Hello! It's Deb Hanson from  Crafting Connections  today! Today I'm going to share three helpful test-taking strategy that you can teach your students for when they encounter  synonym  and/or  antonym  questions on standardized tests! What is your reaction when you see an ELA test question like this? As an ELL specialist who worked with 3rd-5th grade ELLs for more than ten years, I can tell you that viewing such a question causes me to break out in a sweat! While my ELLs know the difference between a synonym and antonym, they so often don't get to prove  their knowledge because of the advanced vocabulary words, like tenacious, present in multiple-choice questions. After encountering several standardized test questions like this one, I began to teach my ELLs a few test-taking strategies in hopes that I would be giving them the tools that would allow them to be as successful as possible. In my opinion, these strategies are beneficial......

Hello, everyone!  It's Deb from Crafting Connections . I still remember my first formal teaching evaluation.  The principal wrote several positive comments about my lesson, but naturally, I remember the suggestion she gave me for improvement.   Checking for understanding.  Yep, it was the classic case of simply running out of time.  The class ended before I had time to complete my "closure" activity (as it was called back in 1998!).  Well, you can bet that I nailed the "closure" part of my lesson on my next formal evaluation the following spring!  :) Ever since that day seventeen years ago, I have tried hard to always leave time to wrap up the lesson.  Has it always  happened?  Of course not!  But more often than not, I am able to follow through with my closure plans. About three years ago, I read the book Embedded Formative Assessment by Dylan Wiliam. He discussed the concept of "exit passes", and I was immediately hooked! ......