Test Taking As Genre

Authors: Dan Devins, Catherine Hite

Grade s: 2-3

Overview:

The purpose of this unit is to introduce students to the genre and expectations of English Language ArtsStandardized Tests. With the No Child Left Behind legislation, students are required to take New York StateStandardized tests from Third Grade to high school.

It is imperative students develop a mindset for test-taking that is different from the one they havedeveloped for everyday assignments. This can be accomplished through embedding a repertoire of methods andstrategies into the curriculum that will aid in understanding the test format and test-taking process. This willalso avoid test preparation taking over the regular grade level curriculum.We have developed and complied strategies and approaches for test taking as a genre that can be taughtwithin the regular English Language Arts curriculum.

Some of these strategies developed in this Test-taking asa Genre Unit include:

Identifying genres of a test passage and the questions based on this type of literature
Techniques for “whole body listening” for the listening passage
Practical strategies for multiple-choice questions
Note-taking strategies for listening passage
Formulate answers to short-response questions with appropriate scaffolding (topic sentence, related details,closing sentence)
Strategies to minimize student test-anxiety
Suggestions for parents to ease test-anxiety for their children