Third Grade TAKS
Recently I
have been hired to be a fourth grade teacher and am so excited there are hardly
words to explain my feelings.
Daily I want to be up at my new campus planning and working in my
classroom. The excitement of being
a new teacher is so great that I wake in the middle of the night thinking about
my new classroom. Many people are
cherishing these last days of summer vacation but I am counting down the days
until school will start. Blended
in with all this excitement is some nervousness as well. When I start thinking of TEKS the
curriculum and TAKS that test that validates that curriculum I start to get
very nervous. Being a new teacher
I am not sure if I know how to implement all the strategies that I need to
follow to get the curriculum into my student's minds. I know that I will receive help along the way with these
strategies from administration, collogues, and mentors.
To help
prepare myself with the levels of students I was to have in my classroom I
looked at the TAKS results from my school's third grade. While looking at these results I became
a little worried, in areas of the test the scores were quite low. The particular area that gave me pause
was the math scores; these scores turned out to be the lowest in the district. I asked a new colleague about this and
her answer disheartened me a bit.
She informed me that this year third grade basically concentrated on
teaching Reading and did not touch on other subject until after the TAKS test
was taken.
I understand that third grade had a huge
responsibility on their shoulders and this would require a great amount of
focus on the Reading portion of the TAKS.
Should this be the only focus though? If the third grade only taught reading and nothing else I
feel this is a great disservice to their students and their colleagues. I know in being a first year teacher
that I have not yet felt the pressures of taking the TAKS test, I just hope
when this pressure comes I remember to be fair to both my students and my
colleagues and teach them more than what is going to be tested in fourth grade.
When hearing this news I was not sure how to
proceed. I decided to take a look
at the third grade TAKS test and compare the TEKS objectives and see which
areas the students scored low.
After finding these areas that needed some remediation, I found web
sights that would help supplement and help teach or re-teach these concepts to
my new fourth grade students.
Doing this research has made me feel more comfortable with the situation
I am about to encounter, and has no way dissipated the excitement I still feel
for the upcoming year.
Web
sites:
This
web site is great for any math level being taught. You pick the level you need to work with then you pick the
concept (e.g. place value, rounding, and multiplication). After picking the area you want to work
in there are interactive activities that students are able to work with.
This
web site provides wonderful grade level appropriate interactive games
concerning not only math but other subject areas as well.
This
site is a pay sight but it allows you to see a demonstration of what is
there. This site has questions and
activities based on your states assessment. This is a great interactive way students can see what
information is on the TAKS test.
http://www.kz.com/market/splash.htm
This
web location is great for students to practice math skills in an interactive
fun location. The teacher is
allowed to check the status of how the student is performing on the site.
http://www.harcourtschool.com/
This
site allows you to pick the subject area and once this is picked you have to
pick the grade level you want to work with. After you choose math there are some fun interactive games
that reinforce math concepts.
This
web site uses puzzles and critical thinking skills to promote higher level
thinking across the curriculum.