I second Pauline's thoughts. I would also add that I teach the QAR
strategy at the beginning of the year and then we use this and other
test taking strategies to answer questions in a test format throughout
the year.
We teach test taking as a separate genre. Kids need to know how the
elements or characteristics of tests work , the same way they
understand the elements of reading a mystery or any other genre .
Linda
On Feb 24, 2012, at 8:19 PM, Pauline K Nagle wrote:
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
<cadeteve...@hotmail.com>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.
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