This first unit on Main Idea and Details didn't go as I planned in my ideal world. There were two days of MAP testing, there were Homecoming dress up days for distraction, a day I was home with a sick child, the days when Spelling took significantly longer than I ever dreamed, and then two days of fire drills this week. This is part of the normal flow and ebb of working with students and in the real world. It is why on the first day of school, I teach "flexibility", and the idea, we will do what we need to do to be successful. With all this in mind, I was relying on these quizzes for some feedback as to what I need to do next to make sure my students have the foundational and important reading skills of Main Idea and Details.
When we handed out the quiz, I asked students to write their names on their papers, and I told students they could use their highlighters ... As students tested, I walked around and clarified ... use PENCILS on the answers and writing, the highlighters for for the reading portion ... MANY individual reminders to write their names on their papers ... encouraging reminders to read the text carefully and reread ...
So I sat down to assess the quizzes. First, I had students who highlighted the ENTIRE text and the questions. I realized I need to TEACH students that highlighters are not for coloring. Highlighters are a TOOL that you use to note key words, phrases, and located evidence and details IN the text to support you answers.
Next, I realized that students were USING the text to answer the questions. They appeared to read the test once, then try to answer the questions from memory. Today's big stakes testing, asks questions that require several steps in thinking and comprehension to demonstrate understanding. This strategy that I used (and didn't work very well even in my early education) will not help students in today's world.
Third, the skills we have been working on IN class were forgotten. There were very few students who used the strategies - still posted on the back board of the classroom on the quiz! This has been posted since our learning began, and we referenced it EVERY day.
I had some teaching to do, and I didn't have time to waste! I posted the test on the board. We reviewed the steps on the back board, and we got started. We read the entire text once. We didn't take notes. We didn't look at the questions. We read the text to enjoy it and understand the information. Next, we looked at the first question and reread the text for that purpose in mind. We "took notes", highlighted the key words in the question, and even took notes in the margin of the questions to clarify what we were looking for. Then we went back into the text. The first question was asking about the main idea. The title and repeating phrases with synonyms "lost", "disappeared", "never found" were terms that helped us secure the answer. We continued this process.
We modeled how we use a highlighter. Ms. Leom underlined the text, so students could also see how a pencil could do the job. We learned how to determine paragraphs, where there are indents. Often, questions on high stakes tests refer to the main idea of specific paragraphs.
It was a tough lesson for students. The text wasn't very interesting for all learners. I thought it was better than some. The average attention span for any listener is seven minutes. I often try to keep that in mind, and aim for five minutes. Today was one of those days, when our purpose required longer listening that the idea seven minutes. Focusing on something students already read and finished, is hard. They did it, they like to move on. Finding out your teacher thinks you could have done better, is also "not fun".
Quizzes and tests are two things that we can't rework for an improved score. This quiz was only five points, so it wouldn't drop scores too much. We have another Main Idea Quiz coming up in just a few days. There will also be a Unit 1 test coming up. There were many lessons to be learned from our first quiz.
No comments:
Post a Comment