1. When will your high stakes assessments take place?
2. What is the most valuable thing you have done in preparation?
3. What is the silliest/stupidest thing an administator did or is having
you do in preparation.
We don't have the pressure of the PSSAs (directly, at least). We live and teach in our own little world.
So
1. The PSSAs are next week (right?)
2. I teach test taking strategies, but I think (hopefully!) our district's move towards the inquiry based/hands on math program is going to best prepare our kiddos for the math portion.
3. Fortunately, nothing!
1. We have state tests in the fall and again in the spring.
2. I teach reading carefully, going back and rereading text, questions and answers as needed.
3. Stupidest- well it was nothing at all. We were all freaking out as neighboring districts were going all out for test prep and our admin looked at us dumb-faced and said- uh I wasnt planning on doing anything- and he didn't
1.We use a computerized test so we "get" three chances to pass, which means we are expected to have all the kids take it all three times.
2. I would say the most valuable thing has been not to stress the kids out over it.
3. My admin hasn't really asked us to do anything to prepare, but upper admin is now saying all our kids have to exceed the test instead of just pass it. Ugh!
1. Next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
2. We used a commerical language arts/reading workbook that had picture prompts, poetry prompts and everyday reading in the same format and language as the test. We also had access to sample questions from the state website.
3. Our administrator is supportive, and seems to recognize the stress we're under. I can't complain--at least until the scores come in!
2. Lots of practice! I have searched out activities on the web that relate to the standards we teach. Many states have test similar to ours and have practice test on line.
3. Our Administrators will not let kids use the restroom during a stand and stretch break. We had to call the office if someone needed to go badly and they would come and escort them.
ours are not allowed to use the restroom either. It is a state requirement I believe. They are afraid the students will somehow cheat or distrurb another class who is testing. our testing is in April. We have been doing a program aimed at improving test scores.
We had reading in the fall and then we had reading and math last week. To prep, I gave lots of practice tests and taught the kids how to use colored pencils to underline important information.
The silliest thing we did: can't really think of one, I felt our prep was good.
Test Security is so extreme here in Florida. I don't think they want to chance anyone cheating. The stretch break is only supposed to last a minute or two so I don't think they want kids out of the room during that time.
Ours are over, too.
The most valuable thing I've done is teach like I would normally and not fall into the trap of stressing over testing testing testing - with a few test taking strategies thrown in. I teach my kids to relax, and just do the best they can. If they've done everything this year, they should do fine.
silliest thing - spend unneccesary amounts of money on prepping - like tutoring, practice books, materials, breakfast, etc.!
1. our tests are this week and next week
2. practice selected response questions and brief constructed response (written) questions. in the last month, we were required to do 5 multiple choice questions dealing with the phonics/vocabulary section. discussed strategies of how to answer them. it helped
3. for 3 weeks, we were told to stop teaching social studies/science and review math prior to the test. i teach science (we're departmentalized) so i am totally against this idea! Science has a lot of value too. Science/social studies are the informational texts on the test sometimes.
Our tests are over!
Best thing I did was expose kids to lots of reading material in many genres, none of which were really long passages. (unlike our basal)
Stupidest thing came from a kid, not the admin. "Why do we have to have more homework? the tests are over." Yeah kid, but the year is only 3/4 over.
Our state tests were finished last week. Boy do they really get the fifth graders with 2 days of state math, 1 LONG day of state reading 2 days of state science, and then the marathon day with 80 minutes of norm-referenced reading and 70 minutes of norm-referenced math! EWWWWW! I am so glad to be done.
The best thing I did was give lots of practice and encouragement. The more the kids saw the sample problems and the format, the better they got at test taking. We talked about the test as a game, and in all games there are rules to follow. Also, to win a game, you need to know your opponent's strategy. In this case, the opponent is the test maker, so the kids needed to be aware of the kinds of trick answers that would be given...so on and so forth.
I don't know that there was too much silly stuff by admin., just a lot of reminders and PRESSURE to do well...well, duh!
Good luck to all of you who still have tests upcoming!
Oh! I hate that test! Did you know that your district can choose not to give the NRT portions on the same day? Gee, I wonder why ours doesn't choose to split it up. But, then again, we would go to 7 days instead of 6 in grade five. OH, OH!! And why 2 days for science but only one for reading when that's the retention subject? Okay, I could go on and on...
1. Ours took place Feb. 27- Mar. 10.
2. Talking about it from the first day of school. We sent home weekly short stories and questions similar to what kids would be seeing in order to prepare students and parents. We also did one 45-minute session in state-sanctioned FCAT-prep workbooks every week. Not too much, but just enough to let them become more comfortable with the skills they'd need (every year one kid invariably says around December "Hey, we're learning this in reading class" and everybody nods. Duh... but it takes that kid for everyone to really calm down about the whole thing.)
3. Nothing. My admin is really cool about the whole thing. Their smartest idea is every time we do practice tests, the 504 kids actually leave the room and go with their real proctor. It makes everyone more comfortable on the actual test day.
1. Our beloved tests take place the second week of May. I've noticed that many others are testing now and some are already finished. What is the benefit or reasoning behind testing so early?
2. I cannot pinpoint one individual strategy as being the "most valuable" for test preparation. I think the best preparation is delivering your curriculum, having high yet realistic expectations for your students, and realizing and understanding that not every child is going to blow the test out of the water.
3. One of the most lame suggestions I've ever received from a higher up was to reorganize class structure for the entire grade level three weeks before the test, in essence ability grouping for test cramming sessions. This "strategy" was supposed to "fix" everything that the ten thousand other strategies poured into my classroom couldn't.
1. Ours are April 3rd - 14.
2. Format prep and reading comprehension strategies.
3. Saying - You are all great and wonderful and we know that you are doing all you can do. We don't look at the scores and compare you to one another really we don't! Two seconds later slapping last years scores up on the big screen from lowest to highest. Saying that we need to find out how the highest got the highest and learn from them. OH AND THEN slapping us on the hand for discussing it after the meeting. HELLO!!!!!
In regards to the test security ours is pretty serious as well. No bathroom breaks. In fact last year a student puked all over his test. They had to transfer all the answers to a clean test document and put the puked on test in a baggie and mail it to the state department. Lovely!
So, they have the results back before the end of the school year and can decide on retentions..................but, we're still supposed to bring these kids up a grade level in 6 months instead of the given 9, right?
Mrs. B, I have no experience with the PSSAs, except taking them in high school. But I asked my mom, who, as a fourth grade teacher, is giving them this year for the first time.
03-13-2006, 02:41 PM
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