ISAT 2012 “Crunch Time”

ISAT 2012“Crunch Time” Mindy Pudlo Midwest Educational Consulting Agency meca@literacy4all.com 847-838-1067

Our Objectives Today • Test overview • Test specifics • Test taking skills/strategies • Powerful Practices • Extended response • Resources

2012 Reading ISAT Assessment • Test Dates: March 5 – March 16, 2012 • No new items written specifically to the Common Core Standards will be included as part of students’ scores/results for the 2012 ISAT tests. Nevertheless, some items that were developed for ISAT do align (or partially align) to Common Core Standards.

Reading ISAT Assessment • Item formats: Multiple Choice (MC) and Extended Response (ER) • Four answer choices for MC at all grades • Three 45-minute sessions • Up to 10 additional minutes for all students

3 Test Sessions • Session 1 • 6 short passages (literary, informational, poems) • 30 multiple-choice questions • Session 2 • 2 longer passages • 20 multiple-choice questions • 1 extended-response item • Session 3 • 2 or 3 passages • 20 multiple-choice questions • 1 extended-response item

Testing Policies and Prohibitions • Must be administered uniformly across the state • Read and use Test Administration Manual • Read the Professional Testing Practices for Educators • Supervise students during testing • Do not help students with test items

Examples of State Approved Accommodations for IEP/504/LEPwww.isbe.net • Extended testing time • Flexible scheduling • Small group or individual administration in a separate location • Braille, large print • Opportunity to stand, move, or pace • Direction paraphrasing • Student reading aloud to self

ISAT SPECIFIC Question/answers follow in order of text. What ways could knowing this help students? Table Talk

Students across Illinois seem to have difficulty with items that address these topics: • Author’s message • Identifying genre of a passage • Items that require students to look back to a specific paragraph • Point of view • Antonyms • Homonyms • Mood and tone • Irony • Text structure/ organizational pattern • Elements of fiction • Inference

EVERY TEXT • What is the genre of this text? • What would be a (another) good title for this text? • What was the author’s purpose in writing this text (PIE)? • Point of view? • What is the author’s message? • *Hint-MCCRG (Main character, conflict, resolution, generalization)

At This Point in the Game • Students that are reading a year or more below grade level Do what is best for them! • Students reading at or above grade level • Students reading within one year of grade level

Your 1st Task *Red group can practice the same skills and strategies but needs instructional level text. • Sort your kids • White • Yellow • Red

Your 2nd Task • Short, grade level passages • Timed • Repeated readings • Test skill/strategy work and powerful practices • Start with test skill/ strategy work and powerful practices Fluency Only Comprehension

Figuring out Instructional Level • NWEA-MAP • Top score of Lexile range minus 100 • Conversion chart • Fountas and Pinnell • Instructional • 90% word recognition • Good comprehension

Multiple Choice Test Taking Tips 1. Come up with the answer in your head before looking at the possible answers, this way the choices given on the test won't throw you off or trick you. 2. Read all the choices before choosing your answer. 3. Eliminate answers you know aren't right. 4. Don't keep on changing your answer, usually your first choice is the right one, unless you misread the question.

M/C Test Taking Tips Cont… 5. In "All of the above" and "None of the above" choices, if you are certain one of the statements is true don't choose "None of the above" or one of the statements are false don't choose "All of the above". 6. In a question with an "All of the above" choice, if you see that at least two correct statements, then "All of the above" is probably the answer. 7. Usually the correct answer is the choice with the most information.

Focus • Timing is everything! • Dividing up the test; modeling sections for students, then having them try sections, timed to understand how much time is involved Ex. 55 min total: Preview-5 Actively Read-15 M/C-15 ER-15 Sponge-5 • One trial run prior to ISAT; timed, authentic **for students within one year of grade level reading only

Before Reading • Title, Pictures • Skim M/C questions • Read the ER prompt carefully, underline specific parts • Identify what genre of text it is to get a mindset for reading it • Nonfiction?---Informational? Directions? Other? • Activate background knowledge • Fiction? • Poetry?

During Reading • Actively read using context clues to figure out unknown words • Underline text to use for ER • Apply Read, Cover, Remember, Retell Strategy

Read, Cover, Remember, RetellJan Ellison • Read as much as your hand can cover • Cover that part when done reading • Remember information (main ideas) • Retell yourself what you read

After Reading • Skip any you have great trouble with • As you work through M/C questions, mark where you found the last answer in the text with question numbers • Finish any M/C items you skipped; guess if necessary • Complete ER • If time, reread extended response answer to make sure you answered the question fully and included 4 required elements

Two Powerful Concepts 1. Context Clue Types 2. Question-Answer Relationships…QAR (Taffy Raphael)

6 Types of Context Clues • Inference/General Context…Logic • Root Words and Affixes • Grammar • Definitions and Examples • Synonym • Contrast/Antonym

Definitions and Examples • The policeman examined the vicinity, or area. • The arbitrator, the neutral person chosen to settle the disagreement, arrived at her decision. • He could make the journey by mule cart, train, or another conveyance. • Some spiders spin silk with tiny organs called spinnerets. • Toads, frogs, and some birds are predators that hunt and eat spiders.

Synonym • His guilt and regret showed that his remorse was real. • The slender woman was so thin her clothes were too big for her. • The thatch in the roof was as likely to burn as any other straw. • Her new sidekicks are just as silly and loud as her old friends.

Contrast/Antonym • The shiny, new sports car seemed out of place in front of the dilapidated house. • Unlike Jamaal’s room, which was immaculate, Jeffrey’s room was very messy. • At night the street was pacific, unlike the crowded, noisy place it was during the day. • I abhor traffic jams. I love it when my drive is quick and easy.

Inference/General Context…Logic • An exoskeleton acts like a suit of armor to protect the spider. • John burst out of the woods and found himself at the edge of a precipice. Clinging to a boulder, he gazed down dizzily at the blue ribbon of river below. • The man gigged the large fish, but he needed his friend to enlarge the hole to drag it out of the water.

Root Words and Affixes • People who are terrified of spiders have arachnophobia. (fear of spiders) • Then they are skillfully painted with beautiful designs. (full of skill) • The stars are innumerableand no one has been able to count them. (not able to number)

Grammar (word function or part of speech) • Swiveling his hips, waggling the club, and aiming for the pin, he drove his first four golf balls into the water. • Most spiders molt five to ten times. • He used the spade to dig up the garden. • She took him down a path that meandered through the woods. • We meandered through the woods.

What is the meaning of meanderedas it is used in the text? • A winding path or course • A turn in a stream • To follow a winding path or course • To wander slowly

Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach (Gail Tompkins) • The six types of context clues do not operate in isolation; two or three types of contextual information are often included in the same sentence. • Researchers recommend that students be taught how to use context clues because often clues are useful, and they do help students develop word-learning strategies to use on their own. • The best way to teach students about context clues is by modeling. • Capable and less capable readers learn from context at about the same rate. Researchers have speculated that the difference in vocabulary growth is due to differences in the amount of words that students read, not the differences in their reading achievement.

Question-Answer Relationship QAR is useful as a student tool in providing a basis for three comprehension strategies: 1) locating information 2) determining text structures and how they convey information 3) determining when an inference would be required. • Right There • Think and Search • Author and You • On My Own

Right There In The Book The answer is in oneplace in the text. • Reread • Scan • Look for key words

Think & SearchIn The Book The answer is in several places in the text. • Skim or reread • Look for important • information • Summarize

Author and YouIn My Head The answer is not in the text. Think about how what you know and what is in the text fit together. INFER • Reread • Think about what you already know and what the author says • Predict

On My OwnIn My Head The answer is not in the text. • Think about what you already know • Think about what you’ve read before • Make connections

Let’s Practice QAR! • Read Mary had a Little Lamb • Identify which type of question each is using QAR • Compare with table

Mary had a little lamb,Little lamb, little lamb,Mary had a little lamb,Its fleece was white as snowEverywhere that Mary went,Mary went, Mary went,Everywhere that Mary wentThe lamb was sure to goIt followed her to school one daySchool one day, school one dayIt followed her to school one dayWhich was against the rules.It made the children laugh and play,Laugh and play, laugh and play,It made the children laugh and playTo see a lamb at school

Which QAR is it? Why was it against the rules for the sheep to be at school? • Sheep are messy. • Kids are scared of sheep. • Kids get silly with a sheep around. • The teacher hates sheep. • Right There • Think & Search • Author & Me • On My Own

Which QAR is it? Where did the sheep follow Mary? • To her house • Across the road • Up the tree • To school • Right There • Think & Search • Author & Me • On My Own

Which QAR is it? Would you like a sheep as a pet? • Right There • Think & Search • Author & Me • On My Own

Which QAR is it? How did the sheep have a busy day? • He went to the doctor. • He went to school with Mary and played. • He stayed home. • He played with other sheep. • Right There • Think & Search • Author & Me • On My Own

Which QAR is it? What might happen next? • The sheep will help the kids with math. • Kids will ask if the sheep can stay. • The teacher will have Mary take the sheep home. • The sheep will fall asleep. • Right There • Think & Search • Author & Me • On My Own

Table Practice with ISAT • Read MC questions first • Read the passage • Answer the M/C using QAR to help you • Label each question using QAR types

Extended Response 1.Restate Question 2. Support/References (focus on key points) (story facts) 3. Interpretation/Analysis 4. Summary Statement (real life thoughts & feelings) (restate theme/wrap up)

Essentials for Successful ER 2. Understanding of the state content expectations –previous slide 1. Ability to successfully read the text with good comprehension

ISAT 2012 “Crunch Time”