Schoolwide Blog

RTI as in all mandates doesn't play out as nicely as it looks on paper. From working in the trenches with classroom teachers the big complaint is that the initial individualized instruction and frequent progress monitoring that is required falls onto the classroom teacher without help from outside sources and or lack of appropriate materials. It is also difficult to carve out time in an already overstocked day for personal remediation. Unfortunately children may not be discussed with the school based support team if a teacher knows that it will result in extra work that falls on his or her shoulders Another concern is that the problem a child seems to be having, (for example in reading) gets dissected into small pieces in terms of what the intervention will address. The teacher may be asked to work on remediating initial consonant sounds for 8 weeks. If the child shows progress then another small piece will be addressed next, and so forth and so on. Teachers feel that this delays (indefinitely) a child receiving immediate services with a professional trained to work with children displaying unique difficulties. Plus, if reading is the issue it requires integrated thought processes which the remediation is not addressing.

I’ve been working with a group of teachers putting together a curriculum map comprised of units of study for reading workshop. One of the units that came up was a “Testing - Genre Study”. I’ve come across this in other curriculum maps as well, but I never had an opportunity until now to have a conversation around what exactly that genre study would look like. If the unit includes having students examine the structure and format of the Language Arts test they are expected to take, or have students learn to pace themselves during a timed-testing session, or even using a scan tron sheet, then I see the importance of putting testing into a curriculum map.  If however, for example, it involves teaching students how to possibly recognize and then answer certain types of questions, or how to figure out an unknown word in a reading passage by using context clues, then I don’t see a “Testing- Genre Study” being placed as a unit of study for a month or so in a yearlong curriculum calendar. To me, it would be like putting a “Thinking – Genre Study” in a reading workshop curriculum map.  The skills and strategies that kids need in order to be effective test takers are linked to the skills and strategies needed to be an effective reader. If we agree with this thinking then test taking strategies and skills need to be taught alongside all the reading strategies and skills units we introduce across the year. For example, if you are modeling which clues in a read aloud text helped you to determine the main idea of a text, or what the author wanted us to know the text was mostly about, then it is a great time to say, “If I was answering a test question about main idea which asked me what the passage was mainly about I would use the same strategies and skills I use as a reader to answer the question.  I would look at the clues in the passage and decide if what I think the main idea of this passage is matches one of the choices.” I’m thinking that the essential elements necessary for getting kids ready for a test may be embedded in the great teaching we do, but I think it needs to be extracted and the application of that thinking needs to be explicitly taught during all the units of study. This philosophy is the backbone of the Testing Fundamentals units of study. The lessons in the units explicitly teach kids how to become effective test takers by applying what they are learning in reading workshop to test taking situations. Becoming an effective test taker is not about answering the question correctly, but about knowing and being able to explain how you derived at the answer. This kind of thinking can’t be neatly wrapped up in a month long unit called a “Testing- Genre Study”

Why do the state test developers continually confuse the kids by changing or asking questions in a difficult way?  I’m repeatedly asked this question both at large workshop sessions and in the direct test preparation work I do in schools.

Teachers feel, as I did, that there seems to be intention on the part of test developers to trick students rather than to measure their comprehension. This is a pervasive feeling on the part of educators mostly because they feel that the questions are worded in such a way that kids don’t recognize what they are being asked and that causes the break down in their ability to choose the correct answer to a question rather than them not knowing the information needed to answer the question.

Several teachers and I were discussing the value of teaching students to use specific graphic organizers to plan a written response to a question that requires them to extract information from 2 pieces of text. Of course, the Venn diagram leaped to the top of the list. 

I have always had a problem with using the Venn just to recognize similarities and differences between texts.  I believe that making text to text connections is a necessary comprehension strategy, but if we want our readers and test takers to stretch and deepen their comprehension they need to learn how to synthesize information and then come to a conclusion based on the evidence they find and use to fill in the sections of the Venn.  

For example, if we read two different versions of Cinderella, after deciding on the similarities and differences between the two fairy tales one conclusion might be:  

Authors can use the same idea to tell a story in a different way.  Another conclusion might be: 

Similar stories exist in different cultures. 

If we take this learning back to the test it will most likely enable our kids to fashion a better response to a question that requires them to synthesize information from multiple sources rather than just recognizing the literal similarities and differences across multiple texts. SOOO a good suggestion from the teachers for increasing the value of using the Venn is to pull out those diagrams sitting in a folder in your file cabinet and under those connecting circles write the word CONCLUSION!

At a truly enjoyable Schoolwide Workshop at Fordham University a question came up about how and how often to best use traditional test prep material (which are sometimes called “THE PACKETS”) when getting kids ready for statewide exams.

My best response is that the problem is not with the practice material itself, but rather with what is done with it. I don’t recommend using the material for independent practice or homework until it has been used for small group scaffolded instruction. The passages themselves provide good short text material across genres for guided instruction.

I would cut off the questions on the initial introduction of the passage.

After discussion about the passage I would reintroduce the questions without the answer choices (as I suggested in an earlier blog) and have the students write in their answers.

In a follow-up discussion I would have kids share their thinking by showing places in the text that provide evidence to back up their responses.

Finally they can do the practice material with the choices either independently in class or for homework.

I’m very curious about how much and how often this type of practice material is used before a state exam.

Teachers ask me all the time - “When my kids take a multiple choice test how do I get them to think about the answers to a question?”

My advice is that we need to validate their thinking by giving them opportunities to see that what they are thinking about has importance and is helpful in picking a correct response.  How do we do this?

Step 1:  When initially introducing multiple choice material white out the answer choices and just present the reading selection and the questions.

Step 2:  Have the kids answer the questions and then have them compare their answer to the choices that accompany the questions.

Most of them will see that what they thought was the correct answer is most likely one of the choices.

Sooo many kids do not read directions, especially when they take a multiple choice test.  They think they know what to do. Just read and pick. If we want them to read directions we need to have them practice reading directions.

Step 1- On a clean sheet of paper cut and paste or retype the directions accompanying the multiple choice selections on previous state exams. Do not include the questions.

Step 2-On the same sheet of paper under the directions include the sample chart below.

Step 3-(optional) After completing the chart have students reread the directions, selections and accompanying questions from the test that was used for this practice.

Step 4- Discuss with students how the information on the chart obtained by reading the directions can help answer certain questions on the test.  e.g. Knowing what the selection is “about”  (which may be stated in the directions) can help with a question about the main idea of a selection.

Example taken from N.Y.S. 4^th Grade ELA-2008

Directions

1. Read this article. Then answer questions 1 through 7.

2. Read this poem. Then answer questions 8 through 11.

3. Read this story about a girl who wants to see a movie. Then answer questions 12 through 16. 

Sample Chart