Terrific Testing Tips

It’s that time of year again, and while there is no denying that testing season is the absolute worst, I wanted to offer up some testing tips for making it suck just a little less.         

Gamification works! By turning the review into games it increases engagement and allows students, and you, to have more fun with it. To check out my favorite ways to gamify test prep click on over to this post.

Give students the most difficult and challenging problems you can think of. This serves two purposes. The first is that students will get used to this increased rigor and then have an increased level of confidence on the test itself. The second is that it gives you the chance to model techniques for working through frustration.

If you are looking for strategic test prep my Test Smash and Big Ten Math series are great places to start! If you want to read more about how I use math stations check out this post on The Magic of Math Stations.

Four hours is a long time for students to have to sit still and quiet. If we are being honest, four minutes is a long time for them to sit still and quiet. Practice stretches that students can complete while still quiet in their seats. This might look like stretching your arms as high as possible into the air, reaching your arms as far to the ground as possible, or crossing the midline.

The key is to get oxygen to the brain, but not be distracting.

These are a great activity to do the day before testing. Tape a piece of paper to each student’s back and have them travel around the room writing compliments on one another’s capes. I love to see their eyes light up when they read all the nice things that their classmates wrote about them. It is a real confidence booster!

To the right, you can see a picture my friend Katie took of her students and their compliment capes!

Did you know that if you are tired squeezing your earlobes will help you to wake up? This little trick always makes my students giggle, but sure enough, I always see them doing it come test day.

Self-talk is an important skill to teach our students. I love to use this video to show what positive self-talk looks like, and it has never steered me wrong. It is just a really cute way to start the day off right! Sometimes I break out the mirrors from our math manipulatives and have students practice positive self-talk like that.

The last thing I do before leaving the day before our big test is write each of my students a positive and personal note on their desk in dry erase marker. That way, when they come in the next morning it is the first thing they see. I tell them to erase it, but to remember that it is there all day cheering them on.