To whom it may concern:
I was wondering if anyone had some testing strategies for the GED RLA. I have a student who has a learning disability, but will never have the documentation to get the accommodation of extra Reading time. The student has consistently scored between a 136 to 141 on the GED test. The student seems to struggle with author's tone/voice, main idea, fact versus opinion and inference.
Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Melissa Perry
Comments
Hi Melissa,
Sorry your student won't be able to get documentation. That is a lifesaver for us--but we're in corrections and are fortunate to be able to do assessments in-house.
I have recently started using the brand new Meaning Matters books published by Grass Roots Press. (available here: https://www.grassrootsbooks.net/us/workbooks/meaning-matters/) They address exactly these problem areas. My struggling students have been using them for a few weeks. The Inferences book forces them to find textual evidence, and they are now always challenging each other to back up their answers from the text. The Main Idea books have very accessible "bite-sized" passages. The Fact and Opinion book has made them think and has had passages that have led to really interesting, in-depth discussions.
These students aren't ready to test yet, but the level of thinking I see from them while working through these books is much deeper than with most other materials. These might help your student.
Good luck!!
Michelle Candy
In addition to the materials Michelle suggested from Grass Roots Press (I have used Grass Roots Press materials as well), I would suggest doing lots of modelling with think alouds so your student can “hear” what happens with your thought process as you find main idea, make inferences, distinguish between fact and opinion, and determine the author’s tone and voice. Two places to find free texts to use are www.newsela.com and www.readworks.com . Each article on the Newsela site is available at different reading levels.