Integrating Test Prep with Social Action

We are in the season of test prep as NJask is just a few short weeks away. I have been hearing of many teachers from around country talking about preparing students for the test. Fortunately, we have been preparing our students all year long. While we are focusing our efforts on how to interpret questions and how to refer to the text when answering questions when working in any of the content areas, we have continued with our typical instruction. We have been simply infusing test prep skills into our instruction so that our students have strategies to use while they are testing.

Therefore, I have not had to focus solely on test prep for my social action lessons. So, for the test prep integration lesson, I chose to model and review a skill students need when they read in school, for assignments or assessments, in their free time for pleasure, or when they are required to take standardized tests.

I adapted an article on the "Good and Bad Effects of Video Games," simplifying the language and readability so that the material was accessible to my students. I modeled determining the main idea in the article's introductory paragraphs and then sent students to work on reading and identifying the main idea in another section.

I created three homogenous groups based on my students reading levels: my "high" group worked independently, my "middle" group worked with limited teacher support from my mentor teacher, while the "low" group worked with me with maximum support. The independent group read the "Bad Effects" section, underlined the main ideas, and then rewrote the main ideas in their own words on a sticky note.

This student worked independently. She wrote "The violent things that are in video games change
people's behavior because of what's in it. People get addicted to video games and some of their
learning skills decrease and the video game skills increase and it could affect different things.
The video games affect their education because of how much they play,
so instead of learning good things they learn opposite.
Video games affect people's health because they not getting active.

The group with limited teacher support read the "Bad Effects" section on their own and then discussed unfamiliar language and the main ideas with the guidance of my mentor teacher.

This student was apart of the middle group; she succinctly summed up the bad effects.
"Some of the bad video games contain violence, can become addictive, [affect] academic achievement, and also have bad effects on some children's health."

I lead the final group through a shared reading of the "Good Effects." Once again, I modeled identifying the main idea in the first paragraph of the section and then guided students to determine the main idea in each remaining paragraph. Then we discussed what writing the main ideas on their own words might sound like. This group truly worked together with maximum support from me.

This student was a part of the group who met with me; she wrote about the good effects. "In many video games, the kids use their skills to require high-level thinking. Video games can teach kids cooperation when they play with other players." 

Once the reading was complete, I invited the students to the rug, where they quickly discussed with their partner the main ideas they had determined from their reading. Finally, we shared out several of the main ideas of the good effects and the bad effects of video games, so students would hear the main ideas of the section they did not read.

All of our sticky notes, each contain the main ideas of each section, written in the students' own words.

If I were to teach this lesson again I set a timer and specifically challenge my students to budget their time spent reading and identifying main ideas. This would not only help the lesson be more concise but also prepare students for the timed reading and responses on NJASK. Furthermore, before students share out at the end of the lesson, I would have them post their sticky note and then I would quickly share out several strong examples of main ideas written in a student's own words.