Start practicing for standardized tests in eighth, ninth or tenth grade with this engaging weekly vocabulary building, reading comprehension, and writing coaching service. My goal would be to add 100 points to your score.
Standardized tests are full of nonfiction reading passages. Our high school English classes are not. Students read excellent fiction, from Aesop to Asimov, Beowulf to The Beatles, and Chaucer to e.e. cummings. Why? It's what teachers have been taught, and it's what they are passionate about. We have been encouraged to call nonfiction texts "informational" texts, but while it might have some value as a heading, it does a disservice to nonfiction, implying it conveys only information, rather than adventure, excitement and imagistically descriptive passages. I think a better term for nonfiction would be foundational texts, for by reading a series or host of articles on the same subject or field, we build a foundation for understanding that subject, a cognitive network for the concepts and questions involved with that subject, upon which the edifice of professionalism is constructed. Ideas and concepts are less likely to take root in our understanding if only a few articles are ever read in a field or subject, but when a critical mass is achieved, then the articles and their ideas are more connected in our awareness. By reading nonfiction, we are building a foundation.
Our country's educational system, Penny Colman tells us, suffers from "anti-nonfictionism." * The USA also lags relative to other countries in terms of emphasis on nonfiction reading and analysis. For high school students, -- get this -- our teachers are now encouraged to have nonfiction as over 50% of their curriculum. We are nowhere near that. Nonfiction reading gears us to the real world, is richly replete in vocabulary encountered on standardized tests, and is a huge part of ensuring success in college and university readings.
Over the summer I will offer this service for students and parents interested in developing their vocabulary, improving reading comprehension and writing skills. Although summer is a great and glorious season, it can be a time of academic drift. This approach counters that without the head-on engagement with summer school. Each week I will select one long or two or three short engaging nonfiction articles and prepare them as curriculum. Students read them several times carefully and do the accompanying activities geared for vocabulary acquisition, word attack skills, reading comprehension, and writing practice. Words will be highlighted in the article, selected either because they are "content-specific" vocabulary (Tier 3 words) or "academic discourse" vocabulary (Tier 2 words). An example of a Tier 3 word would be photosynthesis, which is definitely specific to the study of biology. It's part of the content of biology. Tier 2 words are useful in discussing ideas -- example might be the words analyze, infer, speculate. These words are not specific to the content of a particular field, as they are used across disciplines -- in many different areas of study. (Tier 1 words are "playground" words or common, everyday words that we pick up on our own or in ELL courses.)
Here's an example of an article (this one is Katy Waldman's article from Slate.com on helicopter crashes) and related curriculum:
"NAVE": Helicopter Crashes Article Vocabulary
"NAVE": Writing and Qs on Helicopter Article Try these and see how you do!
Students will read articles online - I will supply the articles' web addresses in links. They will also be given links that are part of a website called Quia, as well as a username and password to access their Quia documents for this "NAVE" course. The Quia documents will have vocabulary activities, including word root analysis, and two writing activities of 200 words each, sometimes a summary of the article. Students who are part of this course will be expected to study the vocabulary words (usually 60 words a week) sufficiently until they "ace it on their own." Additional activities (having other sets of 50 words) target words likely to appear on standardized tests. Vocabulary activites are graded automatically on Quia, giving students "immediate, nonjudgmental feedback," which promotes learning and keeps students in the driver's seat of their learning. Repetition enhances memory, and students are rewarded for their efforts and motivation, not just their performance scores in a point system which is reported to parents or guardians. I will respond to the writing submitted by students and provide feedback in areas of topic control, support, idea development, grammar, and spelling. Besides improvement in vocabulary growth, reading comprehension and writing skills, one goal students and I have is preparing for standardized tests. Regular engagement in nonfiction reading, which can be rich in complex ideas, real-world connections, and vocabulary, benefits growth in these areas. S
I've been teaching middle and high school English for over 30 years, since 1984. You can see other areas of this website to check out other curricula I put together. I teach at Clarke Middle School in Lexington, MA. Clarke and Lexington in general has received high scores on the English MCAS and other standardized tests.
Costs for this service are $60 per week, payable in advance for a session of four weeks, or $240 total. This includes studying an article or articles each week, Quia documents with vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing activities, and my feedback to student writing on articles. Students also have unlimited access to a number of other vocabulary activities which are offered up each week. This online approach is not face-to-face / one-on-one tutoring; neither of us drives anywhere. Students can be anywhere. I will communicate with parents and students on Quia about engagement. Parents are cc'd on any and all student emails and have Quia login information to witness student involvement and progress. Email me if you have an interest in this service. If you want the vocabulary activities and quizzes only, the cost is $20 per week, or $60 per three weeks. You can pay online here through PayPal, or send me a check to my address below.
SAT Prep SAT Prep SAT Prep SAT Prep SAT Prep SAT Prep SAT Prep SAT Prep SAT Prep
John Chamberlain, M.A.
29 Prospect Hill Road
Lexington MA 02421
jchambs17@gmail.com
Session: week #1 July 5-8
week #2: July 11-15
week #3: July 18-22
week #4: July 25-29
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* from http://www.pennycolman.com/meet-penny-colman/speeches-essays-articles/:
No, I am not anti-fiction, however, I am gravely concerned that anti-nonfictionism, to coin a new word, is all too common in classrooms and curricula across America.... I could go on, as I am sure many of you could, and talk about more manifestations of “anti-nonfictionism” in, for example, the areas of reviews and awards and research and recommended reading lists, and the choices of read alouds. What are the consequences of anti-nonfictionism? First, anti-nonfictionism drastically limits students’ choices of reading materials. Second, anti-nonfictionism prevents students from gaining the knowledge and skills to be successful test-takers and thinkers and writers in school. Third, anti-nonfictionism prevents kids from gaining the knowledge and abilities they need to function in the world as adults, and, as citizens of a democracy.
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* from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35057-2005Mar14.html : Meanwhile, a growing number of experts have said that what constitutes "good reading" might need redefining -- much of what boys often like to read is not highly respected by the English teachers trying to get their students to love "King Lear." Perhaps, Hoffman and other educators said, the very definition of literacy needs to be rewritten. "A lot of teachers think of reading as reading stories," said Lee Galda, professor of children's literature at the University of Minnesota. "And in fact, a lot of boys, and not just boys, like nonfiction. But we keep concentrating on novels or short stories and sometimes don't think of reading nonfiction as reading. But in fact it is, and it is extremely important." Teachers and parents have said boys generally prefer stories with adventure, suspense and fantasy and tend toward reading nonfiction stories and non-narrative informational books, as well as magazines and newspapers.
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* from: http://edwatch.blogspot.com/2010_07_25_archive.html Think of what you've read in recent days, and the list might include a Facebook post about a friend's Grand Tetons vacation, an online review of the Droid X phone and an explanation of why your insurance isn't covering your latest doctor's visit. Yet children in school read mostly fiction, from "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to "Macbeth." In a few years, K-12 students' reading lists may expand to include more of that other stuff: more multimedia texts, scientific and technical articles, persuasive arguments and other nonfiction — and fewer storybooks and novels. On Aug. 2, the state Board of Education will consider this major shift in how California's public schools teach reading when it votes on a controversial set of national Common Core Standards. If proponents prevail, California will join the majority of states in adopting the first nationwide standards for public education. The goal in adding informational texts to the English-language standards is to prepare students for real-world reading, to use other courses such as science to teach reading, and to improve literacy and comprehension. Although California standards currently include nonfiction — by 10th grade, for example, students are supposed to be able to analyze some workplace documents — the proposed standards progressively shift the focus. "By grade 12, it's closer to 50-50" literature and information, said Gregory Geeting, a Sacramento County school board member and chairman of the state's 21-member California State Academic Content Standards Commission that this month recommended the standards. If the state Board of Education approves the Common Core Standards, it likely will be several years before new curriculum will appear in classrooms and on state tests.