Thinking About Testing ~ SOLS 13

What do you think?

Show me the words that make you say that.

What do you see?

Captions, photographs, diagrams, bold headings.

This is informational text.

How does the author bring the reader to the scene?

That reminds me of a place I visited with my family.

What do you think?

This looks like realistic fiction.

What did the characters learn?

The characters are so believable.

I discovered something significant.

The words paint a picture in my mind.

I think

I wonder

I learn

I remember

What do you think?

        The heat is on; at least internally as we fret about upcoming testing. Why do worry so? Why do we question our teaching; teaching grounded in best practice? Will our students remember to read carefully? Will they look back for evidence? Will they understand the questions? Maybe I should have had them complete more reader responses. Will they be able to tackle the vocabulary? Will they understand the text? Why does everybody have to take the same test?

Last year during the ELA testing, a student in my coworker’s class told her that the test was not “just right” text for him. Well, this wise reader sure did notice something interesting, something significant. His teacher told him, “You are right. Do your best to read each passage carefully and look back to answer the questions.

 What do you think?