Strategies to Reduce Test Anxiety

Click on the images below for links to websites that have information on a variety of strategies.

Improving Motivation & Engagement

"One extensive review of the literature related to adolescent literacy (Meltzer, 2002; Meltzer & Hamann, 2004) generated three promising practices that teachers can use to motivate students, including English language learners, to read, discuss, and strengthen literacy skills across content areas:

• making connections to students' lives, thereby connecting background knowledge and life experiences to the texts to be read and produced;

• creating safe and responsive classrooms where students are acknowledged, have voice, and are given choices in learning tasks, reading assignments, and topics of inquiry that then strengthen their literacy skills;

• having students interact with text and with each other about text in ways that stimulate questioning, predicting, visualizing, summarizing, and clarifying, preferably in the process of completing authentic tasks (tasks with a personal purpose or for a larger audience than the teacher).

Adolescent motivation in general is highly variable and is often dependent upon purpose and context, including relationships with peers, parents, teachers, and others. Therefore, a variety of motivational entry points need to be present to spur student engagement with literacy. Content-area classrooms that implement these three practices tend to be well stocked with books, magazines, technology resources, and a variety of other types of texts and materials."

Excerpt from Taking Action on Adolescent Literacy: An Implementation Guide for School Leaders, (2007) Judith L. Irvin, Julie Meltzer, Melinda S. Dukes

Engage students in assessment processes