Angela Haberberger

February 12, 2012

Annotation 1
Chapter 3 of the book, Put Thinking to the Test, describes a strategy for
guiding students to increase their testtaking sta!ina"through a #orkshop !odel$
%n order to !ake students feel !ore co!fortable #ith standardi&ed tests,
teachers can bring sa!ples fro! tests into the classroo! prior to for!al testing
ti!es$ 'e can prepare students by !aking the tests a part of a current classroo!
#orkshop structure in #hich the teacher leads and !odels, the students ha(e
!ultiple and e)tended opportunities to practice, learn fro! !istakes, and e)plore,
and reflect on their findings$ *oing so pro(ides the fa!iliarity and predictability
of the #orkshop structure, #hich has been used to introduce !any other concepts,
but also gi(es students opportunities to e)perience different aspects of
standardi&ed tests and discuss their thinking about the!$ Thereby, building their
sta!ina and confidence for testtaking$ %n other #ords, build their background
kno#ledge of strategies, and teach the! ho# to apply these strategies to test
taking$
%n so!e #ays, this source, in this particular chapter, is useful to !y #ork$ The
application of the practices #ithin it #ould need to be !odified for +indergarten,
but could yield beneficial results for !y students no# and in their future$ This
structure is practical for classroo! teachers$ % belie(e using the #orkshop !odel
to prepare students for any kind of test or assess!ent beginning in +indergarten
and continuing each subse,uent year can ease the an)iety and confusion due to the
no(elty and unfa!iliarity of standardi&ed tests$ %f used correctly, it can gi(e
students enriching e)periences of applying co!prehension strategies used during
pre(ious #orkshops to standardi&ed test #orkshops$ Therefore, % agree #ith the
perspecti(e that -this predictability and routine ha(e i!portant i!plications for
testtakers .this stick#ithitness helps build the kind of sta!ina learners need
to be successful testtakers/ 0p$ 312$
As % #as reading, % could feel the authors3 passion about teaching and learning$
They see! to strongly belie(e in the practices they are pro!oting$ Then, % #ent
back to the Fore#ord and About 4ur 5ook sections$ 6llin +eene says, -% can3t
i!agine ho# the book could be !ore practical or i!!ediately useful to classroo!
teachers/, and -% kno# teachers #ill de(our this book and #ill find its suggestions
(ery usable/ 0p$ 72$ 4n p$ )iii, the authors state, -in !any #ays these three
chapters represent a ce!enting of our strongly held beliefs about teaching and
learning$/ To#ard the end of chapter three, the authors state, -.#e belie(e that
creating a thoughtful classroo! #orkshop is 8ust as i!portant to students
successfully na(igating standardi&ed tests as any of the instruction #e !ight
pro(ide/ 0p$ 9:2$ % reread this state!ent se(eral ti!es"feeling their &eal and
recogni&ing po#er #ithin it$ ;o yes, based on these ,uotes and !any others, %
#ould say the authors ha(e a strong bias$
As for the reliability of the infor!ation, % #anted to kno# #ho these people
#ere to be #riting their beliefs and opinions, #anting !e to trust and try the! in
!y classroo!$ % looked back to the Ackno#ledge!ents$ -<osann 5$ 'ard and
;u&anne Plaut, P65C3s president and (ice president of education/ insisted that the
authors #rite this book 0p$ )i2$ 4kay, i!pressi(e % suppose$ ;e(eral teachers #ere
also na!ed and thanked for allo#ing the authors into their classroo!s, and the
authors referred to the! as -teaching colleagues/, #hich leads !e to belie(e the
authors are teachers as #ell$ P$ 92 offers one such e)a!ple fro! a classroo! in
#hich three fourth graders #ere tracking their thinking together about so!e
standardi&ed test ,uestions$ Therefore, in !y eyes, the infor!ation is reliable$
'hat better place can ideas for teaching and learning co!e fro! than real
classroo!s=
Although +indergarten does not take standardi&ed tests like the >AP, they do
participate in (arious infor!al assess!ents throughout the year$ And they are
forced into these -testing situations/ 0p$ 3?2 that are not authentic classroo!
situations$ 'hen they ha(e to participate in the *istrict 'riting Assess!ent
0*'A2, the ;pelling %n(entory, and the %n(entory 5ag Assess!ent 0!ath2, % read
the script, gi(e the pro!pt, and apologi&e #hen % tell the! % cannot help the! nor
can they help one another$ Then % set up blinders in bet#een the! so they keep
their eyes on their o#n papers$ And they look at !e like %3! cra&y$ -%n #hat other
settings @than standardi&ed testingA #ould #e ask children and adolescents 0the
!ost social beings of allB2 to #ork #ithout talking to peers or gaining insight fro!
adults=/ 0p$ 3?2
% had not put the #orkshop label on !y teaching style, but #hile reading this %
reali&ed !y teaching (ery fre,uently follo#s this philosophy of crafting, co!posing,
and reflecting 0this part is a !ore recent co!ponent that % a! still trying to
i!ple!ent in !eaningful #ays2 0p$ 3:2$ And preparation for assess!ents is no
e)ception$ For e)a!ple, % create the children3s #riting 8ournals using the sa!e
paper used for the *'A, #e practice #riting to pro!pts, and % circulate the roo!
during #riting ti!e to briefly conference #ith indi(iduals$ % (alidate the children3s
#riting 0pictures, spelling, punctuation, etc$2$ % do not spell #ords for the!, but
encourage the! to use their resources 0they ha(e personal alphabet charts and -no
e)cuse #ord/ charts2 and trust their brains$ At the end of #riting ti!e, they
either share #ith their tables, #ith a partner, or #ith the #hole class$ And
class!ates offer co!pli!ents and suggestions for ne)t ti!e$ 'hen it ca!e ti!e
for the *'A this year, the children still ga(e !e strange looks #hen % told the! %
could not help the! nor could they talk to each other$ 5ut they kne# #hat to do by
the!sel(es, and plunged into the #riting #ith confidence$
% really liked the section about <eflection$ This ,uote resonated #ith !e,
-<eflection is the ti!e #hen teachers and students synthesi&e the day3s #ork$ %t3s
too i!portant to skip.Ha(ing ti!e for reflection is a shrinking co!!odity for
children$ ;tudents are rushed fro! acti(ity to acti(ity, #ith little ti!e to think
about #hat they ha(e done$/ 0p$ 932$ Truthfully and unfortunately, fre,uent
sharing and reflecting is ne# in !y classroo!$ % recently took a step back, and
do#nsi&ed our daily schedule$ %t #as feeling noncohesi(e and hapha&ard$ % found
chunks of ti!e that could be added to <eading and 'riting ti!es in #hich the
children get to share #ith each other$ They are !ore e)cited about those parts of
the day then the e)tra -the!e/ acti(ities #e #ere doing before$ And that3s all the
acti(ities #ere"e)tra$
Playing off of that last thought, the co!parison of -long thinkers/ to the
-faster is better/ !entality co!es to !ind 0p$ 9C2$ %t has been drilled into !e, as
it has for !ost A!ericans, to do as !uch as % can as fast as % can$ 6fficiency,
,uantity, and !ultitasking"the A!erican #ay$ This is #hy !any teachers rush
students fro! one acti(ity to the ne)t #ithout pausing to reflect$ %t is part of our
culture and e)istence"go, go, goB % a! guilty of this speed teaching and learning$
5ut, % a! beginning to turn a ne# leaf, and % a! deter!ined to encourage the
characteristics of -long thinkers/ for !y students$