R&L Education
Pages: 136
Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-61048-994-2 • Hardback • February 2014 • $66.00 • (£51.00)
978-1-61048-995-9 • Paperback • February 2014 • $38.00 • (£30.00)
978-1-61048-996-6 • eBook • February 2014 • $36.00 • (£30.00)
Dr. Guinevere Durham, retired educator of 30 years, writes from three perspectives; an elementary principal, a classroom teacher, and a mother of six. Her doctoral practicum dealt with creating a program to teach elementary students test taking skills.
Part l: Concepts1. Test-Wiseness: What, When, Why, and How2. The State Criterion Referenced Testing of Students3. The Five Categories of Tests
Part ll: Computation
4. Construction of Test Items
5. Weekly Format and Sample Lesson Plans
Part III: Application
6. Techniques: The Anxiety Factor
7. Techniques: Format Familiarity
8. Styles of Learning
9. Following Directions
10. Guessing: Narrowing to Two Choices
11. Guessing: Judging Answers
12. Working Backward
13. Key Words
14. Selecting Multiple-Choice Answers
15. Pacing
16. Math: Key Words, Reading Signs, Estimating
17. Science and Social Studies
18. Maps. Graphs, Tables, Charts, and Diagrams
19. Comprehension
20. Sequence
21. Writing
Part IV: Stop
22. Everyone’s Role: teacher, Parent, Student
23. Wind Down and Wrap Up
Appendices
A Definitions of Testing Terms
B Web Sites of State Departments of Education
C Game Chart
D Suggested Weekly Lesson Plan
E Daily Lesson Plan
F Definitions of Test Directions
References
About the Author
I am a homeschooling mom, and my son has to face testing every year by the school board in order to matriculate. The skills I am learning from Dr. Durham’s book will help my son face those tests without anxiety and will help him perform to the best of his abilities. We all want our children to do their best. This book can help. I recommend it for parents – not only homeschooling parents – teachers, and tutors.
— Chrystal Slosson, homeschooling mom
I enjoyed every one of the chapters. How true, everything the book says. All the samples and activities are very helpful. The author has caught the bull by the horn….Easy to read, enjoyable, and enlightening….Thank you for giving us such a wonderful tool to work with.
— Elena Duran, teacher, Academia San José Elementary School
An insightful and perceptive book written by a former teacher that intends to alleviate test anxiety in students so they do their best when answering them. Easy to read, the book keeps your interest from beginning to end, giving ideas of how to avoid apprehension-causing items when preparing tests. She does not stop at that, but her imaginative work keeps giving novel examples for the preparation of tests and ideas and hints for children on how to answer them. This is a book every teacher should read and keep as a “Bible.”
— Dora Muñiz de Soler, Psy.D., psychologist, Academia San José Elementary School