Under -"Constructed"

I don't know who dislikes state testing most: students or teachers! All year, teachers are introducing concepts and skills we need the class to know by "test time". We do not "teach the test"! We teach the students concepts, information, and hopefully, the skills to do their best.



I have an additional challenge--to help students who are not yet fluent, or even comfortable, in the English language. Once students are here for one (1) year, they are required by No Child Left Behind legislation to take all the parts of the test--Math, Reading, and Writing. For grades 4, 8, and 11, Science is in there, also. Unfair, certainly. Ridiculous in concept and practice--you bet. Should this be overhauled and Changed? You decide (please vote!)



SO--in order to help the students do as well as possible, we often work on a skill known as "constructed response". Basically, a question is asked about a reading passage, the student turns the question around so it can read as a sentence, and ends the statement with information from the story. Then, the student has to find support for their response within the passage. Scoring is based on the clarity and support of the response.



Teachers at grade levels 3-12 (yes, high school, too) work on this skill. Reading passages are designed for grade-level ability. Many students, for one reason or another, read below grade level. Second-language students, depending on their English level, are still learning basic communication vocabulary, and are less competent with academic language ( that's how second-language acquisition works). Teachers are FORBIDDEN to help students on this test. Some areas allow for a word-to-word dictinary, but no definitions. This takes a lot of time, so ESOL students will be testing in the ESOL classroom, not in their regular class. PSSA TESTING BEGINS MID-MARCH.



I will be regularly working on the skill of "constructed response" throughout the year. This week, ALL skill levels will be doing this in ESOL, but focused at the students' language level.



Parents-you can help! When your child is reading a book or story for school (or fun!), ask them a specific question about it, and when they respond, have them show you where their information came from. This keeps you "up" on their reading, and helps them think about what they are reading.



For bilingual parents---please translate this information for a non-English-speaking/Reading parent of a school-age child. If I knew how to translate this into all the languages spoken in my class, I would!

Together, we can help your children to accomplish great things towards their future!

Thank you!

CLUBS!

4th and 5th grade Science Club will meet this Tuesday, 10/21, from 3:15-4:15pm. Your child should be bringing home a "Permission to Participate" form for you to sign.

Multicultural Club will begin Wed., 10/28--same time, same form to sign! Thanks!