First time teaching English SAT Prep course

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High School English Teachers Chatboard

First time teaching English SAT Prep course

by Modern Everyman

Nov 23, 2013

Good morning! I'm teaching the SAT prep course for the first time at my high school and I definitely need some ideas. Each class is 3 hours once a week for 6 weeks, so I'm trying to figure out what the heck to do. I want to make it valuable...don't want them to feel they could've just bought a review book and done it at home. How do any of you folks "approach" the SAT prep course? Thanks so much!

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Steve On 11/23/13, Modern Everyman wrote: > Good morning! I'm teaching the SAT prep course for the first > time at my high school and I definitely need some ideas. > Each class is 3 hours once a week for 6 weeks, so I'm trying > to figure out what the heck to do. I want to make it > valuable...don't want them to feel they could've just bou...See More

Nov 29, 2013

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BJ - can help I have been teaching SAT prep for 3+ years. I've written my own guide taken from several books on the exam. Unfortunately, it only covers the Verbal section.

On 11/29/13, Steve wrote: > On 11/23/13, Modern Everyman wrote: >> Good morning! I'm teaching the SAT prep course for the first >> time at my high school and I definit...See MoreI have been teaching SAT prep for 3+ years. I've written my own guide taken from several books on the exam. Unfortunately, it only covers the Verbal section.

On 11/29/13, Steve wrote: > On 11/23/13, Modern Everyman wrote: >> Good morning! I'm teaching the SAT prep course for the first >> time at my high school and I definitely need some ideas. >> Each class is 3 hours once a week for 6 weeks, so I'm trying >> to figure out what the heck to do. I want to make it >> valuable...don't want them to feel they could've just bought >> a review book and done it at home. How do any of you folks >> "approach" the SAT prep course? Thanks so much! > > Tell them you're there to help them beat the test. Be > sympathetic. They cannot get sympathy and personal > encouragement from a website. If they thought they could get > what they need from a website, they would have gone that > route. > > Start with basics like - I'm sure this test makes you nervous. > Let's try not to be. You will all get into college!! > (Literally some kids believe they will not get into college) > > Tell them this test is thought to be important but don't let > the fear of the test rule you. That does not help you or your > scores. > > So our first lesson here today is to look at the first page of > an SAT to familiarize yourselves - to reduce the "unknown > factor" of the test and to save you some time on test day. > Kids who haven't taken the class will be going "uh, where do I > put my name" and you guys will have already written yours." > > Take them over the first page and then tell them all the > subsections and tell them we're going to look at them one at > a time. Then Pick the easiest subsection to teach first. > > Give easier not harder examples. Build confidence. Not > cockiness but confidence. Don't give them a sense that the > test might be horribly difficult - that won't improve > anyone's scores. > > In six weeks you cannot do much more than introduce them to > the subsections and give them sample questions from each. > > Give them the basic strategies - when to guess and when not to > guess. > > You're the difference between them thinking they should have > just signed up online and being happy they took the class. > ... Give guidance, be positive, have the class be upbeat > filed with positive energy. No website can do that. > > And in answer to your unspoken question of well, doesn't any > SAT instructor do that? No, they don't. Some treat the test > as sacrosanct and the students as unworthy candidates for it. > Some emphasize the difficulty of the test to protect > themselves if the kids get low scores as in "well, I warned > you". > > And here's a tip the kids Love to hear- tell them the test is > under increasing scrutiny and studies consistently show there > is NO correlation between test scores and student's grades in > college. Tell them there is a lengthening list at > [link removed].

Nov 29, 2013

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Modern Everyman Thanks for your long response. I agree with your recommendation to stay positive. I'm looking forward to teaching to a very specific goal, even though I only have 6 weeks.

Nov 29, 2013

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