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Improve prompt responses with the Yes, MA’AM acronym

january 11, 2022

Standardized tests require that students read multiple texts and then respond in writing. In order to pull this off, they have to know what to write and how to get started.

To help with this challenge, kids need a memorable way to tackle this on-demand writing. Utilizing the concepts learned during Smekens Education workshops, Break-O-Day Elementary (Whiteland, IN) teacher Sara Ambler crafted the acronym MA’AM, which led to the bigger Yes, MA’AM strategy.

With the MA’AM acronym, each letter reminds students where the information they will use in each sentence will come from.

Some sentences use details from the AUTHOR that can be pulled directly from the text. But other information must be inferred by ME, the reader, and is the result of independent thinking pulled from MY head.

When applying the MA’AM acronym, a basic constructed response would have four sentences– some from MY head and some from the AUTHOR’s text.

You can make the MA’AM acronym more meaningful when you teach it as the Yes, MA’AM strategy.

Explain to students that they are writing their responses to a real audience—the Test Lady™. This persona of the Test Lady represents the actual human being who will be reading the student’s written work. And even if your state or national assessment is scored by artificial intelligence, students are still motivated by the idea of writing to an audience.

Ultimately, we want every student to attack open-ended questions with confidence by knowing the response will always follow the Yes, MA’AM structure. Support students on this journey with a variety of digital resources, templates, and examples.

Additional Resources

Yes, MA'AM Poster
Melinda Dittmer Isom Elementary - Yes MAAM Handout

To help her students focus on important details, Sara Williams of Northeastern Middle School (Fountain City, IN) had her sixth graders use their editing glasses for reading. She asked students to annotate the texts they were reading, focusing in on the evidence they needed to collect for good Yes, MA’AM responses.

Sara Williams Northeastern MS Classroom: Student 1 working on Yes, MA'AM
Sara Williams Northeastern MS Classroom: Student 2 working on Yes, MA'AM
Sara Williams Northeastern MS Classroom: Student 3 working on Yes, MA'AM
Samantha Rutherford Classroom: Yes, MA'AM Reading Responses

Samantha Rutherford teaches 6th grade literacy at Stephen Decatur Elementary School (Indianapolis, IN). To encourage her students to include textual evidence in their Yes, MA’AM reading response practice, she had them use their desks as whiteboards.

Katie Opdyke Classroom: Yes, MA'AM tweet

Katie Opdyke from Madison Elementary School (Lombard, IL) has used the Yes, MA’AM strategy in her 5th-grade classroom. Check out the tweet she shared. Thanks for sharing, Katie!

Erica Shadley 8th Classroom: Yes, MA'AM
Erica Shadley 8th Grade Classroom: Finding Author Evidence & Constructed Response

Erica Shadley from Upper Sandusky Exempted Village Schools (Upper Sandusky, OH) shared images from her 8th-grade classroom. She used the Yes, MA’AM strategy with her students and provided students with the Finding Author Evidence and the Constructed-Response handouts to complete after reading Two Girls of Gettysburg.

Taryn Saulmon Inference - Student Example
Taryn Saulmon - Yes, MA'AM Example

Taryn Saulmon, reading teacher at Monroe Central Elementary (Parker City, IN) used this strategy with her 5th and 6th graders. Check out their silhouette and their Yes, MA’AM response. Here’s her original tweet.

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