Here are a few Power Point Presentations I use to review content with students. While I’m the first to advocate for pulling away from the high-stakes testing universe, as long as we have to do it we might as well use well-designed tools. 

Use this presentation to review basic subjects, predicates, fragments and run-ons. Reviewing Complete Sentences

Use this presentation to review the four types of sentences. Reviewing Types of Sentences

This may sound simple, but we’re talking about some hard words here.  ”Analyze the characterization,” and “Compare the two passages in terms of effectiveness.” Stuff like that. And to complicate things, these are often used in directions, making it even more likely the student will become confused. I can remember being in college and still not really getting what some of them mean. So one of our 8th grade teachers, Ms. Knibb, and I created a very successful lesson that increased students understanding of these words (these actions, essentially) by applying them to everyday resources from our library collection. 

Objective: Students will demonstrate understanding onf 4 academic vocabulary words by applying the action indicated to a common library resource. 

Content Standard Addressed: Reading 1.0 (Systematic Vocabulary Development).

Time: one class period (appx. 50 minutes)

We began the lesson by organizing students into tables of 4 or 5. We took brief notes that included the objective and purpose for completing the lesson. 

Each table was assigned one word to work with. We chose four common words: Analyze, Describe, Compare, and Explain (we had 7-8 tables, so we used words more than once.)  We would be rotating tables to the extant time allowed.

 On each table was a set of information cards, including the word, a simple definition, and the directions for that table. Ms. G selected resources to accompany each word.Here are the general activities:

Students would look at picture books and Analyze the elements of the story. 

Students would Compare the cost and benefits of two pets using two different books. 

Students would read a recipe of their choice for a cookbook and Explain how to make it. 

Student would read about a natural disaster and Describe what can happen. 

The information cards had very specific directions about how long to read, what to write down, and what information to focus on in order to appropriately address the task. 

Students were then directed to write a paragraph that synthesised the activity into one brief answer. Ms. Knibb and I circulated and looked over thee responses, checking fo runderstanding and answering questions. After about 10 minutes, we all rotated tables, and repeated the activity with the new word. 

We were able to get through about 3 tables, but this was a challenging class. We collected all the notes. As their “ticket out the door,” one students form each table had to tell in their own words what their word means. 

Complete Information cards can be downloaded here:

Information Card: Compare
Information Card: Analyze
Information Card: Describe
Information Card: Explain