Testing

Agghh-Testing! It's not quite as exciting as 21st century learning, that's for sure. But, it is reality and I'm determined to help my students learn how to be successful testers. Now, I'm not sure how this ties in to my technology journey but it's what is on my mind this week so that's what I'm blogging about.

We just wrapped up CELA testing and CSAP will be here in no time. I don't know that my students, all ELA and a high percentage SPED, have often felt the satisfaction of a test well done. Therefore, this week we are beginning Larry Bell's UNRAAVEL, a method to tackle reading comprehension tests. I believe that just having a game plan to attack a reading passage will help my students immensely. It will give them a place to start and some feeling of control if they have concrete steps to follow. Afterward, we'll spend a while learning how to write "Better Answers" to standardized test prompts. This is based on a text by Ardith Davis Cole called Better Answers: Written Performance That Looks Good and Sounds Smart.

I plan to have my students write pre and post reflections on this process and hope to see a new confidence emerge towards test-taking. Stay tuned!