The Hughes News
Sophomore Honors English Newsletter ~ March 2019
SNL's Newest Caricature: The Teenager!
MCAS 2.0
Your student will be taking the English MCAS on Tuesday, 3/26, & Wednesday, 3/27. (The Math MCAS will be administered at the end of May.)
The ELA MCAS asks students to read, write, and think--which they've been doing since kindergarten. There's no way to "study" for the MCAS; however, because of the voluminous reading and writing the students have been doing this year, they are well on their way!
As you probably know, this year's students are taking the "Next-Gen MCAS," which was created for a variety of reasons. And because of the differences between this version and its predecessor, your student and I will be exploring the online platform, viewing practice test questions, examining the new writing rubric, etc. See below for what will look familiar to your student and what will not.
WHAT HAS NOT CHANGED...
Like the previous MCAS, this year's test will contain the same types of passages, will have some of the same types of questions, will be untimed, and will be released to the public once students receive their scores.
WHAT HAS CHANGED...
Here's what is new.
- PLATFORM: The new test uses a computer-based format similar to the online assessments we have taken in Pearson. To keep everything standardized, students will most likely be using school-issued devices (rather than their own).
- DURATION: The new ELA MCAS takes two days rather than the previous three.
- QUESTION TYPES: In addition to answering Multiple Choice questions (where they select one correct response), students will now answer Multiple Select questions (where they select all of the correct responses), Technology-Enhanced questions (where students drag and drop answers from a passage or reorganize a group of sentences), and Text-Based Essay questions (where students write full essays on provided texts, as opposed to shorter Open Response questions).
- WRITING: The old MCAS required students to write one long composition about any literary work they had read (which they had to recall during the test). This expository essay was administered on the first of the three testing days. In addition, students wrote several shorter Open Responses about provided texts. The Next-Gen MCAS abandons the recall factor and those Open Responses; instead, students will write several essays throughout the test, demonstrating their understanding of given texts and their proficiency in all three writing modes (i.e., argument, expository, narrative).
A Note About Standardized Testing
Love 'em or hate 'em, standardized tests are here to stay. Students take them to get their driver's permit, graduate high school, get into college and grad school, serve in the armed forces, become a mail carrier, firefighter, police offer, or FBI agent, and even get a job at Chili's! (How else could those servers rattle off the salad dressing list like that?)
And standardized tests are not all bad. Check out this short clip for some of the advantages (as well as some disadvantages). As the video states, "Standardized tests may help us learn a little about a lot of people in a short time, but they usually can't tell us a lot about a single person."
And what I continue to remind the students is that no single test defines them. Instead, assessments merely provide snapshots of where learners are at that precise moment.
Should students do their due diligence in preparing for their assessments? Absolutely! However, should the results of any single assessment be able to define them? Not a chance.
We watched this video--a spoken word poem that drives this point home beautifully. Imagine what would happen to test anxiety--and to our students' self-esteem, learning, curiosity, etc. if society echoed that same message.
Test-Prep Strategies
A slew of studies have been conducted around standardized testing, and the results are in. Students bring home higher test scores--on everything from a math quiz to the SAT--when they do the following:
* SHOWER: Showering the morning of (rather than the night before) not only helps students wake up; it also increases blood flow to the brain--the very organ that needs to be functioning optimally so students can access what they know.
* EAT: This is not the day to skip the most important meal of the day, and eating a protein-rich breakfast (e.g., eggs, bacon, sausage, bagel-and-peanut-butter, protein smoothie) will keep your test-taker alert throughout the session. On the other hand, tackling the Lumberjack Pancake Extravaganza or the loaf-of-bread-sized treat from Bagel World will cause your student to be alert at first but then crash--and be distracted by hunger--midway through the test.
* SLEEP: We already know our students aren't getting enough sleep. However, a good night's sleep is crucial before a big assessment.
If your student complains that s/he couldn't possibly go to bed any earlier than they already do (which is my 15-year-old's mantra), ensure that they've turned off all devices at least two hours before trying to go to bed. Whether they are scanning social media or working on a blog post or enjoying "just one more episode" of their latest Netflix binge, studies show that sleep doesn't come just because we turn the lights off. We coffee drinkers know that well. And those pesky "blue lights" from all of our gadgets are the equivalent of drinking coffee--and lots of it. Harvard Medical School offers these additional suggestions for getting a better night's sleep. And when all else fails, taking (in moderation) the natural hormone supplement Melatonin might help as well, according to the Mayo Clinic.
* CAFFEINATE: Test day is not the time to start or quit drinking caffeine. So, if coffee or tea is a natural part of your student's day, be sure s/he continues with this on test day.
* PREPARE: Finally, so that the students know what to expect, I'll be sharing some basic MCAS testing strategies, the link to the MCAS Question of the Day (from the DESE website), the MCAS writing rubric along with sample essays, and types of questions from practice exams.
Students Reflect on Their Own Growth
When we make space for ongoing reflection throughout the day, across the curriculum,
we create the conditions that make learning in school
more closely reflect learning in the world.
~Heidi Mills in Education Week
As an English teacher, it's my job to facilitate your student's growth as a reader, writer, and thinker. To help me monitor growth, students complete this self-assessment every term, which I created using the Honors Sophomore English course description in our school's Program of Studies. This self-assessment shines a light on how much the students are developing, how I can better support them as learners, and what goals the students set for the coming term(s).
Take a look at what the students are saying about their own growth as English students. It's all sorts of fabulous!
- I feel like this term I really got my stuff together. My writing in and out of school was better ten fold, and I read SOOOOO much more.
- My love for writing has only grown stronger in this class. I use to write stories when I was younger but school kind of took away the fun by making me write about boring topics. But this year is different considering our passion blogs. Now I can write about things that actually interest me...When I am older, I want to do something in writing...I am going to be doing everything I can to improve myself in this class and my future English/Writing classes to come.
- Halfway there! It’s definitely bittersweet to realize how far we’ve come in English… bitter because the time flew by and sweet because in those first two terms I’ve grown tremendously...What I find most astounding is the evolution I’ve unknowingly gone through as a reader. In the beginning of the year, I did not read on a daily basis. Now I read every day. Who would’ve thought I’d end up here! Another thing I consider noteworthy is my confidence. I’ve never liked comparing myself to other students but now, feeling a little more confident in my own abilities, I don’t really mind. It’s refreshing to know that a class is actually benefiting you in the long run.
- Over the last few months, I have participated more in class discussions, but I know I could push myself to be a more active and engaged participant, rather than feeling like I have to participate in order to get a good grade.
- Looking back at this term, I think that I grew a lot as a reader and writer. During the seminars...I feel like I went outside of my comfort zone to try to do my best...Also, I think that the process of writing two narratives helped me grow as a writer...Of course, there is always room for improvement and I am looking forward to becoming a better writer by the end of this term. Reading outside of class is something that I could definitely improve upon next term. At the end of term one and beginning of term two my reading stamina was strong, but I got out of the groove a little bit between winter break and midterms.
- I can work really well now in terms of working on my own because I feel like I’ve been able to draw inspiration from my own thoughts rather than my peers...I feel like I have been thinking abstractly without the use of Sparknotes...I have been reading more, sleeping more, paying more attention, and I love writing a lot! It’s just that I’m struggling a little bit with my voice when it comes to writing, because in my head I have some pretty good ideas, but I just don't know how to execute them as well as I would like to.
- I think I improved a lot as an Honors English student during Term 2. I got a lot better at working independently and not needing constant help or feedback...I still can participate in class discussions more and ask more in-depth questions to spark my peer’s thinking...I usually read my monthly book during the weekends but rarely find time to read at home on the weekdays. I’m sure that I could work a little harder to find time during Term 3. My passion for writing has grown over the course of Term 2, because I think I have gotten a lot better at it and therefore am more proud of my essays and narrative.
- From what I scored myself in September, to what I have now, there has been much improvement on my part in English class.
How to Contact Me
Email: beth.hughes@wpsk12.org
Website: msbethhughes.org
Location: Wakefield Memorial High School, Farm Street, Wakefield, MA, United States
Phone: (781) 246-6440
Twitter: @msbethhughes