There are two main approaches to test prep to get students ready for their daily learning and practice. First, students must be alert as they read. They should have expectations of how a text will go based on their understanding of a particular genre.
Previously tested genres for third grade include:
Narrative (Story) Structure:
Realistic Fiction Folktales
Narrative Nonfiction (including Biography and Autobiography)
Expository Structure (Nonfiction):
Information Pieces How-To Pieces Interviews
Questions and Answers Letters
Poetry
In fictional stories, students should read thinking about what challenges the main character faces, and how he or she resolves these problems. Teach students to be alert for some of the predictable questions as they read, such as the lesson a text teaches, or the big, main idea of a text.
Secondly, students need to be able to read the question stem and predict the answer before looking at the answer choices. This way, as they read they’ll do much more smart reading work and won’t be seduced by the distracters among the answers. In fact, the first few times students practice, you might choose to not give them the answer choices and instead have them write in the answer and/or circle in the text the part that sup- ports their answer. Students are easily confused by multiple-choice answers (that’s the point of the distracters); therefore it’s important to teach them to construct a text-based response first, before revealing the possible answers. For a day or two, you could have them write answers to questions without showing them the answers; then teach them to cover the answers, go back to the text and predict the answer based on their under- standing, then match their prediction to the answer choices.
You might find that you can do a lot of your test preparation in the beginning using short texts with which students are already familiar, introducing the kinds of questions that will be asked, and teaching students how to infer the answers from the texts. When you know students are familiar with a story, you have a special window into assessing because you’ll know whether it is the language of the questions with which they are struggling. If this is the case, you can do some small-group instruction on common test language.
Begin the work with a prompted read-aloud of one text with partner talk, and then have your students immediately answer the multiple-choice questions. If you start with realistic fiction, choose the easiest text first. Assess students’ success. Decide if you need to address what the test is looking for when certain kinds of questions are posed. Do you need to teach your students to determine the meaning of vocabulary words by reading them in context? Do you need to teach them that the main idea or the theme usually refers to a big lesson the character learns or that we learn? Do this again the next day, probably with a prompted read-aloud, or if you think students are ready, with silent partner reading and partner talk as they go. Then do a third day on the same genre, with silent reading and independent work and with small-group work, if you need it, though you may be coaching during this time, and doing some small-group work in extended day. Another option is to make test prep not an isolated act and to have partner work be heavy on Days 2 and 3, and wean until partners meet on Day 5 after they have read and answered the questions. A possible week of test prep might go like this:
Day 1
Shared Experience
Together the class works on reading one text and answering the questions.
The teacher leads the class by providing stu- dents with prompts and strategies that will help them navi- gate and hold onto the text, as well as demonstrating through Think-Alouds.
Some sections are read aloud while other sections are read together or in partner- ships.
Day 2
Heavy Partner Work
After a minilesson is given, partners read the leveled text together and stop to talk about what they’ve read.
You will confer with partners as they read.
Next, partners read each question and talk about what it means and what they have to do as test-takers to answer it. Then they write an answer in a short, simple sentence. Then they look at the choices and pick the answer that is closest to theirs, unless there is a better answer.
You will confer with partners as they answer the questions.
At the end of the workshop, partners who read the same passage gather in small groups to com- pare their choices and to discuss why they chose them. You will intervene by pushing students to explain their logic, by teaching a strategy, and by teaching content (alliteration, metaphor, main idea) and/or to compliment.
Day 3
Heavy Partner Work
After a minilesson is given, partners read the leveled text together and stop to talk about what they’ve read.
You will confer with partners as they read.
Next, partners read each question and talk about what it means and what they have to do as test-takers to answer it. Then they write an answer in a short, simple sentence. Then they look at the choices and pick the answer that is closest to theirs, unless there is a better answer.
You will confer with partners as they answer the questions.
At the end of the workshop, partners who read the same passage gather in small groups to com- pare their choices and to discuss why they chose them. You will intervene by pushing students to explain their logic, by teaching a strategy, and by teaching content (alliteration, metaphor, main idea) and/or to compliment.
Day 4
Less Partner Support
After a minilesson is given, students read alone (reading the same passage as their partner), then talk about what they read.
You will confer with individuals as they read.
Then the students answer the test ques- tions alone before dis- cussing the choices they made and why they made them. If there is a disagree- ment, they will revisit the text.
You will confer with partners as they dis- cuss the choices they made.
Day 5
Independent
After a minilesson is given, students read alone (reading the same passage[s] as their partner) and answer the questions.*
You will observe and take notes as students read and answer the questions. These notes will inform your small- group instruction.
Partners meet after- wards to discuss their answers and how they reached them.
You will confer with partners as they dis- cuss the choices they made.
*As the test approaches, give stu- dents time limits that match those of the test.
Students benefit from doing this work first in partnerships on accessible texts. Encourage them to write on their texts just as they will on the ELA test. For tips on teaching into students’ note-taking, see the sections on predictable questions by genre and road-mapping, further in this write-up.
After a day or two on accessible short texts, do the same kind of work at the level of the test, with the exception of kids who read far below grade level. These students may need to keep practicing on texts that are closer to their level and to move more slowly toward ones at grade level. Then repeat these days across genres, not forgetting to include all the kinds of narrative, non-narrative, and poetry that will be on the test.