Transcript Testing genre - Birmingham City Schools / Homepage
Strategies for Readers Dr. Dimple J. Martin, Reading/Language Arts, K-5
“Reading is the New Civil Right!”
Why do our students need to pass standardized tests?
How can we help our students show what they know on standardized tests?
Life skill
ACT Aspire High School Exams SAT/ACT College Exams Job Placement
Teach Test
Talk
Teach
Strategy
Use
Teach Test
Navigation
Teach
Readiness
Testing language is hyper-English (Calkins, 1998) Vocabulary of the directions or questions uses a very proper language Students need to know how to translate the words and phrases
ARTICLE DETAIL OPPOSITE PASSAGE PHRASE SELECTION SEQUENCE SIMILAR STATEMENT THEME TOPIC BEST DESCRIBES BEST COMPLETES CAN TELL CHOOSE THE BEST DOES NOT BELONG MAIN PURPOSE MAINLY ABOUT MOST IMPORTANT MOST LIKELY RIGHT AFTER
Poetry
mood, tone, stanza, line
Fiction
character, setting, plot, solution, events
Non-fiction
caption, bullets, text box, diagram, chart Specific terms can be found in the state and Common Core standards.
The month of the test
should not
be the first time students are taught reading strategies Infer, Visualize, Question, Determine Importance, Make Connections, Synthesize, etc Active Reading Using Schema (Background Knowledge) Using the Author’s Clues to Recognize Important Information Identifying and Following Directions Re-Reading Skim & Scan Navigating the Text
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Read the questions first, but don’t try to answer them before reading the passage.
Read the questions and choices carefully.
Reread the text before choosing an answer.
Be alert for signal words in questions.
Questions are asked in different ways.
Bolded words in questions are clues for you to use.
Use all the information you are given titles, captions, arrows, etc.
Practice building
stamina
desk at a Don’t linger on hard questions Read the question carefully, looking for signal words, bold or italicized words Read each question choice If you skip a question, be sure to come back
“Reading tests have predictable kinds of questions, and each kind requires a unique approach.”- Harvey & Goudvis Multiple Choice Tests Have
Four
of Questions Main Types Vocabulary Questions Literal Questions Summarizing & Synthesizing Questions Inferential Questions
What… When… Which… Where… How… Which of these events happened first? (sequence question) When you touch poison ivy, you… (asks information from the passage)
The answers are “right there” in the text Teach Skim and Scan Look for key signal words (what, when, which, where, how) Match the words of the question to specific words in the text Scan several paragraphs to notice events or steps in sequence Eliminate answers you know are not true
Which statement best summarizes… What is the main idea… What is the main reason… What is the most important idea in this article/passage/poem… This story/article/poem is mainly about… This section mainly describes… This story/article/passage was written in order to… Another title (good name) for this story might be…
“Author and Me” Questions Teach strategies to DETERMINE IMPORTANCE Read for the gist of the story/article The distracter is often the answer that is most interesting, but not most important Screen out your personal opinion and stick to the information from the passage Wrong answers are usually facts or details from the passage Use the process of elimination
Why What can you conclude… What lesson does this teach… What is the problem… Which of these is most likely true about… From the story you can probably guess… How does the author feel about… After reading this, what will probably happen next… How did (the character) feel about…
Students must use the author’s words and personal background knowledge to infer Students often try to guess based on their personal thoughts/feelings- REINFORCE referring back to the text Search for evidence to support answer Look for text clues Focus on the author’s purpose Don’t over think
Calkins, L. Montgomery, K. & Santman, D. (1998). A teacher’s guide to standardized reading tests. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Greene, A.H & Melton, G.D. (2007). Test
talk: Integrating test preparation into
reading workshop. Portland: Stenhouse.
Harvey, S. & Goudvis, A. (2005). The
comprehension toolkit: Extend &
investigate. Portsmouth: Heinemann.