Good teaching is good test prep!

ISAT and Terra Nova testing is months away (at least a few). Still, teachers are continuously preparing their students for all manner of assessments and laying the groundwork for testing in the spring. Good test preparation arms students with strategies that will help them reduce stress and perform their best on test days. These strategies are also strongly linked with solid instructional practice.

Check out the following article by Nell K. Duke and Ron Ritchhart from Harvard. They include ways to help students navigate different formats, to use specific strategies for math and reading, and to ease their stress.


http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4006


Six Tips for Nipping Test Stress in the Bud

1. Don't Skimp on Practice Tests: They are vital to helping students understand the mechanics of the tests. Call your test company to request samples.

2. Promote Positive Attitudes About Testing: When discussing tests with students, make three recommendations: Be serious, confident, and strategic.

3. Deal with Basic Roadblocks: Do your best to circumvent problems such as inadequate breakfast, lack of sleep, and chronic tardiness prior to testing week.

4. Plan a Fun Day-of-Test Activity: Avoid academic activities immediately before testing. Instead, try something less stressful, such as Simon Says.

5. Look Out for Daydreamers: Seat easily distracted students in cubicles and corners. Encourage them to stay on task by checking off each line they read.

6. Talk About Those Last Few Minutes: The final moments of a test period are valuable for checking work and guessing on remaining questions.

Parent-Teacher Conferences!

"We believe that children will get ahead when we spend most time on the areas where they are most challenged. The problem with this notion is that it is a one-sided or half-baked approach to education. In the long run, children don't make their biggest contribution in their areas of weakness. Children overcome weakness, but they rarely excel in them or end up building their lives work around activities that make them feel depleted.
By looking at a child's strengths we are not failing to consider his challenges, we are merely balancing the equation that has been out of proportion for too long." by Jenifer Fox, Author Of Your Child's Strengths


Early in my teaching career, conferences were a source of anxiety. I tried to anticipate and prepare for difficult conversations and ensure I had evidence to back up assessment of students. Our conferences were attended by students and supported with detailed narratives. Yet, some parents were surprised by information gained in the conference and students saw conferences as something being done 'to' them rather than 'with' them. I left with a feeling that our work was somewhat incomplete.

Over time, we worked to involve students in assessing their progress and setting goals. We included parents in this dialogue and tried to create concrete actions for each person (teacher, student, parent/guardian) to take in supporting the student reach these goals. We ensured that there were few surprises at conference time. Parents felt more involved and students took more responsibility for their learning. As teachers, we saw conferences as a part of our assessment process rather than an isolated exercise.

Whatever your conferences look like, a bit of preparation can allow you to make the most of the time you have. There are steps you can take to help you strengthen relationships and build strategies for student success.

See below for some basic tips and links to other resources and readings:

* Gather evidence of student learning. Be able to show student work or other examples to demonstrate student achievement and areas for growth.

* Enlist students in self-assessment and preparation for conferences. No parent or student should be surprised by their grades or overall assessment. If you have not had ongoing conversations with your students about their growth, start now. If possible, have them participate in choosing work that showcases both their strengths and areas of challenge.

* Start positive and build on student assets. Emphasize the strengths you have identified (hopefully with the student). Use these as a starting point for next steps. Not all goals have to be based on problems. Consider setting goals for enrichment with ALL students.

* Give parents time to share and the opportunity to participate in the goal-setting process as much as possible. This can be done ahead of time by asking parents to share ideas in writing. These can then be consulted when setting student goals.

*Help students/parents focus in on just one or two goals for the next quarter. These can be subject specific and related to behavior or study skills. Some students will be able to articulate where their struggles are and what they could do to improve. Still, for many students, especially those who do not see the impact of their efforts on achievement, defining clear actions will be difficult. This is a place for you to help students identify specific strategies.
(see template below).




Parent-Teacher Conferences, a Time to Celebrate Strengths

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jenifer-fox/parent-teacher-conference_b_315322.html

Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in their Children's Elementary Education
by Peter McDermott and Julia Rothenberg
"Using focus groups, our purpose was to learn how we could better prepare teachers for urban schools. The data revealed that teachers are frustrated with a lack of parental involvement in literacy activities at home and at school. Parents, however, expressed distrust toward the local elementary school because they felt the faculty has been biased against African American and Latino children and their families. Consequently, the parents said they deliberately decided not to participate in school activities. Parents explained they would only work with teachers who respected and valued their children."

http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR5-3/mcdermott.html

Conference Record Form
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/custom?q=cache:Gn3fz59jHhUJ:www.educationworld.com/tools_templates/RecordOfConference.doc+conference&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=pub-6489775476269284

Test Preparation: Managing the Stress

Standardized testing is at the forefront of everyone's mind. While we know that these tests should be just one of many assessment measures, they are high stakes tests for most schools and students. Either way, we do all we can to ensure students perform to the best of their ability.

You have prepared your students throughout the year through instruction and practice of content, reading strategies, and general test-taking skills. And surely in the past weeks, you have incorporated a variety of practice test exercises.

We know from a large body of research and our own life experience that stress can positively or negatively affect performance depending on our ability to manage it. The brain's ability to function is key. It is highly sensitive to changes brought on by hormones, food additives, oxygen, and water. As much as is still unknown about the brain, there are techniques that have been shown to have a positive impact on overall health and performance. Of course, we want to be sure our students are well hydrated and that they have proper nutrition on test days.

Be sure you also give ample attention to preparing students emotionally, physically, and mentally to deal with tests. It is critical that students learn to manage their own stress. There are simple, deliberate techniques you can teach your students today!

Deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and using positive talk/images are all tools that can allow students to manage their stress response. Teach, model, and remind students to use these whenever they feel the negative affects of stress.

1) Breathing Techniques can help activate the body's own calming response. Simply telling students to breathe deeply often results in a room of hyperventilating kids. There are simple techniques students can learn and use before, during, and even after stressful events.

1. Breathing deeply engages the diaphragm.
2. Teach students to breathe in through their nose and out through nose/mouth.
3. Their bellies and rib cages should expand when they breathe in and contract when they breathe out.
4. Simple counting technique: Breathe in to a count (maybe 5 to start), using the full count. Hold the breath for a second, and then exhale for the full 5. Guide students to feel their ribs expand, their diaphragm release, and their shoulders release down.

2) Muscle-relaxation. Teach students progressive relaxation techniques. This can be as simple as closing your eyes and tightening up and releasing parts of the body, head to toe. Different mental images work for different people. Students can do a few simple head rolls, shrug shoulders up and down, and even releasing their jaw where many people hold tension.

3) Positive self-talk/images. Students can practice simple self-affirming statements and images to visualize how they want to feel. This extends to how we direct students, such as stating the behavior we want rather than the behavior we don't.

Examples for reducing stress:

1. I am relaxed and prepared.
2. I feel peaceful and energetic.
3. I breathe out tension. I breathe in calm.

Like other techniques, using these types of statements needs to be modeled and practiced over time. All of the techniques should be the students' choice. Give students models and allow them to devise their own. Encourage students to try them all and practice those that they find helpful.

Putting it together: Students can combine positive images with relaxed breathing. There are many more physical techniques, including Brain Gym exercises and simple yoga postures.

The following technique is from Victoria Tennant, called Take 5. Ask students to use the fingers on their hand to memorize five calming steps. Tell them to "Make a fist to represent feeling stressed. Release a finger each time yoau say a step – thumb: "I notice how I feel"; pointer finger: "I accept myself"; third finger: "I calm myself", ring finger: "I notice how I feel now", little finger: "I tell myself something positive." Say "You now have an open hand to represent feeling relaxed and calm."

Educate yourself and your students about the impact of stress on the brain and body. Then teach them real ways to manage their stress. Learn the techniques, model them for your students, and give them opportunity to use and adapt them. Some of the methods may seem hokey to some, but they work. They may even help you deal with the stress of testing, among other things, yourself!! Peace!!

Student link-general tips for test stress: http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/school/teststress/article10.html

For more on the effects of stress on the brain, as well as a range of techniques: http://www.newhorizons.org/spneeds/inclusion/teaching/tennant.htm

Reference: Victoria Tennant, M. Ed. is an independent educational consultant. Her current workshops and curriculum materials reflect a synthesis of 25 years of studying and presenting implications and applications of brain/mind research. She is the creator and trainer of two interactive programs: Healthy Beginnings, Nurturing Young Children's Growing Minds™ and Calming Ourselves in Stressful Moments™ published by Comprehensive Health Education Foundation. Victoria is a licensed Brain Gym® instructor/consultant. For presentations and school in-services contact Victoria at vtennant@verizon.net.