Testing for the ACT and SAT are just around the corner. Schools nationwide are planning for additional meetings, sending out automated voice messages to families that reminds students to “get some sleep” and in-class test prep.
Test prep generally takes the form of practice questions, daily drills and putting a pause on regular curriculum to pass around packets of daily test questions. While educators typically spend a great deal of time prepping for standardized exams, there are ways to tackle test prep without sacrificing classroom time.
Use technology in a targeted way
Some students are given the opportunity to use a tool that read the text to them. Teach students to look for this tool on different assignments before they even sit for a test. Teach them the typical icons to look for that represent this function. Develop lessons that ask students to access Read&Write for Chrome so that they can trigger documents to be read to them.
Use a Variety of Tools: Develop lessons that ask students to digitally highlight phrases or select terms and move them to other areas of a document. If students do not have an ease in using these kinds of tools in class, they will it when they take a test.
Create Interactive Files for Students: Online tests are documents with hyperlinks. They include text to read, videos to watch, and images to view, and they ask students to click on, write about, drag, etc. Develop some assignments that adopt this kind of multimedia information delivery system.