Testing season is coming! I have a confession to make. I love testing! I love taking tests, giving tests, and getting results. The concrete measurements fulfill something in me. To get a rank and measure of progress can not only be reassuring, but it can be useful! And if a test involves filling in those bubbles, that's an extra special kind of fun.
As a parent and teacher, I've been known to give a sight word vocabulary test using the SORT (which they trained us to use in college) every six months when my child's reading was really exploding. Using that test I would get a grade level year and month for my child's vocabulary (ex. 3.1 equals third grade, first month). I like to be able to look at a book, find out the level, and be able to get a good idea if it will be easy or hard for my child to read. Independent books should be at or slightly below level, instructional books should be slightly above level so as not to be overly frustrating but provide a challenge, and read-aloud books should generally be above level. To find out the reading level of a book, the Accelerated Reader program has leveled many books, but there are other measurement systems out there and many easy readers at your library will have the reading level printed on the back of the book.
Now that my son is a proficient reader, he often amazes me at what he can read. Sometimes I begin reading a book aloud and he can't wait for me to continue so he reads on his own. I will call up a book quiz on Book Adventure.com to find out that he can pass the comprehension test with no problem. There are other sources of book quizzes. The Magic Tree House website has comprehension quizzes available for the books in that series. Please comment if you know of others. Like I said, I love tests! They help me to be able to know for sure if my child understood what he read when he is reading on his own.
My five-year-old also surprises me with the words that she can read as I help her decode an Easter card or preschool morning message. This week at school she had to answer, "Do you want the snow to be gone?" "Yes, no, or maybe." That test question was an easy one. The answer was an emphatic "yes!"
Showing posts with label testing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label testing. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Testing... testing
We recently completed the Peabody test, our standardized test requirement for homeschool. Something that really struck me this time in light of this blog was that Spelling was entirely separate from Reading on this test. Thinking back, this also is true of other tests we have used. Spelling is such a fascinating sport. I call it a sport because I really enjoy the Scripps National Spelling Bee and got a real kick out of the documentary Spellbound. It is interesting to me how these master spellers study the history and origin of words in the English language and how this history is reflected in phoneme patterns. These teenagers have spent countless hours of intense study on words. Then a few days ago a fellow homeschooling mom posted a link to this video on Facebook. It went along with my train of thought perfectly!
But back to the Peabody, the two Reading sections on the test are Vocabulary and Comprehension. Understanding of phonics is definitely important for the vocabulary section. If reading were a three-legged table, phonics and phonemic awareness are two very important legs of the table. But they cannot hold up the table alone. I watched my son take the Peabody for the second year in a row. For the second year in a row, he blew me away on the vocabulary section. And it isn't his score that blows me away. It is his process that fascinates me. It goes something like this: look at the word, sound out the syllables, think if they are close to any words in his vocabulary. Often the words on the test are difficult to sound out. The only way a child would know the word is if it is already a word they have heard. This is the same in reading.
I attended a wonderful conference where I had a great discussion with a reading tutor who has been teaching reading for about 1,000 years (I don't know her true age, but I'm fairly certain that she would agree with me based on our short discussion ;)) She applies a similar philosophy to the one used by foreign language learning programs and that is "hear it, speak it, write it, read it." Children need to hear a word before they can say a word and they need to be able to say the word before they can read it. I would put the writing part last, especially with young children in their native language.
Good reading skills definitely help with writing and spelling. I'm sure we've all spelled a word on paper and looked at it to see if it "looks right." Even spelling bee champs do this mentally. Reading comprehension also involves creating a mental picture of what you are reading, especially in the Peabody test. Just as picture books help youngsters with comprehension, creating mental pictures helps increase comprehension. It was interesting to watch my son analyze the pictures in the Peabody test to see which one matched the section he had just read. I could tell which vocabulary words got him hung up by which of the four pictures he chose. I could also tell when he struggled to hold his mental picture in his head and when looking at the pictures.
Testing is a fascinating process. It doesn't tell all, but it tells an awful lot. And not necessarily about the subjects it is testing. It may tell more about a child's attention to detail and attention span than about their spelling skills. It may ask about things they haven't covered well or things that are especially easy for them. As a parent, I get more value out of the process than the final result. Which is the same reason I enjoy reading. The process IS the final result: enjoying a book and learning what it has to teach you. If it helps improve test scores, that's just a bonus.
But back to the Peabody, the two Reading sections on the test are Vocabulary and Comprehension. Understanding of phonics is definitely important for the vocabulary section. If reading were a three-legged table, phonics and phonemic awareness are two very important legs of the table. But they cannot hold up the table alone. I watched my son take the Peabody for the second year in a row. For the second year in a row, he blew me away on the vocabulary section. And it isn't his score that blows me away. It is his process that fascinates me. It goes something like this: look at the word, sound out the syllables, think if they are close to any words in his vocabulary. Often the words on the test are difficult to sound out. The only way a child would know the word is if it is already a word they have heard. This is the same in reading.
I attended a wonderful conference where I had a great discussion with a reading tutor who has been teaching reading for about 1,000 years (I don't know her true age, but I'm fairly certain that she would agree with me based on our short discussion ;)) She applies a similar philosophy to the one used by foreign language learning programs and that is "hear it, speak it, write it, read it." Children need to hear a word before they can say a word and they need to be able to say the word before they can read it. I would put the writing part last, especially with young children in their native language.
Good reading skills definitely help with writing and spelling. I'm sure we've all spelled a word on paper and looked at it to see if it "looks right." Even spelling bee champs do this mentally. Reading comprehension also involves creating a mental picture of what you are reading, especially in the Peabody test. Just as picture books help youngsters with comprehension, creating mental pictures helps increase comprehension. It was interesting to watch my son analyze the pictures in the Peabody test to see which one matched the section he had just read. I could tell which vocabulary words got him hung up by which of the four pictures he chose. I could also tell when he struggled to hold his mental picture in his head and when looking at the pictures.
Testing is a fascinating process. It doesn't tell all, but it tells an awful lot. And not necessarily about the subjects it is testing. It may tell more about a child's attention to detail and attention span than about their spelling skills. It may ask about things they haven't covered well or things that are especially easy for them. As a parent, I get more value out of the process than the final result. Which is the same reason I enjoy reading. The process IS the final result: enjoying a book and learning what it has to teach you. If it helps improve test scores, that's just a bonus.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)