April 2004 Tip
Many students and teachers are facing THE TEST in the next few weeks. You’ve taught hard and they’ve learned well. What can you do to help them really show what they know when they take the test? Here are just a few tips that might prove helpful, especially during that last week.
- Keep things normal in your classroom. Yes, you will be reviewing skills that haven’t been touched since first semester (although hopefully next year there will be a way to continually use those skills so that they won’t be rusty); but keep calm - no frenzy! Keep smiling, breathe deeply, and take it slow.
- Every test can be bettered with test-taking strategies. Here are a few that might be helpful.
- Test anxiety is a real force for some students. Help them to conquer their anxiety so that they can do their best on the test. Council each anxious student individually before the testing day. Here are some questions and statements that we’ve used successfully with students on an individual basis.
- Remember some of the tests that we’ve taken as adults and the feelings that we had when the test proctor walked around the room with a knitted brow and scowl. I always felt it was meant to intimidate me (and it did!). There is nothing in any test rules that I’ve read that says you cannot smile during the testing time. A smile; a look that says, “You’re terrific!”; a wink that says, “You can do it!” are very important to students. The test is stressful enough without having the adult in the room looked stressed out and angry! Besides, it will do you a world of good to smile and stay relaxed, too.
- On the day before the test, relax with the students by doing something creative and mind stimulating. Play some quiet math games, solve math puzzles, create math posters, tessellate shapes, use clay to make 3-d solids - anything but “test-prep” materials - and certainly do not introduce any new concepts. Let the students know that you believe in them.
- 1. Read the question first. This tells the students what they are trying to find, and it helps them to focus as they read the problem.
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2. Remember that students are looking for ACTIONS in the problems, not “key
words.” Each problem is a little movie - what do the students see happening?
What is the action in the entire problem?
- 3. When gathering data from the problem, remember that data is more
than just a number! When you think about it, numbers are only
the modifiers that tell us how many we have of something! Gather numbers and nouns (we called them the labels when I was in school).
Those “nouns” are what the problem is all about!
- 4. Estimate, estimate, estimate. Have students write their estimated answers out to the side of the problem before they even begin to solve.
- 5. Before you solve, look at those answer choices. There
are answer choices that are really bogus! Eliminate them and focus on what
is
reasonable to the problem.
- 6. THINK! THINK! THINK! These tests
are designed for students to think, to probe, to question, to use what they know
about mathematics to
solve real world problems.
- 7. Students should show their work. Encourage them to write all over that test booklet or on scratch paper
(check with your test coordinator to make sure which is allowed).
- 1. First, hold up a pencil and have the student do the same. Have them repeat after you, “I have the pencil, so I have the power!”
You’d be surprised at what this can do for a student.
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2. Ask the student what kind of problems they would want to work first -
hard ones to get them out of the way, or easy ones to make them feel more
confident
on the test. Once the student has given you her choice, tell her that she
can select where she wants to begin
on each 2-page spread of the test. Give the student 2 sheets of some practice
material and ask her to select where she would start and ask why she would
begin with that question. Regardless of her reasoning, tell her that is where
she should begin, then - where she is most comfortable. REMEMBER: “I have
the pencil, so I have the power!” CAUTION: If students are transferring
to a gridded answer sheet, you must also show how to carefully go from the
problem number to the correct number on the answer grid. Do not use this
technique with students who have a difficult time tracking.
- 3. Teach the student a few calming techniques that would not be obvious
to others in class:
take a deep breath and hold it for count of 3, then let it out slowly;
tighten up your whole body, hold for count of 3, then relax slowly;
sit up straight, put you chin on your chest, then roll you head slowly;
put your pencil down, open your fingers and stretch them out, hold them for 3 seconds in that position, then slowly lower them to the desk top.
- 4. Ask the student what her greatest fear is when taking the test. Sometimes,
just vocalizing the fear can help the student conquer it. Whatever the fear is, don’t try to minimize it. Tell
the student that with the power pencil in hand, making choices to conquer the test, calming techniques, and the knowledge
that she has gained this year, you know that she will do well. Tell the student to look at you when she
is getting nervous and you’ll smile back at her to reassure her.
Our wishes for all of you:
May your classroom be a friendly testing environment.
May you remain calm and composed, certain and assured that you’ve done your best.
May your students all show the progress they have made this year through your testing instrument.
See you in early May!
Ms Fritzie
