[MOSAIC] Mosaic Digest, Vol 20, Issue 3

Thu Apr 3 13:16:14 EDT 2008

Thank's for the heads up on the TEST TALK book.  It is on its way to me as I write this. I am very interested in it after all the good comments I have read.  I thought I would share some ideas about test prep that I used in the past that brought good results.  I am currently at a middle school but a few years back I was the reading resource teacher at an elementary school and we had low scores on the Wisconsin Third Grade Reading Test.  My principal wanted a test prep program and there weren't many resources at the time.  I came up with a format that worked well and we saw a rise in scores (not totally do to test prep though, I sure). Here are some of the components that I think made it work.  I think you'll see they are just good teaching principals, too.  We started with the prep right in the Fall of the year, the test was given in March.  I met once a month in each class room and team taught with the classroom teacher.  The lesson would be about an hour in length.  Each lesson was built around one strategy.  This was an introduction and then the teachers would reinforce the strategy throughout the year.  The strategy would be everything from managing stress to how to be careful of distracters in the test choices.  We would review the strategies we discussed previously and then introduce the new one.  The teacher and I would have a conversation that modeled our thinking when we ourselves took a test emphasizing the strategy.  We would then have a piece of reading, authentic text (a real book or story) and have some questions that were in the same format as the test they would be taking.  Students would read the story and we would practice the strategy and they would finish the questions.  One of the important parts was that students were given feedback about how they did using the strategy  right away  and they graphed the results themselves to keep track of their own progress.  We would discuss with individual students about how the strategy worked for them, so they were able to debrief and reflect on the process.  Because we stretched it through the year it just became part of the routine.  Most the strategies transferred to other situations so they weren't wasting the student's time and could transfer to other learning.  Modeling, practice, feedback, self-monitoring, and reflection is what made it work, I think.

Kay Kuenzl-Stenerson
 Literacy Coach
 Merrill Middle School 

When you're finished changing, you're finished. 
Benjamin Franklin

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From: mosaic-bounces at literacyworkshop.org on behalf of mosaic-request at literacyworkshop.org
Sent: Thu 4/3/2008 11:00 AM
To: mosaic at literacyworkshop.org
Subject: Mosaic Digest, Vol 20, Issue 3

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Today's Topics:

   1. TEST talk (Kelli Thexton)
   2. Re: Test Talk (Keith Mack)
   3. Re: Test Talk (Ljackson)
   4. Re: TEST Talk (corrected title) (Ljackson)
   5. Re: Text Talk? (Ljackson)
   6. Re: Text Talk? (Susan Cronk)
   7. Re: NWEA MAP (Paula)
   8. Re: NWEA MAP (Paula)
   9. Re: Text Talk? (Laura Cannon)
  10. Re: NWEA MAP (Paula)
  11. Re: Test Talk (thedorrs at comcast.net)
  12. Re: NWEA MAP (Zey, Melissa)

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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2008 11:10:52 -0600
From: "Kelli Thexton" <kthexton at westside.k12.ar.us>
Subject: [MOSAIC] TEST talk
To: mosaic at literacyworkshop.org
Message-ID: <47F369BD.4657.B253543 at localhost>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Ooops!
My mistake!  The book I read was TEST talk, not Text Talk!  Sorry
for the confusion with the Isabell Beck book, Bringing Words to
Life, which talk about Text Talk!
Kelli

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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2008 10:41:54 -0700
From: "Keith Mack" <kmack at literacyworkshop.org>
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Test Talk
To: "'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group'"
        <mosaic at literacyworkshop.org>
Message-ID: <01dc01c894e8$daf03d00$0300000a at KEITHOFFICE>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"

It'd be interesting to hear some "post test" data and anecdotal evidence
from those of you that have read or are going to use this book.

Of course everyone's concerned about the scores and AYP, but I often think
some of the "attitudinal" (ahem, "soft") data would be very interesting.
   Are kids able to deal better with stress of testing?
   Do strategies from the book help students "attack" content better?
   What are teachers seeing in their classrooms that is different?

Keith Mack
kmack at literacyworkshop.org
http://www.literacyworkshop.org <http://www.literacyworkshop.org/> 

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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2008 12:14:12 -0600
From: Ljackson <ljackson at gwtc.net>
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Test Talk
To: "kmack at literacyworkshop.org,        Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension
        Strategies Email Group" <mosaic at literacyworkshop.org>
Message-ID: <20080402181110.816131248831 at filter3.e-filtering.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="iso-8859-1"

You will have to give us a year to answer that question.  I do know this.  In one of our very troubled schools (where data just can't get less friendly), the 3-6 staff and I developed a very different 3-week test genre unit (prior to having this book in hand).  Through a series of mini lessons, we talked about different kinds of testing, what a standardized test is, how test data is used and  who it matters to.  We also examined different test questions to see if we could find clues as to the kind of thinking that might be required of students (literal, synthesis, inferential, etc.).  We used a sample vocabulary question as shared reading and demonstrated daily strategies to use to support our thinking about unfamiliar words, along with the old standby of process of elimination and when all else fails, guess.   We are just in the testing window and here is what has been observed.  Less flippancy, no refusals and what appears to be a more concerted effort with the testing.  Only time will tell...

Lori Jackson
District Literacy Coach and Mentor
Todd County School District
Box 87
Mission SD 5755