We enter into a new era of testing when we teach our students with comprehensible input. We are at the very beginning of that era. The hero is Diana Noonan who has directed hundreds of thousands of DPS testing/data gathering dollars to creating and administering five years of pre and post tests to tens if not hundreds of thousands of DPS kids since 2009.
Each year we fine tune what we have. Since all teachers in Denver Public Schools are now expected to teach using CI, there is no confusion about what kind of test we want – one weighted heavily in the scoring and evaluation of the input skills of listening and reading. Yes, we administer writing and speaking tests, but they only count 15% each of the overall score whereas the input skills count for 70% of the total score. It’s the best we could do.
Unfortunately the tests are the intellectual property of DPS, so we can’t share them. Suffice to say that they don’t test for verb conjugations. All the teachers in the district who used to do that have, since Diana’s arrival as WL Coordinator for the district in 2004, either retired or left for other districts. Most of our new teachers are young and on fire with this method.
So here’s my question: I want to figure out a way to best prepare my kids for the DPS test, which this year is in late April. In that interest, I would like to ask the group where I can find the best list of 100 action, power (as Eric calls them) verbs. I am thinking that, in any test prep even for our DPS CI-friendly tests, those verbs will be at the core of any review I bring to my students in the next month as we prepare to take that test.
Ideally, we shouldn’t have to prepare for tests in a CI friendly environment, knowing that individual students learn in their own way and at their own pace, with, in first and second year, very little expectations in the areas of speaking and writing. However, we live in a world where data is the norm, and we are judged by our building administrators on how our kids do on this exam. So I am making a plan* and before I make it I want to see those 100 verbs as I get ready for the April test prep.
Anyone have the list of verbs? Please share.
*My plan involves a kind of CWB (very heavily personalized) two week PQA session where we make up three crazy things (using three verbs) about each kid, so that each kid has those three crazy things they do. Sprinkle in tons of reps on each one. Use PSA more than PQA on this, as the kids will try to deflect the insanity that we suggest they do. Try to connect the three verbs associated with each kid, since we all know that the best stories are the ones in which the three structures connect/bring life to each other (as in “Lazy” and “Afraid of the Package” by Anne Matava, which are two of the best story scripts ever written.) My idea is that the heavy personalization will then associate/attach itself/extend over to any writing prompts the kids have to do, along with any listening and reading materials they will have to negotiate on the test. I really have heard what Eric has said throughout the year about the importance of knowledge of verbs as the base of all we do with our beginning classes all year. I haven’t tested or even completely thought through the highly personalized test prep idea using those 100 verbs yet, though. I will start doing it later today with the Alpine House class. It may work and it may not.