Just as comprehension strategies have helped millions of students learn to read like proficient readers, they can also help students think like effective test takers. The authors show how students can use questioning, mental images, inferring, synthesizing, background knowledge, determining importance, and monitoring to understand the genre of tests and to think through the problems they are given. Instead of spending time on artificial and disconnected activities to cram for upcoming tests, students learn skills and strategies that will serve them throughout their school careers and beyond.
Section One: Wondering About Tests;
Chapter 1: Coming to Know
Standardized Tests: Walking in Our Students' Shoes;
Chapter 2: Tests as a
Genre: What Makes Standardized Tests Unique;
Chapter 3: Increasing Student
Stamina: The Role of Workshop Structures in Becoming Successful Test Takers;
Section Two: Thinking About Tests;
Chapter 4: Test Takers: Ask Questions;
Chapter 5: Test Takers: Create Mental Images;
Chapter 6: Test Takers: Draw
Inferences;
Chapter 7: Test Takers: Synthesize New Learning and Ideas;
Chapter 8: Test Takers: Activate, Utilize, and Build Background Knowledge
(Schema);
Chapter 9: Test Takers: Determine the Most Important Ideas and
Themes;
Chapter 10: Test Takers: Monitor for Meaning and Problem-Solve When
Meaning Breaks Down; Section Three: Still Learning About Tests;
Chapter 11: Q
& AWeaving Thinking Together with Testing;
Chapter 12: Integrity: It's All
About Being True to Ourselves and Our Profession
Lori L. Conrad, Missy Matthews, Cheryl Zimmerman, and Patrick A. Allen are all affiliated with the Denver-based Public Education & Business Coalition. Lori is the senior director of education and has been a classroom teacher, an adjunct professor, and staff developer for over twenty-three years. Missy is a teacher, education director, and staff developer. Cheryl is an elementary school teacher with over twenty-two years of experience as a lab classroom host. Patrick, an elementary school teacher for over twenty years, also works as a staff developer and lab classroom teacher.