Making Test Prep More Interactive

Our state tests are 5 days away - and needless to say we are under pressure to get the students ready to pass those tests.  4th grade is the first year the students are asked to complete written responses, so that is an additional challenge to prepare them for.   I am linking up with I'm Lovin' Lit for Thursday Throw Down to share how I made our preparation a bit more interactive.



I started by giving them a copy of the rubric that came in the test prep materials for a constructed response.

We read it together and made sure they understood what it meant.  Then I put the students into groups and gave them sample pieces of student work that were included in the test prep material as well.

The original items had scores at the bottom along with rationale.  I cut those off before I handed them out.  Then I asked the students to work together to grade each of these items.

They voted as a group to rank each one, and wrote their scores and rationale on the paper.

We then discussed the rankings as a group, and I showed them the original scores.  They were much harsher than our state graders!  After this process, they wrote their own responses, and worked together to improve them.  I really think this will help them as they take their tests next week.