In the last blog post I talked about my journey with test prep and gave you some basic tips and ideas that you could use to help you make sure test prep did not take over your reading block but fit into your reading block. I am going to share a possible framework for a day in the life of test prep schedule and share the test prep strategy that I teach the students that I work with. When I say reading block I mean the span of time that I … [Read more...] about Reading Test Taking Strategies
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Make Test Prep Fit into Your Reading Block
My journey in the land of state testing… Ahhh state testing. It is upon us. Actually for some it has been on our minds since returning from winter break. I have had a love hate....okay who are we kidding a mostly hate relationship with state testing. Mostly because it used to eclipse everything I did and hang as a puffy cloud over my head all year long. So much so that when the opportunity came to leave a testing grade and go to a primary grade … [Read more...] about Make Test Prep Fit into Your Reading Block
Up Level Your Teaching With One Simple Tool
Once upon a time my reading block consisted of me talking for thirty minutes, students working on guided practice for 15 minutes and independent practice for another 15 minutes. Followed by an hour of guided reading groups. I thought I was doing a good job because I was keeping students engaged with me. I was afraid that if I let students go and practice too early then they wouldn’t know what they were supposed to do or gasp they might have … [Read more...] about Up Level Your Teaching With One Simple Tool
Conferring Basics: Use Data to Determine Types of Small Group Instruction
In my last blog post we tackled how to use data to inform one type of small group reading instruction called guided reading. In this blog post I want to talk about how that same data can be used to drive reading conferences or strategy groups. Conferring Defined: Conferring is a chance to huddle up with students and have intentional conversations about what they are reading, how it’s going and how to move them forward. This gives … [Read more...] about Conferring Basics: Use Data to Determine Types of Small Group Instruction
