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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2.

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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.