I am giving an inservice tomorrow on aligning classroom instruction with our state's writing test.
Many teachers believe giving lots of practice tests is the answer to success.
My objective tomorrow is for teachers to focus on one characteristic at a time in student writing and then impose the 5 paragraph essay format. My school has struggled with this test for years. I think we've focused too much on scoring the tests and making sure students follow that 5 paragraph essay format. As the new department head, I think we should worry more about content.