ACT Close and Critical Reading Using ACT Content Passages

Macomb Intermediate School District

September 15th, 2010

Close and Critical Reading

The Importance of Strategy Instruction!

The Karate Kid

Getting Ready for the Big Game!

Just like playing a sport or an instrument, students need practice

before game day.

Preparing a game plan!

Now, let’s take a practice test!

Same testing conditions. Full Length ACT Practice Test Select a passage (Prose, Social Studies,

Humanities, or Natural Science) 8 minutes to try it out

Talk at your table . . .

How did you feel?What strategies did

you use while taking the test?

Think about it . . .

If you just keep giving students multiple choice tests, and you don’t change your instructional methods, how can you expect different results?

Why is this important?

Today in Michigan schools, the measure of English Language Arts for the purpose of Annual Yearly Progress report will be determined by Reading only. Only 25 percent of the passages on the ACT assessment are prose fiction with the other passages equally distributed among the three areas: Social Studies, Humanities, and Natural Science.

ACT Reading

The Reading Test is a 40-question, 35-minute test that measures reading comprehension. Students are asked to read four passages and answer questions that show their understanding of: what is directly stated statements with implied meanings

Timing …At a glance

ACT Reading 40 multiple choice questions (4 passages with 10

questions each) = 35 minutes

That means about 9 minutes on each passage.

ACT Reading for Information 33 multiple choice questions = 45 minutes

That means about 1 and ½ minutes on each question.

Reading Review and Practice

Text Structures

Referring Questions (14) – they refer to what is exactly stated in the passage.

Reasoning Questions (26) – they call for answers that you must reason by interpreting ideas, making generalizations, and drawing inferences and conclusions.

The Passages

Each passage is about 750 words, or roughly two pages of typical book.

Arranged by reading level.Ten questions are arranged according to

level of difficulty.

Performance on complex texts is the clearest differentiator in reading between students who are likely to be ready for college and those who are not.

And this is true for both genders, all racial/ethnic groups, and all annual family income levels.

- ACT Reading Between the Lines

What’s New!

Alignment to Common Core State Standards

More ACT Reads for all Content AreasMore Scaffolding and Grade Level

Passages (9th, 10th, and 11th Grade)Two Guided Highlights for

Questions 1 and 2

Providing Direct Strategy Instruction

Guided Highlighted ReadingClose and Critical Reading

Question # 1 – Content and Summary Question # 2 – Craft, Structure, and Purpose

Getting are students ready!

A Seven Step Guide

ACT Guided Highlighted

Reading and Passage

Matrix

Highlighted Reading

Purpose: Engage students in print Develop fluent scanning Highlight most important information Prepare text for substantive conversation

Procedure:

Build the context for the reading by activating prior knowledge.

Have students find the vocabulary in the text and highlight it as you give the definition.

Move the students to scan the text by telling them which paragraph and what to highlight. (Like finding Waldo)

Let’s try it out!

ACT Exam A – Passage 2

What it looks like in Data Director: Test 6856 Teacher Key Guided Highlight, Teacher Directions and

Lesson Plan

Data Director

Complete ACT Test (All Four Parts)Two Full Length Reading Tests

For a total of three complete reading tests can be given through Data Director.

Exam ID Numbers for Pre/Post ACT Reading Test 6830 6831

Think about . . .

How might you use these tools back in your classroom?

What activities might you try with your students?

Scaffolding and Tools

Resources and Handouts are on

www.missionliteracy.com

ACT Close and Critical Reading

Final Thoughts