ELA Test Prep: Picture Book Literature Circles

The week before state testing has a strange tension in the air. Students know that something different is coming, but aren't sure how to express their worry. Teachers fret by the copier, making packets of test prep and trying to figure out which standards haven't been covered.

This year I decided to take a different pathway. I knew that I wanted to review literary elements with students, especially theme. But what materials to use? On the one hand, I have years worth of state testing samplers. Some of them aren't terrible. On the other hand...I didn't become a teacher to use state testing samplers, if you know what I mean.

What about picture books? We have a lovely book room with lots of complex picture books. This book room has been rather quiet since our district adopted a reading series. I decided to gather some of my favorites and let the students pick which ones they'd like to read.

To add some accountability, I used a version of my literature circle materials for students to complete independently.

The results astonished me! Kids showed tremendous enthusiasm for their self-selected books. They sat and read together, working diligently on their packets and talking about their opinions. "Is there a way that we could figure out the specific year for the setting of The Memory Coat?" one group asked. In another group, the topic of whether Weslandia was a fantasy or realistic fiction led to a spirited discussion."Obviously it's fantasy, because he'd need a building permit for all of those structures. Especially in that neighborhood," said one civic-minded student.

Listening in on the students' conversations allowed me to provided just-in-time reteaching and reviewing. I was asked to explain again the difference between point of view in a narrative text and point of view in an expository text. "What's that word that starts with a c, that means how people feel about a word?" another student asked. (Connotation!) Another group had totally missed the details that lead to realizing that Nim and the War Effort takes place during World War 2, so I used the pictures and the text to demonstrate.

I also wanted to review the process of finding theme. This is so important for standardized testing, and so difficult for students to grasp. Students have used their Common Themes list all year long, but
I wanted them to revisit the different themes and practice supporting a theme with details from the text. So I showed them to how to make a Theme Graphic organizer, modeled writing a paragraph to express the theme of a story, and directed them to work with their groups to select a theme, find text evidence, and write a paragraph to support the theme.

It was amazing! The conversations were rich and complex, and students really went back to the text to find support. As a teacher, I could not have asked for anything more. We spent our last few days of instruction before tests doing real reading work that everyone loved.

As you think about last minute test preparation, consider using picture books! Not only will you find students engaged with rich stories, but you will also have the chance to hear student conversations and support students at the moment of need.

Meaningful Multiple Choice

Answering multiple choice questions doesn't have to be drudgery! In fact, multiple choice questions can have a place in an engaging ELA classroom. Getting kids to talk more about multiple choice questions helps them to move beyond "right/wrong" thinking and into looking more deeply at the text.

Reflect on the process of answering. Which questions were hardest? Easiest?
This is a great place to begin. I like to have students put a star beside the one that they think would be hardest, and a circle by the one that they think is easiest. Now here's the interesting part: Why? Listening to students talk about their choices reveals so much about their thinking.

Working in groups to answer questions
This works best with the really tough multiple choice questions, and when students feel comfortable with each other. As my students did this last week, I enjoyed circulating to listen in on conversations. In one group I heard a student timidly offer a (correct) answer, only to be overruled by the group. I called the student aside about a seemingly unrelated issue--and then I said, "You were right for #1! Why didn't you stand up for your answer?" It was neat to watch how the student returned to the group and re-started the conversation!

Some kids hated the questions in the item sampler, and it was easy to see why. Listening to them grumble good-naturedly about the wording of the questions was kind of fun for me.

Have students write their own multiple choice questions to reflect deep thinking about the text
The second part of this is the most important, because it is what provokes discussion. What is "deep thinking"? And how can we craft questions to reflect it?

In last week's groups, this led to some conversations about "tricky" versus "deep". The students were reading a version of Stone Soup from the PSSA Sixth Grade ELA Sampler. The man in the story asked the woman for several different food items. A question that presents lists of these items and asks students to choose the correct list would be tricky...but would it be deep? For kids, this was a satisfying and purposeful conversation as they grappled with where such an answer would be found. (Interestingly, the argument centered on how a reader would have to scan the text to find the information in question.)