Helping Kids Envision Their Audience
Students preparing for the writing prompt on any other standardized test need to know that they are writing to humans -- not machines. Explain to students that the scorer reads hundreds of prompt writings from other kids all over the state -- and then she comes to theirs. Encourage them to be unique, be different. Whether it’s part of the state rubric or not, because a real person reads the test, a “sense of audience” is an important element in every response. Students need to believe they are writing to someone to accomplish this.
To help your writers envision this real live audience for their writing, consider having students draw portraits of the Test Lady™ on 11x17 paper. Hang them in the room as a constant reminder that a human being is on the other end of what they will write for the state writing prompt.
If you didn’t want to take time in class to draw portraits of the Test Lady™, consider asking the art teacher to do a portrait-drawing unit, or have students submit images from the Internet. The two examples I have here were downloaded from the Internet by John Stoffel and Jan Ballard and their third graders at Lincoln Elementary (Huntington, IN). Thanks for the great ideas, guys!
Ever since Kristina Smekens introduced the idea of a Test Lady™, signs of that lady's true identity have been popping up all over. Visit the following links for more ideas about how to introduce the Test Lady™.
Test Lady™ Sisters at Smekens Literacy Retreat
Introductions to the Test Lady™
Test Lady™ Sisters on a Bulletin Board
