Some Test Prep Ideas (That Could Be Fun!)

The end of March signifies many things– the end of the Slice of Life Story Challenge, longer days, leaves on trees… and, for many teachers and students, getting ready for annual assessments. In Connecticut, students take SBA, and I know that the assessments vary across the country. I’m hoping that, regardless of what assessment you’re prepping for, there are some ideas in this post that could help– maybe you’ll find ideas even if there’s NO test to prep for! I also hope that these ideas feel less about test prep and more about purposeful play and practice for students to become better writers and overall learners. Prep, play, and practice don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Incorporate large motor skills into writing

Maggie Beattie Roberts and I are working on a book about foundational skills in writing. Large motor skills literally provide the core strength for holding up writers, but they also provide playful practice opportunities. For example:

• Create sentences with several phrases and clauses, and have students coordinate who says the part of the sentence. Then have them move, changing the order and the punctuation requirements of the sentence. Have more students get involved by representing, and stating, commas and periods.
• Building on the sentences, have students take on being sentences in a single paragraph. Their challenge is to collaboratively create a cohesive paragraph, then stand up and sit down to deliver their sentence.
• Invite students to walk an essay, moving from one place to another place as they switch paragraphs. This movement will help them understand the structure and organization of essays.

There is no right or wrong way to implement these ideas. Keep in mind that the idea is to build awareness of language and conventions while having some laughs along the way.

Leverage multi-media resources

• Short films are a wonderful way to have students storytell, and I’ve written about this idea here. Many times, students are asked to write specific parts of texts, so using a short film as inspiration for a beginning, middle scene, or ending helps prepare them and also engages them.
• Comics lend themselves to storytelling as well. Even one three-panel comic can get students writing different perspectives or parts of the story. A quick google search of three-panel comics can give you a bunch of choices to use with students.

Enlist students to write some test items

By this time of year, many students should have mastery of grade-level language standards. Ask them to write a few test-like questions designed for peers to be successful. Have you ever tried to create a really good test question? You have to know the material well in order to do that, especially if you’re making it be a multiple choice question. You have to think about the predictable errors people might make and the clues they need in order to be successful. You might be surprised at how much fun students can have writing questions that test each other on subject-verb agreement and proper comma usage.

Emphasize Goal-setting and Agency

While I have complicated feelings about mandated assessments, I think agency, self-awareness, reflection, and goal-setting are some of the most important skills students can learn. If you create lists or surveys of the skills and/or learning targets students should know, not only for the test but also because they are important skills of written expression, and then ask students to rate their own secureness, you are providing them with lifelong critical skills. What can I do? What do I need to work on? How can I improve? The answers to those questions are powerful learning moments!

Final Thoughts

While it’s hard to embrace assessment season, I enjoy teaching students strategies so they can feel confident and competent when facing the variety of questions they’re likely to see.