make sure that the students know what to expect on the test. They are exposed to the types of questions they will be asked and the types of reading they will be required to do.
When I started this unit, I began to create questions for students to use with partners, create anchor charts with graphic organizers they could use and I even created my on assessments to make sure students were understanding and able to apply what I taught and they had been practicing. As a TpT author I uploaded the resources that I created to use in my nonfiction unit. Hit the link on the side bar to check the product below out. The Table of contents show you what is included. There is a color and a black and white set of each printable. I also have several other response activities available to help students to track their understanding of what they read and to discuss their reading with their partners and class.
Last but not least, don't forget to engage in focused tutoring. Teach for growth not necessarily mastery. Use your time wisely, research, and study your data, colloaborate with colleagues come up with a plan of action and avoid slamming students with test prep passages. It is a way to prepare kids without over exposure to the point students failed to put forth the effort on the real think because they are burned out from doing passage after passage for months leading up to the test.
Teach the student not the test.
