National testing time
is definitely no piece of cake, for parents, teachers or students. But when it
comes to preparing your students for the time constraints and format of the
test, only you know your students’ needs best.
I’ve administered
national in Australia since 2011 at a Year 5 level, but this year was a
different story. I’ve been moved to Year 3, where this would be a student’s VERY
FIRST experience with the test.
Trying to make the
process less stressful and coming up with creative ways for students to
remember how to plan for different types of writing, without the guidance of
the teacher was what led me to a solution.
 |
| My classroom poster. |
In Australia students
will either be given a Narrative OR a Persuasive topic to write about.
Throughout their schooling, students have been presented with all sorts of
templates for planning. Each teacher presents a different format, albeit all
similar in structure. That’s fantastic and can be heaps of fun, however in a
testing situation, there are NO templates for students to use for planning,
they have to just...remember...in a timed situation, YIKES!
The students are given just 5 minutes to plan, 30 minutes to write and then another 5 minutes to edit and finish writing.
How
I Use it:
We’ve practiced
testing conditions with both genre’s of writing. Students are given a blank
piece of A4 (letter) size paper for planning (just like on the test day). I’ve
taught students to fold it into quarters. Then think about what genre they’ve
been asked to write. I’ve given them the 4 square format shown in the pages
following. I’ve also made them into a poster for visual memory. While the students won’t be able to actually
USE the poster on the day, they can visualise where the poster was in the room
and what was on each part. I have taught
them to look to where the poster should be and pull up that mental picture.
More...
I will be in
development, using this 4 square method of planning for other genres, this
product will be updated once I have done
so. The additional pages will be free to the purchaser!
