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A Look at the OGT
Using Active Reading Strategies During the Test
by Carol Brown Dodson
As a language arts or reading teacher, you've probably been teaching students to
use appropriate reading strategies to help them comprehend difficult text. Many
of your students apply these strategies to the reading they're doing for your class.
They use prediction, questioning, compare/contrast, and the other strategies you've
emphasized. They often use graphic organizers to support their thinking and their
reading strategies when they are working on their language arts assignments.
But what happens to these strategies
when they are taking a high-stakes test?
When faced with a short passage on the OGT, students frequently ignore the reading
strategies and just skim through the passage. This practice is especially evident
when the passage is short and seemingly easy to read.
Example 1
The March 2007 released OGT items include questions based on a passage written by
a Texas high school student. The passage, reproduced below, features short phrases,
questions, and sentences that are intended to sell the gourmet lunch service.
On first glance, the passage seems extremely easy to read and comprehend, but answers
to some of the questions such as the one below indicate otherwise.
According to the Ohio Department of Education's report, only 48 percent of students
responding to the question correctly selected choice B, while 27 percent thought
the author's attitude was indifferent. Another 15 percent of the students chose
D, sympathetic, as the correct answer.
What process or strategy might students have used for analyzing
this question?
Let's look at some of the strategies students might have used to find the correct
answer to this question about the author's attitude. Before making an attempt to
answer the question, students must be sure they know exactly what it is that the
question is asking. In this case, test takers should consider what is meant by "traditional
school lunches." As they analyze the question, they should determine that "traditional"
does not refer to the new service, but rather to the types of school lunches typically
served in schools across the state and nation. Then they must delve into the passage
a second time.
This is the point at which students often simply skim through the passage again,
searching for the answer to the question, but the answer to this question is not
stated in the passage. One good strategy for reading the passage a second time is
the compare/contrast strategy. Ohio literacy specialist Shannon Bumgarner put together
an instructional module for teaching the strategy (one of a group of strategies
in the Ohio Resource Center's adolescent literacy professional
development series. Bumgarner notes in her
discussion of the strategy, "As a reading strategy, comparing/contrasting
calls on readers to think about what they are reading in order to determine likenesses
and differences." Students might create a quick compare/contrast chart, similar
to the one shown below (for this and other graphic organizers, see
ORC# 699).
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Point to Be Compared/Contrasted |
Traditional Food |
Gourmet Food |
|
Author's attitude toward cafeteria food |
Tired of the same cafeteria food every day?
Author suggests that typical (traditional) cafeteria food is the same every day.
|
Let Gourmet School Lunch deliver the best to your school.
Author suggests that Gourmet School Lunch is "best."
|
|
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Tired of the same choices every day in your school's cafeteria?
Author indicates that cafeteria food is boring.
|
Here the author indicates that there is a problem with school lunches.
Author suggests that Gourmet School Lunch is "best."
|
After finding the questions the author includes in the ad (for example, "Tired of
the same cafeteria food everyday?"), students should recognize that "traditional"
food is the same cafeteria food found in the school lunch program, and that the
author is criticizing that food so that he can promote the "gourmet" food available
from the gourmet lunch service. Answer B, critical, is the only possible answer
to this question. Notice that the students had to make an inference here, but use
of the chart helps them to see more clearly the nature of the author's attitude.
Example 2
Another question that accompanies the "Gourmet School Lunch" passage on the March
2007 OGT provides a list of web pages from the Better Business Bureau and asks students
to consider using this site to check the trustworthiness of Gourmet School Lunch.
Students are then asked to select the link that is most likely to contain information
about businesses using false advertising practices. The question to be answered
begins with the following statement and list of resources.
Performance data available from the Ohio Department of Education indicate that 57
percent of the students who responded to this question correctly chose B, Alerts
and News. Another 32 percent of the students chose C, Business Library.
What process or strategy might students have used for analyzing
this question?
They might begin by underlining the last part of the question, "businesses engaged
in false advertising practices." After doing this, a think-aloud process might be
the most effective strategy for analyzing the information about each type of resource.
The think-aloud might begin with a look at the lead-in to the passage.
I'm being asked to check the trustworthiness (or reputation) of
Gourmet School Lunch by choosing one of the links from Better Business Bureau.
The question asks me to find the link that would give me information about businesses
with false advertising practices.
Hmmm, which web page might help me find this kind of information?
The student should then think about the resources and their descriptions found in
the short passage. The think-aloud process helps the student to consider each possible
answer to the multiple-choice question before deciding on the correct answer.
What kind of information could I find in Publications? I think
the publications would just be a list of things I can send for— pamphlets and other
reading.
What about Alerts and News? Hmmm, it says that scam alerts, warnings, and press
articles are part of this link. That sounds like a possibility. But I'll just take
a quick look at the other choices.
Business Library sounds like it is for business owners to use, but it does say it
has information about schemes. Wait, though. These schemes target business owners.
Gourmet School Lunch is trying to sell lunches to students, not to a business. No,
that has to be a wrong answer. Wow! I almost chose that one.
What about the last link, Outside Resources? Oh, this is just a bunch of lists — organizations
that help consumers and businesses. No, that can't possibly be right.
Alerts and News has to be the only correct answer. I'll choose that one.
The student engaged in the think-aloud (although doing the thinking silently during
the test) is an active reader. Rather than passively reviewing the four types of
web pages, the student actively questions each possible link, considers the link,
and then accepts or discards it. Even after finding the response that seems to be
correct, this student doesn't stop, but continues through the process.
Students who can apply reading strategies independently to their reading are likely
to perform better on the Ohio Graduation Test and other tests than those students
who either ignore the reading strategies or lack adequate experience in their use.
The lesson plans described below weave the strategies into the students' work; the
resources in "From the ORC Collection"
provide additional information about the wide variety of strategies that can support
student thinking and learning.
ReadingQuest: Making Sense in Social Studies
The ReadingQuest website is a professional resource which is designed to help teachers
with reading comprehension strategy instruction. A variety of resources are available,
including directions for over twenty-five reading comprehension and content reading
strategies and printable handouts and masters for transparencies. While designed
with social studies in mind, this resource can be used to support students in any
area of content-based reading. (author/ncl)
The next professional resource is particularly helpful in providing students with
practice in applying some of the strategies. Some of the activities include short
passages or poems and can be used to help students move toward the independent use
of such strategies.
Language Arts Idea Bank: Instructional
Strategies for Supporting Student Learning [excerpt]: Part A, "Reading"
This excerpt from Graham Foster's Language Arts Idea Bank
focuses on reading strategies to engage students in the reading process and provides
classroom-tested activities to complement instruction. This professional resource
is broken down into five sections: reviewing reading strategies, promoting close
attention to the text, responding to reading, exploring vocabulary, and encouraging
frequent reading. The activities within each section motivate students and make
them more fully engaged in their learning. Each goal-driven lesson helps students
to develop their skills, while an accompanying sidebar scenario places the activity
in a classroom setting. The lessons demonstrate how to break down, analyze, and
critique information, as well as draw conclusions and improve comprehension. (author/mcg)
The next four resources from the ORC collection are lesson plans which incorporate
reading strategies. "Modeling Reading and Analysis Processes with the Works of Edgar
Allan Poe" guides the teacher in modeling the think-aloud strategy to help students
connect Poe's works and his life. "Decoding the Dystopian Characteristics of Macintosh's
'1984' Commercial" leads students through a series of strategies to use before,
during, and after reading as they gain knowledge of Orwell's 1984
to support their understanding of the commercial. "Exploring Literacy in Cyberspace"
supports students as they apply strategies they have used to comprehend text to
online reading. "Cross-Cultural Dialogue" engages students in the use of graphic
organizers as they compare and contrast two points of view.
Modeling Reading and Analysis Processes with the Works of
Edgar Allan Poe
This lesson explores reading strategies using the think-aloud process as students
investigate connections between the life and writings of Edgar Allan Poe, which
begins with an in-depth exploration of "The Raven." Students move from a full-class
reading of the poem to small-group readings of additional short stories ("The Black
Cat," "Hop-Frog," "Masque of the Red Death," and "The Fall of the House of Usher")
written by Poe. The unit concludes with individual student projects that explore
the readings in more detail. Students choose from the following individual activities:
write a narrative in Poe's style, design a sales brochure for the House of Usher,
complete a WebQuest on Poe, or investigate the author further by exploring biographical
and background information in more detail. The lesson includes options for both
students who need direct instruction and those who can explore with less structure.
(author/ncl)
Decoding the Dystopian Characteristics of Macintosh's "1984"
Commercial
In this lesson, students explore the dystopian characteristics and symbols presented
in the "1984" Macintosh commercial and analyze the comments that it makes about
contemporary society. This activity is a particularly effective introduction to
George Orwell's 1984 because of the direct allusions
to the novel in the commercial. The lesson can also be used as a follow-up to the
novel, as a way to discuss the lasting influence of Orwell's novel. Links to video
clips and text from the Macintosh commercial are available at the website. Teachers
planning to use this lesson in a more formal way may wish to add an assessment.
(author/ncl)
Exploring Literacy in Cyberspace
This lesson helps students to transfer the analytical skills that they commonly
use when reading traditional print texts, along with some other strategies, to navigate
and read online texts. Using a think-aloud strategy, students work together to examine
the thought processes and skills they can use to read and understand online texts.
This reading process lesson may be adapted to a wide range of print and online texts.
(author/ncl)
Cross-Cultural Dialogue
Cross-Cultural Dialogue uses two personal narratives, written by a beginning English
teacher in an unfamiliar culture, to teach point of view. Students read two narratives,
first from the teacher's point of view and then from what she imagines to be her
students' point of view. Using graphic organizers, students compare the differences
in perspective and perception presented in each story. Teachers may extend this
lesson by having students write personal narratives from two different perspectives.
(author/ncl)
Note: The links provided for
each ORC resource take you to the ORC page that includes a list of standards, benchmarks,
and grade-level indicators covered by the resource. From that page, you can click
the URL to go directly to the resource. In case you are not familiar with ORC's
records, you can read a
very brief explanation of the resource commentaries and the records.
Carol Brown Dodson is the outreach specialist for the Ohio Resource Center. Dodson
was an English language arts consultant for the Ohio Department of Education and
is past president of OCTELA (Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts).
Dodson, formerly a high school English teacher, department chair, and supervisor
of English language arts in Columbus Public Schools, serves on the Ohio Graduation
Test Reading Content Committee.
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