This week was the final one before we went on Spring Break. I am looking forward to enjoying some time off from the kids. When we return, we will have four intense weeks of preparation for the STAAR Reading test. As a teacher, finding a way to make this fun and honor the learning that they actually need, beyond learning to test, can be a difficult quandary.
Monday, March 18, launches the World Cup STAAR Tournament of 2024. In each classroom, there will be five teams competing. They will be grouped by ability so that the struggle can be productive. If you put a more proficient student with very low students, then the higher level students end up doing all the work so the team wins.
Some might say having teams with high achieving kids go up against teams with struggling readers is unfair, but that’s sports for you. All teams are not created equal, and the point here is for the kids to push to the next level for the testing in a fun way. Thus, each day for 20 days leading up to D‑Day, the teams will have one Reading practice and one Revising & Editing practice to complete. Each week, teams will also have to complete two SCRs and one ECR response.
What are those, you ask? Well, an SCR is a short constructed response to a text. Essentially a single paragraph where students show they understood the question, found evidence in the text to support their answer, and can write with basic English conventions and good spelling. The ECR is an Extended Constructed Response. You might think this means an essay, and for later grade levels the requirements for paragraphing are more rigorous. However, for my 5th graders, the ECR is simply a longer paragraph which includes two reasons for their answer, two pieces of text evidence in support of their reasons, and a sentence explaining the connection between the reason and evidence. The
se are sandwiched between an opening statement that shows they understood the question/prompt, and a concluding statement that wraps it all up nicely.
Each week, the teams will have an opportunity to score goals. On the wall of my classroom, I have the goal posts and I have plenty of soccer balls to put in the net when they score. Each player scores a set number of goals per day depending on the grade they get on each practice, or doesn’t score as the case maybe. Additionally, a randomly selected player can score extra goals if they have done ALL the strategies we are teaching them to aid in their analysis and comprehension. One random player for the reading, and one for the revise and edit practice.
The defending champion will host the trophy at their table for the following week plus get to have an extra snack, a candy, and a special lunch provided by the teacher. Second and Third places for the week get snacks and candy prizes.
I’m thinking that for the final showdown, each homeroom can create a team and play out a real soccer game the week we take the test. The Friday of that week at recess, the two teams can go up against each other and we can see which one wins the World Cup STAAR Tournament of 2024.
Once we take the test on April 17, we can return to learning to read and write for the success of our lives. And this is exactly how I have presented this to my students, because I teach them to read and write, and then I pause to teach them how to successfully apply that in a testing genre. Wish us luck!