Put Thinking to the Test

Just as comprehension strategies have helped millions of students learn to read like proficient readers, they can also help students think like effective test-takers. The authors show how students can use background knowledge, mental images, synthesizing, monitoring, inferring, questioning, and determining of importance to understand the genre of tests and to think through the problems they are given. Instead of engaging in artificial and disconnected activities to cram for upcoming tests, students learn skills and strategies that will serve them throughout their school careers and beyond. Presenting numerous classroom vignettes featuring students in grades 3-8, “Put Thinking to the Test” includes: (1) examples of the direct application of thinking strategy instruction to test taking; (2) actual work samples from lessons used with students; (3) additional lesson ideas that go beyond the teaching described in the vignettes; (4) detailed anchor charts; and (5) background on how the authors came to understand this work so that a staff, team, or individual teacher can apply these concepts in their own school setting. This book is divided into three sections. Section I, Wondering About Tests, contains the following chapters: (1) Coming to Know Standardized Tests: Walking in Our Students’ Shoes; (2) Tests as a Genre: What Makes Standardized Tests Unique; and (3) Increasing Student Stamina: The Role of Workshop Structures in Becoming Successful Test Takers. Section ii, Thinking About Tests, contains the following chapters: (4) Ask Questions; (5) Create Mental Images; (6) Draw Inferences; (7) Synthesize New Learning and Ideas; (8) Activate, Utilize, and Build Background Knowledge (Schema); (9) Determine the Most Important Ideas and Themes; and (10) Monitor for Meaning and Problem-Solve When Meaning Breaks Down. Section iii, Still Learning About Tests, contains the following chapters: (11) q and A–Weaving Thinking Together with Testing; and (12) Integrity: It’s All About Being True to Ourselves and Our Profession. References are also included. [Foreword by Ellin Keene.].