How effective is taking a group of selected students for 9 weeks into a class to prepare them for the state test?
Back in December, I was asked by my principal to take on a 6/5s contract to take 10-15 students who I felt needed some extra help to simple push them over into the passing bracket. I agreed without even really thinking how effective I could be in such a short time. I took on these 12 boys and began selecting both fiction and nonfiction to pieces to practice with for vocabulary, word choice, comprehension, theme, plot, inferencing, etc. I had planned out vocabulary games and food incentives to motivate them to completely immerse themselves in this opportunity.
Over the course of the nine weeks, they did a fantastic job. They took turns reading aloud, pausing to either summarizing what new information they gathered about the topic or wrote information on their plotline for the story. They were excited to volunteer to read and provide their answers to the questions at the end of each selection. I was over the moon. I truly believed based on what I was seeing in my class that these young men would score exceptionally high on our district level test at the end of the quarter which would provide an indication of how they would fare on the state level test in April. On the day of the benchmark test, I had the room set up for testing, materials they would need for the ELA test, clean desk tops, snacks for the start of the test, and periodically to keep them energized. I really thought the results would reflect all the hard work we had done in such a short time.
Post-test results arrived as they individually finished their test. Much to my disappointment only four of the twelve made substantial gains to place them into the passing ELA category. Five students stayed the same which meant they did not pass and the remaining three fall three grades behind. Once everyone had finished testing we taking about the results as a whole group. We have a safe environment to discuss everyone’s grades. A few of the student remarked that they just stopped caring about half way through and no matter how many snacks or trips to the restroom I provided they were simply over testing. Two students remarked they honestly thought they did really well but come to find out they were the ones that fell three grades. The students who made great improvement stated they took their time, they used all the strategies I taught them, and one even said he wanted to get a high score to show me he appreciated the extra attention I had provided.
So, here I am with state testing in ELA starting next week and I just don’t know what to think. Should I foresee the state results to mirror the district benchmark or will it be different? Realistically was the nine weeks I was given enough time to make a difference for all these students or mathematically speaking the numbers were correct?
Laura Ballesteros
Laura was destined to be a teacher when as a small child she would gather her stuff animals and teach them how to read a book she saw on the PBS show Reading Rainbow. She began her quest to become a teacher with focusing on teaching American History, but an art history teacher guided her towards teaching English. He wanted to ensure she would be able to get a teaching position right out of college. She followed his suggestion and upon subbing at a middle school she ran into her former middle school Social Studies teacher Elizabeth Clontz. Upon completion of their conversation with the principal Laura was offered a position at that school. Mrs. Clontz provided her with the support and direction she needed to complete her first three years of teaching with confidence and dedication to her craft. Laura has spent all 23 years of her teaching at that very school in Language Arts, Special Education, Read 180, Jaguar Den Intervention, and Social Studies 6-8. In 2007, she earned her M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction. In 2013, she earned her National Board Certification in Early Adolescent Language Arts. She is currently in her dream position as a 7th grade teacher focusing on WWI, WWII, Holocaust, Cold War, and Economics. Over her 23 years teaching, she has taken her students on field trips to museums, concerts, Broadway plays, the state capital, theme parks, and wild animal parks. She has created Hogwarts Night, WWII Bond Dances, and AVID Parent/Students Nights. She is most happy with her teaching when students can interact with history and have fun with it. In her free time, she travels to places related to the history she teaches. She has had the privilege of visiting Europe in 2018 and 2022 under the guidance and financial support of the WWII Museum and NAU Martin-Springer Institute. She has traveled across the country under the guidance of economic organizations to explore economic issues of the past and present. She enjoys returning with her wealth of information and experiences to share with her husband and son.