On 4/21/09, mstex wrote:
> How do you deal with all the TAKS stuff and still do 4
> blocks? Do you throw in TAKS blocks throughout the year or
> cram it in at the end? I really want to get a grip on this.
> Thank you so much.

I am by no means an expert. And for those who do not know TAKS
is our states standardized test.

It is something I am still playing around with. I'm already
planning for next year. I want to focus on strategy
comprehension throughout the year (during the guided reading
block), the GR book offers a great start but I don't think they
are all of the the strategies that could be done at that time.
I want to include the QAR strategy at the start year and have
students practice throughout the year. There are also a couple
of resources that I'm looking at right not. Test Talks is one
of them, the other is my Donna Santman and Calkins, can't
remember the name right now. It talks about adding "test
practice" while focusing on comprehension.

During the last couple of weeks (2-4), leading up to the test,
I think the GR block would be a good time to get that actual
test practice so students are familiar with the test. Students
can re-read the practice items for multiple purposes over 3 days.

I, of course would not do this the whole year, just to get them
familiar with the test. I think it would be unfair to send the
kids without any clue of how test attempts to trick them.

This is just my opinion and I'm still kind of thinking things
through.

Also, I'm not officially doing the 4 Blocks. I just got my
grade level excited about it and it seems like they want to do
it. I've convinced them to do a book study for next year. Now I
just have to get my principal on board, hopefully it can spread
from there. :)

Good luck next week.

Share This Post | Report This Post

Next Post >>

Posts on this thread, including this one