I've just finished the introductory pages. I found "look-backs effective grade 3 and higher" very interesting. Especially since I've been very frustrated with the inability many of my social studies students to NOT be able to do jsut that.
We only have "Coach" style books to use for textbooks, and whatever we are able to glean from the internet. The book has the standard in a grey box with a short (1-6 paragraph) minilesson underneath. That is followed by a few multiple choice questions. I find that even when we go over the mini-lesson, and I give them background to help them understand, many are unable to find the answers in the short passage above. None of my group exceeded the standard last year, and 7 did not meet. I'm using all sorts of tricks - charts, graphs, etc. Very frustrating.
I have this group for reading as well, and this 9 weeks is a non-fiction focus. Maybe getting it in 2 classes will help!
I just finished reading the introductory pages, and I want to learn more about the "look backs" for my reading classes. I try to give my students copies of informational text, and I ask them to highlight where they found the answers to the questions. Since our students can write in the CRCT booklets, I hope this activity with give them extra practice. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea. I'll pass it along.
ReplyDeleteAs we move to the common core the coach books will become irrelevant. Has anyone used Expert Space to locate text on students Lexile Levels and teach mini lessons on using look backs? We will learn the Read, Ask Yourself, Paraphrase Strategy inclass 3. This is useful across multipke contents and grade levels. Once students realize that looking back is an acceptable strategy, the quality of their work improves, not only on tests, but also in assignments.
ReplyDeleteLooking back is a strategy that I've found must be taught to the students and retaught over and over again. We are dealing with a generation of kids that lack the the foundation of skills to read well. Social Studies and Science classes catch the brunt of this daunting task. The learners are very naive and repetition must be used. Coach books are good at outlining information to quickly study concepts and reference before a standardized test. Have you tried pulling information from Galileo, Searchasaurus, JSTOR, or other electronic databases for the students to read? History classes never have good textbooks and the articles serve the same purpose for delivering information from a secondary source. There hasn't been a lot of curriculum development in Science and Social Studies so, it's going to be interesting to see what unravels in those fields as we enter the realm of common core.
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