Testing...Testing...Testing!

 

                                                            Testing Boot camp

             As teachers in Texas, regardless of our personal beliefs about testing or our determination to focus on authentic literacy development within our classrooms, the STAAR test is something we must approach each year head-on. Over the past few weeks, I was able to take part in the “Testing Boot camp” unit at Ojeda Middle School, and I appreciated my time immensely. The unit itself focused most specifically on testing strategies, and really sought to build students testing confidence in the few weeks leading up to the STAAR. This allows the class to develop their testing strategies more explicitly for a few weeks, but does not high-jack the entire year’s curriculum by any means and the true focus of the year long unit remains focused on the authentic literacy development for all students through the work shop setting. I think I will incorporate a lot of these ideas in my own classroom, as I think it is unfair for teachers to direct the entire year towards the test, but I also think it is unfair to avoid talking about testing all together (as testing is, unfortunately, a key avenue for school and social access).

            I will say, as you will see in my video today, I find “testing” conferences to be much more difficult than “writing” or “reading” conferences. The main difference, I believe, is that in a testing conference there is a much higher value placed on the final answer. That, I suppose, is the nature of the beast that is testing. There is a premium set on finding the “correct” answer, as the answer will ultimately be the sole judge of success on the official test, so during a conference it is a much more delicate process trying to help a student without giving them the answer (because you cant give them the answer on the test!).  I think this dynamic makes the research stage much more important in a testing conference, as it is critical to understand the root of the problem the student is facing, not just the problem itself. Why is a student asking for help on this portion of the test? Is reading comprehension the problem? Does the student understand the question? Is the solution as simple as using a testing strategy more effectively? Or is this a deeper-rooted issue? I think all of these questions are extremely important to face at the beginning of the conference, so that both the teacher and the student are on the same page. Again, I find the research phase of these conferences to be more difficult (or nuanced, at least) than in a writing conference, so I look forward to developing my ability to recognize testing issues and address them more directly in one on one (or group) conferences.

            With that in mind, I am very interested to hear what people think of my testing conference from my lesson video today, as it was one of the more difficult conferences I have experienced and there is certainly tons of room for growth. What does everyone else think about testing conferences and testing “prep” in general?