Friday, April 20, 2012

Are You Ready to be Tested?


In Reading Workshop, students have read passages, wrote and rewrote answers, and been "practiced up" into submission.   They dream at night of "back in the day" when language arts was about reading and writing, thinking and discussing.  Their dreams are of a time before legislators decided schools and their students should be controlled by torture/testing. 

Students have been working hard, preparing for the Ohio Achievement Assessment and they are surviving.  Not only are they surviving, but they are getting smarter.  They are reading critically, and attacking questions to find the point.  They are shredding selections to find those details that earn all 4 points on  an extended response question.  Best of all is they are learning words, and they are much better than the words they learned on the back of the bus in third grade.

Good job students!  Tuesday is the day and your success on the test will make me smile.

Here's a chance to help your peers, Reading Workshop students.  What advise advice do you have to help your classmates on the reading test?

This post had been edited.  See Free Advise or Advice for details.

Image from http://atalante.co/fitness/motivation/persistence-determination-hard-work/

49 comments:

Brylee S. said...

My advice is to set up your response paper just like we did with that really long paper but this time fill in the blanks.

Kyra N. said...

I am ready for the test, I got my strategies and I'm ready. The advice I should give you is you should spend your two hours working, and checking. The next stratigyis dont ever rush on the test.

Rachel A. said...

Mr.McGuire the advice I have to other 6th grade students is if your going to take a test you might as well do it good. If you rush through the test all you get to do after words is be bored. So take your time think through the problems if you are having trouble on a problem skip it than go back to it. Also go back in the passage and don't try to remember it just look back in the passage. This year Mr.McGuire thought me that if you don't take your time it doesn't pay of. So if you don't take your time it's only effecting you. When I started doing a this I got 4/4 and 2/2 I was on the ball and my parents were so proud of me. That was the first time my parents were so happy about my grades. I almost cried because I knew through all my years of school if I had just went back and took my time I could have been a strait A student.

Brylee S. said...

My advice is to put your extended response work together like "1. The main character feels____ at the end of the selection" and for every question put it like that. On the math test I advise you to show your work, just a little is all you need that way the person grading the question will know you didn't just copy off somebody beside you.

Haylee N. said...

The advice I have for the other students is

1.Go back in the selection.
It will help because you can get exact information from the text.
2.Use all the time you have.
It will help because then you don't have to rush through it.
3.Do your very best.
So you can get a good grade.
4.Go over your test 3 or 4 times.
This will help because you can make sure you have the answer you want.
5.Make sure you did not skip any questions.
This will help because you want to make sure you have every bubble filled in. At least then you have a 1 out of 4 chance of getting it right.
6.Use your resources.
This will help because if you use you

This the advice I have for the other students in my grade. So I wish everyone good luck on the OAA Test.

Jacob S. said...

Some advice I have for the reading test is go back and look over all your answers and go back and read the selection again to see if you missed any information. Some other advice is make sure you answered every question. Another piece of advice is use the whole time you have to work on it and look over everything. Another piece of advice is don't goof off and try your best to get the best score. The last piece of advice is try not be the first one done because that means you didn't try your best and use the whole time.

Gabrielle L. said...

The advice I think I should give you is that you should use your two hours working and checking the whole time. Another one is you should never be the first one done. The number one strategy is do your best on the test.The main strategies I use are going back into the selection or passage to find my answer. These should be very helpful on the OAA test. If you use these you will do good on the test.

Ethan W. said...

My advice would be pay attention to every thing your teacher teaches you like take the full 2:30hr take your time checking every thing.Another piece of advice is don't skip questions and go back to them later because you will probably forget about it later and lose points.Also underline important words because for example if something said true and you thought it said false so take your time reading the passage. Also when on extended response questions don't think you remember every thing and guess go back in the passage and find specific details to support your answer so you can get all the points possible.

Nichelle C. said...

I think that I am ready for the test. Some advise I have for a 6th grader is look over the questions before you read the passage because it helps you know what you are looking for in the passage. Plug your ears while you whisper the words of the passage to yourself, but it will probably only help you out if it helps you to hear yourself when you read. Take all of the time that you have on the OAA because you have a better chance of getting a higher score if you use any time you have left to check over the test repeatedly.

Ryan D. said...

Here is a list i made for anyone who needs help.
1.Do your best
2.Focus
3. Take breaks
4. Reminder; that is only 1 day
5. Get it done
6. Study
7. listen to the teachers
8.Too hard? Skip it and come back to it

Brylee S. said...

My advice to the people that want to do good on this test is set up your extended response correctly write it neat and make sure it makes sense. On the math test I advise you to UNDERLINE what's important and SHOW YOUR WORK.

Josie S. said...

The advise that I would give out to another 6th grader would be: Take all your time on the test. Don't rush to get finished first. Check over your work when you are finished. Go back in the passage to look for answers and do your best. The reason I think that this is good advise is because if you take all your time on the test and don't rush then you won't skip over questions and you will have enough time to finish your test. Checking over your test is to know that you have the answers you want and to make sure that you didn't skip over a question. If you follow good advise then you will probably do good on the test!

Bailey W. said...

My advice to my peers is to re-read every question to make sure that you understand it and get every detail. If you read a question and don't understand it, re-read it a couple of times. If you have read it and read it and you still don't get it, do what Mrs. Blubaugh says and use your virtual headphones. When you do that, you are hearing and reading the words so you have a better chance of getting it right.

One thing that helps me on the test (this may not help everybody) is taking a little break after each passage. I stop for a little bit so I have a fresh mind when I go on to the next passage and I don't have a bunch of stuff from the other passage confusing me.

If you have absolutely no idea what the answer is, skip it and come back to it later. Make sure you go back and answer it, though, because you don't want to skip a question. You have a 25% chance of getting it right when you just guess, but a 0% chance if you don't answer it at all, but I would only guess if you have tried everything, and still have no clue what the answer is.

Another good thing to do is if you don't know what a word means on one of the answer choices, use process of elimination and eliminate the ones you know are not it. If you can eliminate at two answers, you already have a 50% chance of getting the answer right. If you know that three of the words are not right, that's even better!

Jordan D. said...

My advise that I would give to other six grader is take your time go back and read because we have two in a half hours to do the test and if you don't take your time you will most likely miss more question. If you don't understand something read with virtual headphones because sometimes you will understand it better. When you get done check to see if you have every question answered. If you do go back and read every question and see if you still like your first answered if not read it one more time deiced which one sounds better. Between each passage take a one minute break and then go to the next passage because it will clear your mind and get you ready for the next one.

I hope every one does a good job on the test and use what is best for you on the test.

Caleb L. said...

Some advise I would give my classmates are work their hardest on the test. So they can do their best on the test, I hope everyone does do their best on test. If every does the best we can we could prove that we are the best in our district. Making our school look the best is awesome.

Some strategies are virtual headphones, rereading the question over again, finding answers in the passage and checking over your test. I think all students should use these strategies, because they definitely will help on the test. I am going to use all of these on the test and so should you. I would check over my test because maybe I skipped a question that would count as a zero, and I don't want that.

We are sixth graders I think we should do our best on it. This test will get us into high school and middle school. This is why everyone should do their best on the test. We have 2 and 1/2 hours guys use it all. Good Luck.

Lexi E. said...

The advise that I would give my classmates is just to take take their time and don't stress it. Yes, it's a big test but there's no reason to be nervous or stressed out about it. Plus it's like Mr. McGuire said, they're not testing you to see how smart you are in language arts, it's to see how well you go back in the selection. Which takes me to my next advise.

Another tip that I would give them is, read all the questions, re-read them, go back in the passage and always check over it. Maybe even do like a triple check. Another tip would be to read it out loud if it helps you. (Just don't read too loud, you might distract your peers!) I would give these advises because if you don't go back in the selection you're most likely not going to get the question right. Or you may skip a question and not know it because you didn't check over it.

My last advise is to pick a spot in the room that's not going to distract you. If sitting by a window will distract I wouldn't recommend sitting their because you might waste your time looking out the window. If sitting in a corner is going to make you feel trapped I wouldn't recommend sitting there. I'm sure you get my point.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Hunter H. said...

My advice to my peers is to take all 2 1/2 hours on the test, and to to check over your answers. That will help by making sure you did answer what you wanted to and to give you some time on each question.

Also use the virtual headphones to read the passages, and to read over your extended response very carefully and use all the other strategies you have been taught in the past. That will help by having you use two senses not just one and it will help you to restate the question.

If you get stuck on a problem skip it and come back later if you have time, and if you don't have time just color in a answer, you still will have a 1/4 forth chance of getting it right. That will help so you don't spend all your time on one question and have to rush the rest of the test.

On extended response go back to the passage and find specific details and to number your answer. Read each question a couple of times to make sure you didn't read something wrong. that will help you by helping the grader to get it right off the rubric because the graders don't know you and what you would mean.

Megan M. said...

What I think that the sixth graders should do so we all pass the test is use all the strategies. The strategies that I use are virtual headphones which means where you hold your ears and whisper and you can hear yourself very clearly and it is also somewhat loud, which helps a lot when you don't understand a question. Also another strategy is when you don't understand something re-read it and it might make a little more sense. Another thing that might help some of you is if you don't know what to do is pick up your pencil and try something and maybe it will make something click in your head and all of a sudden you might know what to do.


Something that I do I process of elimination. If there are four answers and you know that three of them are wrong answers, but you don't know what the fourth one means it is probably going to be the fourth one.Another example is if two of them are definitely wrong and there is two more to choose from try to pick the best answer and see which one makes more sense to you and choose it.Those are all ways of process of elimination I do that a lot on my test's.

Another thing is underlining, underlining helps you know what you are supposed to do.It helps you give the exact thing of what you need to earn the points you need on the problem. The question that I usually use that strategy on is extended responses.

When I do the test and I don't understand something, which happens every year I try to use all the strategies and one of them ends up helping me. I hope that everyone in the sixth grade passes the test, and when you do the test I really recommend you using those strategies.You should not rush on the test.Try to use all the strategies that you can. Also do your best.

Andrew N. said...

I think other students will do better if they read the questions before they read the passage. So they know what they are looking for. I also think if they number extended response questions. So it will be easier for the grader to grade. I also think eliminating bad answers. So you have more of a chance to get it right. I think rereading the passage will help find the answer. I think it will help because you won't have to guess. I think you should read the passage out loud so you can understand the passage more. I think this will help because you can figure out what some words mean. I also think you should restate the question. I think this will help because it will be easier to figure out the question. I think you should take your time. I think this because you got a whole two and a half hours.

Jack D. said...

My Advice on the big test is to work hard and do you best. Some plans and things to do that will help you are reading questions first, reading out loud to your self, going back into the selections especially. I think you should read the questions first because then you know what you are looking for. I think you should read the questions out loud if you do not get them because it will allow you to understand them a lot better. I think that going back into the selection is very important because if you don't you won't know for sure if your answer is even close to being correct. If you do not use at least one of these methods you are almost completely sure you will get a worse score than if you did use at least one of these methods.

Ryan D. said...

Here is a list i made for anyone who needs help.
1.Do your best
2.Focus
3. Take breaks
4. Reminder; that is only 1 day
5. Get it done
6. Study
7. listen to the teachers
8.Too hard? Skip it and come back to it

Austin B. said...

Here is advise that I would give other 6th grades. Before the test try not to be nervous and take the WHOLE 2 and half hours. Taking your time is effective if you want a good grade
Some strategies are checking over your work,go back in the passage and copy word for word of the answer and read carefully they can easily trip you up on easy question because of how they word it. They best way to get some of the hard questions in my opinion is the answer is right in front of you in the passage it is not like math OAA when you have to remember stuff you just look for it.

Ceara J. said...

I think that other students will do really good, I think that I will do good to but if they read the selection out loud and read the questions out loud so that some of them will understand it more but not to loud they will distract the others classmates.

Well we have 2 an a half hours, and you really should not be done before then because if you want to go to seventh grade you have to take your 2 an a half hours.then if you get done before the time that you got just keep checking and check over it again and again.

Haylee N. said...

I think everyone should take the whole 2 and a half hours, they should do the best they can, you should use you resources and you should do a hundred %.

Ryan D. said...

Here is a list i made for anyone who needs help.
1.Do your best
2.Focus
3. Take breaks
4. Reminder; that is only 1 day
5. Get it done
6. Study
7. listen to the teachers
8.Too hard? Skip it and come back to it

Jaden H. said...

I think you should practice spelling words that you don't know and then you will know how to spell words you don't know and I think you should take your time reading something.

Jaden H. said...

I think you should practice spelling words that you don't know and then you will know how to spell words you don't know and I think you should take your time reading something. For the reading test you should read everything carefully and make sure you don't mess up. On the math test you should underline the important information.

I think you should write neat on both tests so the graders can read what you put and struggle reading it. I am going to Show my work and show were I got my information on both tests. I am going to do the Appsalute best I can on both tests so I will a good grade for this school because i'm moving back to my old school and want this school to get best score they can possibly get.

Eli C. said...

I think everybody should do there best and work heard and take there time for the whole two hours. I am going to work my hardest and do the best on the test. I am going to take my time and get it done for has much time I get. I hope every body gets a good score and tries there best on the OAA.

April H. said...

I think everyone should take their time on the test and take the whole time to work on it and try to get a good grade. I think we all should do good because we know a lot then we did before. I think to be successful we should go back in the passage and find the answer before we answer the question. I think I would do really good if I read the passage out loud It make better since to me and I will remember the answer if I read it out loud. I think everyone will do great on the OAA.

Seth T. said...

My advice for the people taking the test is to take all of the 2 and a half hours to complete and check it. Another thing to do is when you are doing a extended response is to make sher that you go back in the passage and look for all the details so you can get as many pointed as possible. Remember this is the biggest grade you will be getting in the sixth grade. Another thing is that when you are taking the test is that when you are doing multipliable choice is just like the extended responses go back in the in the passage and look for your answer they are in there.

Cory T. said...

I think all of the sixth grader should slow down read everything on the page and do your absolute best and don't finish early take all the two and a half hours. It will pay off in the end. Make sure you read it care look for it in the passage and do use all your resources. Use all your brain power.

Austin P said...

I think what we can do to do good on the test is tack all the time and try best on the test. I think we will do our best. I think every one should go slow and do not go fast and should not finish with an hour left and if you do you should go over it and mack shore you got all the answer you want. You will get a bad score if you do not us a method.

Hannah S. said...

My advice to make Mr. McGuire happy is to take the whole time. Check your spelling, make sure you use the right words, and be sure to reread your work, and make sure it makes sense. Eliminate answers that don't make sense at all. If you are finished with your test before time is up, and you have checked it too, and you still have time just keep going over it.

What I do is I first do the whole test, and then when I am done I go back through my extended responses, and then I check my multiple choice questions. If I still have time left I check my answers again, and maybe reread the passage.

Eli C. said...

I think everybody should do their best and work hard and take their time for the whole two hours. I am going to work my hardest and do the best on the test. I am going to take my time and get it done for has much time I get. I hope every body gets a good score and tries their best on the OAA.

Austin P said...

I think what we can do to do good on the test is take all the time and try my best on the test. I think we will do our best. I think every one should go slow and do not go fast and should not finish with an hour left and if you do you should go over it and make sure you got all the answer you want. You will get a bad score if you do not us a method.

Matt P. said...

Some of my advice for my classmates would be to listen or pay attention. Listening to the teacher is your number one chance of passing or not getting in trouble. Listening to the teacher gives you hints on how to do questions easier or even just learn new things.

Some more advice would be to take your time. Taking your time is very important when it comes to writing in Language Arts. A reason would be because if your writing really fast or reading a passage on the achievement test you could misspell a word or skip a whole paragraph so take your time.

Also check your work after your done with a test or worksheet. Carelessness as Mrs. Bowlby would say. If you check over your work after your done you may realize that you circled the wrong answer, or skipped a question. Checking is also very important.

Lainey P. said...

My Advice is that EVERY ONE needs to slow down when they are reading a passages and every one should read there answer and see if it sounds right. Does reading out loud help you It might not help other people. No one is telling you can not skip a question and come back,you can or can't read out loud,and telling you that you can not look back in the passage.

Do what ever helps you on the test!!! Do your best and take you time Because about 99.5% of the time, if you do not take your time on the test you will get a lot of wrong answer, and just got done in 35 minutes you got the questions wrong!!!

Mason S. said...

I will take some advice and check my spelling and capitols.

I think that this is good advice to take as much time as you need in the two and A half hours but the people that have all day should take as much time as they need.

April H. said...

I think everyone will do a great job on the OAA. I think I will do a great job if I read out loud and if I read the question out loud. I think everyone should read everything carefully and do not mess up and get confused with what it it asking. I hope everyone takes the whole time on the OAA

Trinity W. said...

I have some advice for sixth grade students. Whatever you do don't sit by someone who likes to distract you. I always have that problem. It has to be completely quiet in the room or I'll fail. You should also be smart and use the whole 2 1/2 hours to reread, check spelling, and make sure you've answered EVERY question. Also be neat. the graders are probably going to be so tired from grading tests, if your not neat you'll probably get a big fat 0. Make sure you have at least 2 sharpened #2 pencils. I've had some problems with that this year already. When you are reading a question and it doesn't make sense and you've read it at least a 100 times, raise your hand; ask the teacher to read it to you. That's the least they could do for you. It doesn't really matter what your grade is. It just matters that you tried and did the best of your ability. Always make sure your comfortable with what your doing. If you don't like reading aloud, don't do it. If you like having someone read the passages and questions to you just ask. They will read it for you. Before you do that, you have to help yourself. I would ADVISE you to take my ADVICE 6th grade students.

Kyra N. said...

I think that what I would tell my classmates is to do their best.Take the whole 2 1/2 hours working and checking.You don't have to get a 100% but I bet the teachers would favour you if you do get 100% on the test.

I think that EVERYONE should use their resources. And if everyone does we will more than likely pass the test. And don't be nervous and be stressed about it . Because what is there to be nervous about it just like regular test except it is bigger and you HAVE to take your time.And they are NOT grading you on how smart you are.And if you did do a dumb mistake ( no offence ) well you won't really have to worry about it because you won't be getting it back EVER. And it's better to not stress about a mistake you done and didn't mean to because I know everyone has done that before.

I have seen lots of teachers mess up on things when they don't mean to and I mean their the smart ones the ones trying to get us ready for the big test. But what I mean is that we can all make mistakes if we don't go back in the selection ( or if your in math check your calculator after doing a problem ) and find the answer be cause the answer is going to be right their in the selection. But good luck to everyone on the test.

Seth T. said...

Some advice that I can give you is to take the full 2 and a half hours remember this is not a race just take your time and do your best. Some other advice is when you are doing Extended response be sure to go back in the passage and tack time to find your answer so you can get all the points possible. Remember this is the biggest test grade in the sixth grade. Another thing that you should do is mark where you got your answer. When you are doing Multiple Choice do the same thing you do with Extended Response go back in the passage and look for your answer. GOOD LUCK!

Trinity W. said...

Good job! Trinity

Tristan U. said...

My advice to help my classmate on the reading test is check over your work at least two or more, take the whole two and half hours. More advice is don't rush to try to get done because if you do you probably get most of the answers wrong. When you are done checking your work and you have at least 15 minutes or more keep checking it until the time is up.

Keifer M. said...

There are many pieces of advice to about taking the O.A.A. The first piece of advice for my classmates is to take your time, use the whole two and a half hours. Then when your done, check it multiple times. I also think that my classmates should use all of the test taking strategies that they have learned.

Another important piece of advice for my classmates is to get a good nights sleep the day before the test so that you come in the next day ready to take the test. Everyone should also get a good breakfast that morning too. The next piece of advice is to not get nervous.

Emily R. said...

Some advice I have for my peers on the Ohio Achievement Assessment is always take your time. It's a pretty long test so it should take you a while but you do have two and a half hours. I think taking your time is one of the most important things you should do on that test. The reason why I think that is because if you take your time you're probably going to get a good score/grade.

Another thing that you should probably do is check over everything problem. I know when I don't check over my work I usually miss or even skip a problem. I know if you take a long time on the test you won't have as muck time to check over it, but I usually always stick with my first answer.

If you don't want to take your time the first time then I would check over it about three to five times (check over it anyway even if you did take alot of time on it). I know alot of times it's really miserable sitting in a chair for two and a half hours and you can hear everybody outside at recess having a good time. In the long run it will pay off taking your time. I remember when I was in third grade and I was taking the test I didn't necessarily take my time, and my score was not what I was capable of, and I got really mad at myself. When I was in fifth grade I took almost the full two and a half hours and I was really pleased with my scores.

Another thing that you should probably do is get a good nights sleep. I know when I don't go to bed till 11:00 at night I'm usually really grouchy, and I don't do the best on school work. So that's really important to me to get a really really good nights sleep.

The day before the test I always try to review in my head my multiplication facts, what idiom, hyperbole, personification, simile, and metaphors mean.

So studying, taking my time, checking over everything, and getting a good nights sleep is something that I do every year for the test!

Caleb W. said...

My advice to all the other sixth graders is to take your time because you only have two and half hours. It may seem like a long time but when you start it will go by so fast. Always underline words from the text so you can go back in the passage and find the answer. Once you get done you should check it over at least two or three times. Everyone should also use their test strategies to help them with the test.

Molly C. said...

My advice for students to be successful is to always try your hardest no matter what. If you give up on something that's hard and you think you can't do it, then you won't be able to be successful. You should always tackle challenges knowing that you can do it!

To be successful, I also use all the strategies that I have learned. For example process of elimination, looking back in the passage for key words and using virtually headphones. Virtually headphones is where you plug your ears and whisper the questions or the passage to yourself. If you whisper without plugging your ears then it's not that loud, but if you whisper while plugging your ears, it makes it sound loud in your mind. For some people, if they read a question out loud, then they get it better so doing this is helpful. Plus you're not disturbing other people.

My other advice is to use all of the time that you have on the OAA. Most of us get two and a half hours, but some people get longer. Even if you have all day, you should still use most of the time. That way you can take your time on questions and check over it however many times you want.

Also don't be nervous! It's nothing to get really upset about. All you have to do is pretend that it's just another one of those test that you have taken all year. You should make sure that you get a good nights sleep and a good breakfast on the days that we have test. That way you'll be ready to do your best! Good luck everybody!!

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