This is Only a Test
Teaching for Mathematical Understanding in an Age of Standardized Testing
Description:... "This Is Only a Test" helps teachers plan a year of instruction that takes testing into account while staying focused on a curriculum that encourages students to love and understand mathematics. Transform teachers' and students' feelings toward standardized tests from panic and anxiety to control and confidence. This book's proven strategies help students perform well on standardized tests without compromising teachers' basic beliefs about how children learn. Create a yearlong plan for teaching math while simultaneously ensuring state standards are met; examine the relationship between released test items and the knowledge and skills students need to respond correctly; and discover ways to handle test preparation during the weeks before a test. Section I, Understanding Assessment, includes: (1) Making Formative Assessment Count; and (2) Planning to Teach Well and Test Well. Section ii, Teaching Computation with Alternative Algorithms, includes: (3) Teaching and Testing Addition; (4) Teaching and Testing Subtraction; (5) Teaching and Testing Multiplication; and (6) Teaching and Testing Division. Section iii, Developing an Environment for Success, includes: (7) Creating a Classroom Culture That Supports Good Thinking and Good Testing; (8) The Weeks Before and During the Test; and (9) Communicating with Administrators and Parents. This book also contains an introduction; an afterword; and an index.
Show description