Resources to Assist Reading TAKS Development in Middle School
Ryan Snowden
Angelo State University
Resources to Assist Reading TAKS Development in Middle School
For the past three years, I have taught and coached at a local SAISD junior high school. The junior high consists of about 950 students in grades seven, eight, and nine. The demographics of the school are very similar to any average school in Texas in relation to student background, ethnicity, etc. I teach eighth grade English.
During the past year and a half, we have encountered a problem that all Texas educators have been dealing with as well. This problem is the newly instituted Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, or TAKS, test. As the test approached, I could foresee two major problems with this test. First, the standard at which students would have to achieve had been increased from the previous TAAS standards. Secondly, as teachers, we knew very little of what to expect on the test. To prepare students for the test, all teachers were given were a TEA-produced TAKS Information Booklet that gave a few examples of possible test questions and the indicated TEKS objectives that were going to be tested on the test. As a teacher, it was a very daunting task to prepare students for a test that was basically foreign to us. The Texas Education Agency said as long as a school's working curriculum was geared around the TEKS, the students would be adequately prepared for the test. Therefore, through a series of staff and department meetings, we began developing our strategies for preparing for the test. As an English department, we decided our focus should change little from what we were currently doing to prepare our students. We decided we must make sure we are using higher-level questioning strategies during our instruction. We also looked at all of the questions students had problems with on past TAAS results and determined which TEKS objective each question tested. Based on this information, we were able to pattern specific objectives we felt students had trouble with and put extra emphasis on those objectives during student preparation for the test. After taking the test in February and April, we received our school's results in May. As an entire campus and as a specific department in English, we bettered district and state results in all categories. While I don't believe our preparation approach was revolutionary or extraordinary in comparison to other districts, I do believe it met our needs and allowed our teachers to focus on what our students needed in order to be successful.
For the rest of this project, I have provided various websites I have found helpful in preparing students for various objectives of the TAKS test. I broke this portion down into specific objectives tested on the 8th grade Reading TAKS test, but all of the objectives correlate to objectives tested on the 7th and 9th grade tests also. The objectives are the same objectives our English department identified this past year. For each objective identified, I included relevant websites for educators, parents, and students to utilize when preparing for the Reading TAKS tests. A brief explanation for each website is also included to identify what each website contains.
TAKS
Objective 1
(8.6) Reading/word identification. The student uses a variety of word recognition strategies. The student is expected to
(B) use structural analysis to identify words, including knowledge of Greek and Latin roots and prefixes/suffixes (7-8)
(8.9) Reading/vocabulary development. The student acquires an extensive vocabulary through reading and systematic word study. The student is expected to
(C) determine meanings of derivatives by applying knowledge of the meanings of root words such as like, pay, or happy and affixes such as dis-, pre-, or un- (4-8)
(F) distinguish denotative and connotative meanings (6-8)
Pertinent websites:
The Lex Files - http://www.lexfiles.com/index-corrections.html - Includes various Greek and Latin roots lists that teachers can use during vocabulary instruction. Teachers can access various other vocabulary sources through this site as well.
Education 4 Kids Vocabulary Drill Page - http://edu4kids.com/lang1/ - Includes an interactive vocabulary drill and practice game for kids struggling with vocabulary usage. The game provides users with sentences and asks the player to pick from three possible selections for the word in boldface print in the sentence. Game especially beneficial for young users, but could be helpful for junior-high aged students as well, especially those on lower levels.
edHelper.com - http://www.edhelper.com/vocabulary.htm - Helps users with variety of language arts skill development. Includes interactive worksheet builder for vocabulary, spelling, and reading comprehension development. Many hot links available for multiple drill and practice games and assessment opportunities.
Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder - http://www.m-w.com/info/vocab/vocab.htm - Teachers can use various exercises to assist students with vocabulary and root development. Interactive quizzes are provided for students. Ordering information for a program to assist vocabulary development can also be accessed through this website.
Houghton Mifflin Spelling and Vocabulary - http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hmsv/ - Activities are designed for vocabulary development and root practice. Educators, parents, or students can use these activities. Activities are broken down by individual grade level.
TAKS
Objective 4
(8.10) Reading/comprehension. The student comprehends selections using a variety of strategies. The student is expected to
(H) draw inferences such as conclusions or generalizations and support them with text evidence [and experience] (4-8)
Learning Resources Website - http://www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/ - This site offers web-delivered instruction utilizing current and past CNN news stories. The stories are geared more towards adults, but can be used for middle school and high school students. Each module contains full text articles and interactive activities to test comprehension. Instructor can incorporate any story into class activities and lesson plans, or learners can use lessons independently.
The English Department Exercises - http://the_english_dept.tripod.com/exos.html - Includes various reading comprehension exercises based on newspaper or magazine articles. Good for upper intermediate or advanced users. Asks interactive questions about articles for user to answer and test comprehension.
Book Adventure - http://www.bookadventure.org/ - Book Adventure is a free reading motivation program for children in grades K-8. Children can read books from over 6,000 recommended titles, take multiple-choice comprehension quizzes over the book, and earn points and prizes for their accomplishments. Site was created by Sylvan Learning Foundation.
The English Zone - http://www.english-zone.com/reading/ - This site offers various exercises testing reading comprehension based on short narratives. Various levels are available for differing abilities. The drawback to this site is that it is not free; the membership costs $20.00 for a one-year membership.
Various
Beneficial Sites for English Teachers and TAKS
Language Arts Lesson Plans and Resources at Cloudnet.com - http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/edeng.htm - Provides lesson plans for various English/Language Arts classes. Multiple grade levels are available. Interactive games utilizing language arts skills are available as well.
The Teacher's Desk - http://www.teachersdesk.org - Numerous language arts lesson ideas for upper elementary and junior high grade levels. Includes spelling, vocabulary, etc.
Random House Teacher - http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/index.html - A book resource center with teacher's guides, thematic indexes, reader's companions, and author and illustrator information and bibliographies is included with this site. Includes grades K-12.
Suzy Red's Little Red Schoolhouse - http://suzyred.com/ - This site offers hot links for educators dealing with a variety of topics. Site is designed by educators for educators. The website provides ideas for enriching activities, skill-building, problem-solving, project creation, and higher level thinking skills.