Our Test Prep Unit is quickly approaching. In the past I’ve struggled with this unit because it is dissimilar from a typical ELA unit of study in a number of respects. First, the culminating assessment is the New York State ELA test. Second, this unit is based on texts that many students find boring. Third, the unit falls at a tough time of year with a long break splitting it in half. The test prep unit remains a planning paradox for me because I don’t want to teach a new literacy skill each day. I’d much prefer to use quick daily assessments to gauge student strengths and drive future lessons.
This year I plan on trying something new. Instead of literacy skill based aims, I’m going to use test strategy aims. Also, I plan on walking my students through each part of the test. I want them to get practice with each of the multiple-choice questions they might see in January. To make the unit more engaging, I plan to put each lesson in the context of a Unit-long contest. Students will be divided into test-prep teams. The teams can earn points throughout the lesson based on the quality of their work.
I still have a number of lingering questions regarding test prep. First, is a stand-alone 4-week test prep unit necessary if good ELA instruction is happening throughout the rest of the year? What does effective test prep look like? How can we make test prep engaging?
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