Monday, April 16, 2012

Double Linin' to Success

Watching your students open  those Big State Test Booklets can bring on mixed emotions!  Those Dreaded Reading Passages seem to "jump" right out at them bigger than life!  To help ease some of their anxiety, and mine too, my students have been required to read sample passages and attached questions twice and underline important words and phrases as they went along.  I felt confident that this would be the "best" strategy they could use to be successful.  Enter Stage Left...Coach B!!!  Oh, yeah!  It's the Double Lining Strategy!  My strategy was on track, but I had failed to get my class to the Finish Line!  With Coach's direction, my class now reads the passage a THIRD time looking for The 5 Most Important Words in the passage and giving those words a second underlining!  Having that specific goal has everyone reading those passages more carefully and 3X!!  Looking at questions, they check for Doofus, Trickster, and the ultimate Smarty answer.  Previously, they had to Prove their answer choices to their partners, but during Test Simulation, they have to prove it to themselves!  Our testing motto is, "Be the Tortoise, not the Hare!"  Take your time...do your best! Coach B, my class and I say, "Thanks!!!  You Rock!!"

For an extended explanation of Testing Strategies, go to www.wholebrainteaching.com and check out #521 State Test Prep in the Video Library.

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