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Best Test Prep Ideas and Strategies for Middle and High School

Best Test Prep Ideas and Strategies for Middle and High School

When it comes time to start prepping for standardized testing, I like to plan a variety of activities to review the materials we’ve spent all semester covering. We all want students to show what they know and do their best on the tests that mean so much, and if you are like me, you are always looking for new test prep ideas and strategies. Thus, to make your job easier, I’ve curated this list of the Best Test Prep Ideas and Strategies for middle and high school students for any subject.

Classroom Decor

During the review process, it can be helpful to hang up posters that provide students with test-specific information and vocabulary. We often forget that test vocabulary can be a barrier for students, but a quick review of those words could really be worthwhile. Hello Teacher Lady created a poster set that contains 15 high-quality posters — including definitions and question/sentence stems — along with a helpful one-page student reference sheet to showcase test terms such as summarize, analyze, compare, interpret, and more. They are perfect and pertinent for any subject.

Test Prep Vocabulary Posters + Student Reference Page | Academic Vocabulary List

For all my ELA friends out there, you may be interested in some ELA-specific term posters. Capture your students’ attention and decorate your classroom with my 12 ELA terms posters made with real pictures that teens will love. Each picture illustrates, defines, and provides an example of one term.

Classroom Decorations Posters, Elements of Literature with Real Pictures

O Some Great Stuff for English Teachers has an alternative to the posters above. She created a vibrant presentation illustrating Literary Elements and Devices. It has slides featuring plot elements, characterization, and point of view and even literary devices such as allusion, foil, satire, hyperbole, etc.

LITERARY DEVICES Presentation or Posters Perfect Test Prep

Perhaps you’ll eventually have to cover your subject-area posters or remove them from your walls entirely. In that case, you’ll need new cute and motivational wall coverings that you can print and use easily! If you like an eclectic flair, check out my ten pack of posters with positivity and motivational reminders.

Classroom Decorations Posters, Positive Inspirational Quotes

The Scholar Source created a set of seven test motivation posters in a black and white with glitter gold theme that you can just print and go, and they are super cute.

Classroom Decor Test Motivation Posters Black White & Glitter Gold

I also like how Think Tank gets her students involved in creating the motivational classroom decor. Students work together to piece their Test Prep – Test Motivation “block” with their classmates. The result is a beautiful, fun, one of a kind pop-art to hang in the hall. Check it out here.

Motivation & Emotional Prep

At the end of the day, I suppose that no one really wants to take a series of tests, and no one really gets excited about all those bubbles. However, we need our students to feel upbeat and energetic about testing because the results often mean so much. That’s why this category is so important! One of the things that has always stuck out to me is how much emphasis we put on the tests… so much so that it’s easy to forget how all that pressure makes the students feel. A few years ago, my students were really worried, and I realized they were internalizing the test. I created a quick lesson and activity right away to teach them about the true meaning of success and how they are more than the test. You can grab that lesson here free.

Best Test Prep Ideas and Strategies for Middle and High School

During the testing week or weeks, it’s also important to keep students’ energy levels up. I created a Surviving the Standardized Testing Season Survival Kit with tons of goodies to do just that all around the theme of Rocking the Test!

Best Test Prep Ideas and Strategies for Middle and High School

Gifts are another easy way to motivate students by reminding them you care. Teaching and Caffeine created an entire bundle of test treat tags that you can print and use in a snap. There are tons of options!

Testing Treat Tags | THE BUNDLE

The Booked Up Tutor also gives her students a little treat for testing, too. I love her doodling growth mindset bookmarks that double as stress relievers.

GROWTH MINDSET BOOKMARKS

The Literary Maven helps relieves her students’ stress by giving them a fake test... all in good fun! You can administer this fake test as if it were real and once students realize that it’s not, ask them to generate their own ridiculous test questions. Have students take each others’ “tests” or ask students to share out their best questions. Laughter is the best medicine, after all!

Fake Humorous Test to Relieve Student Test Stress

Read a bit more about busting test stress over at my blog post, “Ways People React to Test Anxieties That Might Annoy Others”. My ELA teacher friend, Lauralee over at The Language Arts Classroom also shares four ideas that help her help her students shed the test-prep anxieties over on her blog.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is text-anxiety-blog.jpg

Test-Taking Strategies

Students can know all the content possible, but they most likely won’t be as successful as possible without some test-taking strategies up their sleeves. The Literary Maven also designed a lesson to help students be successful on standardized testing. You can use the section focused on multiple-choice questions, constructed responses, or both depending on the format of the test and your students’ needs. Students will fill in strategies in the guided note-taking packet and annotate the questions, passages, and prompts as directed throughout the lesson. Think Tank also gives her students some test-taking tips by having them complete an escape game! This Test Taking Strategies Escape Room will take students on a secret mission through two 360° VIEW rooms.  This digital escape room has students decode interesting facts about basic test taking strategies/test prep to help them succeed on a test. Your students will definitely have a blast; I want to play this game, too!

Test Taking Strategies DIGITAL ESCAPE ROOM for Google Drive® | Test Prep

Review Games and Strategies

From games to stations to task cards to Kahoot and Quizlet to trashketball to old-fashioned bubble sheets for practice, we are doing everything we can do keep the subject-area content fresh and our students engaged until it’s time for them to take the test.

If it’s ELA review you need, I love to play “I Have Who Has” to review vocabulary. The Littlest Teacher uses a variety of games to review terms and grammar with her English language arts middle school students. You can grab her entire bundle here. I also have my students review grammar with basic skill drill worksheets from my ten-minute grammar packs. Sometimes we get creative with my real-world grammar fails task cards — they are super funny, so they relieve stress, too! Melissa over at Reading and Writing Haven also shares a fun list of resources over at her blog, too.

Real-World Grammar Fails Task Cards BUNDLE, FREE UPDATES

High school history teachers will want to check out this bundle of US History Review Games from Social Studies Success. Plus, she has a very detailed blog post with tons of ways to review using task cards with any subject. Other subjects might enjoy this list from Write on with Miss G that offers plug and play ideas, which would work for any content area. Endeavors in Education shares her take on a test-review scavenger hunt; it looks simple and fun! When I’m having students work through a sample test, I like to use an activity called Tear and Share. Students fold a piece of paper down the middle vertically. They write their answers twice, and turn in one side. After everyone has finished, they take their remaining side to a group for collaboration. While working through the test again, the group creates a team answer sheet. It forces them to review, re-read, and justify their answers. We go over the sample test, and the team with the most correct wins a prize. No prep at all, but super effective.

Best Test Prep Ideas and Strategies for Middle and High School

After the Test

Once the tests are completed and sent off for scoring, then what? There’s likely weeks of school remaining, and failing to have student-centered, engaging lessons for those days following the test will only leave you frazzled and frustrated. The OC Beach Teacher is an expert at developing student-centered lessons, and she shares her tips here. I like to plug a movie in here and there, too, to mix it up a bit. See my entire catalog of ready-to-go movie guides here, and click over to this blog post where I share how to make showing a movie meaningful. You can also have students select a book to read independently… any subject can join in on this fun. Choose no prep book activities from my Making Literature Come Alive pack. Short research projects, escape games, and informational hot topics lessons are all other really doable choices that keep students tuned in the last few days of school without much prep.

As you are planning for test prep, it’s important to remember that mixing up your choices will help students stay focused. It’s also important to remember to keep the content first — and games second, meaning, if the game or activity is too complicated or too trivial, your entire purpose will be lost. As you and your students take on the test… best of luck!

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Filed Under: ACT, ACT prep, test anxiety, Test Prep Strategies, testing anxiety Leave a Comment

Greatest Hits of 2015: A Linky of Middle and High School Lessons

Ideas and Lessons for Middle and High School Subjects

As 2015 comes to a close and I think about the new crop of
students I’ll get in January, I like to spend some time reflecting on what
lessons and activities worked really well over the year. Those lessons, for
sure, I want to repeat.  I’m sharing 5 lessons
that I tried in my junior English class this year, and at the bottom, you can
find lessons, activities, and blog posts from other fabulous secondary teachers
who have linked up what worked for them as well! Happy New Year from Faulkner’s
Fast Five!
1) The Writing on the Wall Poetry Analysis: This is a
very low-prep strategy that works really well for poetry.  It was late one Thursday afternoon, and I needed
something for Friday’s book club lesson. 
I wanted to bring in Poe’s poem “Alone” with my novel unit, but I didn’t
have time to make a cute graphic organizer or really even make copies.  My goal was to use the poem to point out the
poet’s word choices and then relate the character in the poem to a character in
the book.  So, it hit me. I decided to
take loaded words from the poem and write each one a blue piece of paper. I
taped them up around the room, and I was set for Friday! When the students came
in, they were curious! Yes! I put them in small groups, and they had a few
seconds to brainstorm any words, ideas, images, etc. associated with that word.
I was short on time that day, and I really just wanted this activity to be a
lead-in. So, we just shared out, and they were able to begin formulating ideas
on the poem’s mood and even subject matter. 
Then we started to dig into annotating the poem.  It was an excellent way for me to draw their
attention to WORDS in a text, and how those words play a large role.  
Faulkner's Fast Five New Year 2015 Reflection Linky

Faulkner's Fast Five New Year 2015 Reflection Linky
2) Tear and Share Test Prep: I’ve actually used this
strategy several times this year, and I love it! The kids love it! I had a sub
once, and she loved it! And, I was even evaluated once while doing it, and my
principal loved it! So— what is it?  Again,
a super-low prep strategy that makes test prep game-like and truly promotes collaboration
among students.  Step 1: Use any test
prep booklet or material. This year I used FREE materials from
achievethecore.org.  We aren’t a CC state
anymore, but these materials are still spot on for our tests.  Step 2: Students create “hot dog” paper and
label both sides the same way. They will be writing their answers twice. Step
3: Students work through their test prep alone. After they write their answers
twice, they tear the paper in half and turn in the left side. That is the side
I grade. Step 4:  Students take their
other half to a group and work through the problems again to create a group
answer sheet. Step 5: Trade the group answer sheet to peer score, and take this
time to go over each problem and its solution. The group with the most correct
wins candy, points, etc.  You will be
amazed by the depth of the conversations about the material your students will
be having! 
Faulkner's Fast Five New Year 2015 Reflection Linky

Faulkner's Fast Five New Year 2015 Reflection Linky

Faulkner's Fast Five New Year 2015 Reflection Linky

3) Sentence Variety Writing Workshop – Back in September
Commissioner of Education, Candace McQueen, came to visit my classroom. My
students were in the process of revising their first argumentative essay. I had
identified syntactic variety as a point we needed to work on.  I wanted Dr. McQueen to see a snapshot of the
student-centered learning and engagement that takes place in my classroom.  For this lesson, I just used a couple of
tools: #1: Video clip from Whose Line where the actors play the 90 second alphabet
game.  Each line of the scene they act
out must start with a different letter. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHImgoOq024.  #2: Prints from the story The Mysteries of Harris Burdock. One for
each group.  After watching the video
clip to bring in a real-world connection and to set up the activity, students
were tasked with writing a story that solved the mystery of their picture, but
each sentence had to start with a different letter of the alphabet in
consecutive order.  Dr. McQueen and all
the VIPs in my class that loved it, and so did my students. I followed this
activity with a short workshop on sentence variety complete with examples and a
practice worksheet.  From that point on,
I was truly impressed with my students’ concerted effort to use syntactic variety
in their essays. 


4) Four Square Poetry Analysis: “True Blue American” is
a poem that I’ve taught many times, and you can actually read an entire blog
post about it here
and get the complete teaching
pack for it here
.  This time around,
though, I only had one day to do a close reading of the poem and then focus in
on the irony.  So, we have another
super-low-prep strategy I called Four Squares. 
Students folded their papers into four squares and labeled them Author’s
Purpose, Tone, Organization/Structure, and Figurative Language/Word
Choice.  For this poetry analysis after a
quick close read alone, I put students in groups.  I’ve done this where each group is
responsible for only one square or they do them all. It’s a good idea to have
them do just one square as a group the first time you ever do it, then move to
having them do them all on different texts later on for scaffolding purposes.  Then, we always share out with the large group
and have discussion.  I had time to go
around and prompt some groups to dig more deeply and encourage others to keep
going on the right track. I was so impressed with how this simple FREE strategy
allowed my students to dig deeply into a text. 
Faulkner's Fast Five New Year 2015 Reflection Linky

Faulkner's Fast Five New Year 2015 Reflection Linky

Faulkner's Fast Five New Year 2015 Reflection Linky
Poetry Close Reading Lesson: "True-Blue American" w/ Video


5) Guest Speaker – On Fridays my junior honors
class turns our attention to the novel we’ve been reading for our book club.  One Friday, I asked a local psychology professional
to come speak to the class on teen suicide, which is a poignant topic central
to the book we were reading at the time. 
I gave the students a sheet with some questions to complete before and
after the speaker came.  What I liked
most about this was that the students were able to hear about this topic and
ask questions with a professional, and we were able to use the information he
shared throughout the remainder of the book study. Get
the sheet I used here for FREE.
 

Do you have a lesson or activity that worked really well for you this year? Link up below with the product, website,  or blog post, and leave a comment below sharing why and how it worked so well! Be sure to share the linky on social media!

An InLinkz Link-up

Filed Under: Guest Speakers, Middle and High School English Lessons, Poetry Analysis, Poetry Close Reading, Poetry Strategies, Test Prep Strategies, Uncategorized, Word Choice 18 Comments

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New Writing Prompt Pack! Added to my argument writing bundle and curriculum. If you have either of those, you can get this for free. If not, follow the link to grab it. Perfect current events topic for summer school! www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Prompt-Pack-Argumentative-Essay-on-Gas-Powered-Vehicl... ... See MoreSee Less

Writing Prompt Pack, Argumentative Essay on Gas-Powered Vehicle Ban

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In this easy-prep writing prompt pack, students will analyze texts that discuss a topic which is a major driving force in the world: the future of fuel in the vehicles we drive. They will then write a...
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Have you ever heard of or used task cards with your classes? I use them for reading and writing. Check out this blog post where I explain all about task cards. juliefaulknersblog.com/using-task-cards-in-middle-and-high-school/ ... See MoreSee Less

Benefits of Using Task Cards in Middle and High School - Faulkner's Fast Five

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There are plenty of reasons and ways to use task cards in any middle or high school classroom. This post shares practical ways for using task cards.
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18 - the magic number today 🪄6/5/04 is our “marry day” anniversary- that’s what my niece called weddings before she knew that word. If you think about it, though, her way makes so much more sense. A wedding is special, but having a great life with someone is really about focusing on the marriage. I’m thankful God sent me this guy (🦄) and I know he feels the same way about me🤣🤣😜😜 Prayers for 18 x infinity more. ... See MoreSee Less

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What do you think? Thursday - Anyone of these in the list stick out more than another?deeprootsathome.com/kids-bored-entitled/ ... See MoreSee Less

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Pinch and zoom... This dress has lemons on it 🍋 Pinch and zoom... This dress has lemons on it 🍋 - I immediately thought of the caption: "When life gives you lemons..." But, since I'm super interested in the psychology of the #enneagram, I thought it would be fun to explore how each person would respond to a potentially sour situation. So here goes!⁠
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🍋 Type 4 (The Individualist): you record a vlog, make a caption for IG, Tweet, and write post blog about how the lemon made you feel ⁠ #sigh
🍋 Type 5 (The Investigator): you research the best way to use lemons and then experiment with a few of those options⁠ #knowledgeispower
🍋 Type 6 (The Loyalist): you wonder if there are more lemons and if this is the biggest lemon you will get. Then you make a plan to avoid the next lemon.  #expecttheunexpected
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🍋 Type 8 (The Challenger): you squeeze the juice in the eyes of your enemies⁠ #nomercy
🍋 Type 9 (The Peacemaker): you keep calm and ignore the lemons⁠ #everythingisfine #lifegoeson
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I wore this outfit to my mother's retirement lunch I wore this outfit to my mother's retirement luncheon. She served our community in education for 45 years as an English teacher and then in administration. That kind of commitment is often unheard of these days. I'm super proud of her accomplishments!⁠
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Finished my first book of summer. Here are my thou Finished my first book of summer. Here are my thoughts on Dolly's #runroserun: ⁠
💡The voice is engaging, but I do wonder if it would have been better if it were told in first person. ⁠
💡Overall the characters were fun, but pretty predictable and somewhat flat. ⁠
💡There was enough suspense to keep me reading; however, the turning point seemed rushed and thus the main "secret" was underdeveloped. The secret wasn't what I was expecting, so that was nice. ⁠
💡Most of the time I felt I was reading a commercial: there was a lot of brand-name dropping. In many cases, I had no idea what was even being referenced. Perhaps that was a choice to show the stark contrast between the main character and the person she was trying to become. ⁠
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18 - the magic number today 🪄6/5/04 is our “m 18 - the magic number today 🪄6/5/04 is our “marry day” anniversary- that’s what my niece called weddings before she knew that word. If you think about it, though, her way makes so much more sense.  A wedding is special, but having a great life with someone is really about focusing on the marriage. I’m thankful God sent me this guy (🦄) and I know he feels the same way about me🤣🤣😜😜 Prayers for 18 x infinity more.
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