Winning Strategies for Test Taking, Grades 3-8

Linda Denstaedt has co-directed the Oakland Writing Project since 2002, where she has also been writer-in-residence for the past two years. Prior to her work for the Oakland Intermediate School District, Denstaedt taught tenth- through twelfth-grade English for 31 years. Denstaedt also taught creative writing, fifth grade, and physical education, and she was both the reading coordinator and the language arts coordinator for the Clarkston Community Schools at different points throughout her career. Since 1996 Denstaedt has been a prolific author of material on literacy and language arts education. She has also presented at over 50 international, national, regional, state, and county consulting workshops. Judith J. Cova Kelly is currently an independent literacy consultant with experience teaching elementary, middle, and higher education classes. Kelly has presented at national and statewide professional conferences on classroom structure, writer's workshops, reading comprehension instruction, and statewide assessment training. For the Michigan Department of Education, Kelly sat on a committee to revise grade-level content expectations. She has published one article on literacy in the Language Arts Journal of Michigan and she has another pending publication in the Michigan Reading Journal. In 2004 Kelly wrote and determined the implementation of a state grant for more than $1 million for the Monroe Public Schools. Kathleen Kryza consults internationally for her company, Infinite Horizons, and also presents nationally for the Bureau of Education and Research (BER). Kryza has more than 20 years experience in motivating and reaching children, educators, and others through her teaching, consulting, coaching, and writing. Her expertise is in working with students in special education, gifted education, alternative education, and multicultural education. She has a master's degree in special education and is an adjunct professor in special education at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Preface Acknowledgments About the Authors 1. Coaching Test Thinkers 2. Test-Reading Strategies 3. Question-Answering Strategies 4. Constructed Response Questions 5. Writing to a Prompt 6. Preparing to Use This Unit of Study Resources References Index

"Arming your students with this game plan will lead to victory on test day. These well-defined writing and reading strategies will positively impact students' scores." -- Cheryl Yocum, English Language Arts Consultant "This book provides teachers with specific units for intentionally developing students' ability to show what they know rather than show that they know how to take tests. It provides tools and information that make it easy for teachers to develop units based on their own state tests. By employing the strategies in this book, teachers will level the playing field for all our students and make high-stakes test taking a game of knowledge rather than a game of chance." -- Mary McConnell, School Improvement Facilitator "Every teacher must read this book and teach these strategies immediately. I am seeing awesome results in my students' test scores, and they want more strategies. Learning is making sense to them! This book has changed my teaching." -- Maria Hirsch, Language Arts Teacher