ELA Test Prep

Prepping Students for MAP Testing in Middle School ELA

Prepping students for MAP testing in middle school ELA doesn’t have to be boring. Instead, make test prep fun with activities, games, and discussions.

Let’s be real, by this point in the year, your students have taken a lot of tests.

And now MAP testing is coming. Again.

MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) is a test developed by NWEA, and it’s given three times per year to help measure student growth. It’s untimed, adaptive, and presents one question at a time—so students work at their own pace.

I’ve always loved that this test tracks progress rather than a one-time comparison like some other tests. In the past, when we only took one big test a year (at the end of the year), we couldn’t use the results to change much because our students quickly moved on to the next grade.

MAP tests are different.

MAP tests allow us to see how our current students are doing. We track each student’s growth several times a year, so we can see if they are growing or not, and the test adapts so that students get questions that challenge them.

So, how do we keep prep fresh and helpful, especially for middle schoolers?

Let’s dig into a few simple strategies that get results without draining your students (or you).

Pin image of three students working on prep activities for a test. Text reads, "Map Test Prep Activities: ELA Activities for Middle School."

Prepping Students for MAP Testing in Middle School ELA with These 3 Ideas

1. Turn the Standards Into a Game

Instead of just drilling reading standards, gamify them.

You can use task cards or stations to make prep more interesting.

You can also do team challenges and relays to allow students to move around and interact with others.

If you’re looking for a no-prep option, our ELA Test Prep Escape Room is a great way to sneak in serious skills through fun, challenge-based reviews.

2. Use Short Texts with High-Quality Questions

Sometimes less is more.

Give students a short passage (like a news article or a high-interest nonfiction blurb) and ask 2–3 standards-aligned questions that dig deeper than surface-level comprehension.

This mirrors the MAP format—especially the focus on critical thinking and text-based evidence.

The Paired Passage Sets from The Sparkly Notebook are perfect for this. Each set includes two engaging texts with a range of questions that allow students to practice comparing, analyzing, and citing evidence from multiple sources. Just like they’ll be asked to do on the test.

3. Reinforce Skills Through Discussion

ELA MAP tests don’t just measure what students know—they measure how well they can analyze and find evidence.

That’s where structured conversations come in. Using conversations to learn allows students to hear how other students interpret the same piece of writing or a question.

Discussion allows students to naturally perform at a level that fits their needs. Students who have a deeper understanding will ask harder questions or bring up a new lens through which to view the information. Students who need more help/guidance will be able to answer direct questions but also be exposed to how others think.

Conversations, discussions, and activities like Socratic Seminars build the critical thinking and academic language skills MAP questions love.

Want support? Our SL.1-3 Speaking and Listening resources for 6th–8th grade offer discussion-based activities that align perfectly with MAP-aligned standards. It’s a low-prep way to bring powerful conversations into your classroom.

How to teach SL.1-3 in Middle School ELA (7th Grade) — 6th Grade

Prep Doesn’t Have to Be Boring

You don’t have to rely on packets and practice tests to get students ready for MAP tests. By nature, MAP tests are more about tracking growth than anything else, so we want students to be generally familiar with concepts, but they aren’t expected to know everything all the time.

The activities and tips we went over in this post allow students to learn and review in ways that don’t feel like traditional test prep. They are fun and interactive and encourage growth, which is what we should all be focused on!

If you’re looking for resources that support growth all year long—check out our full collection of ELA test prep tools for grades 6–8 right here in the Teachers Pay Teachers store!

Digging into Argumentative Writing with Students: Why It Matters & How to Teach It

One of the key components of teaching middle school ELA is working on argumentative writing with students. Let’s spend some time talking about why it matters and how to teach it effectively to this age group.

Argumentative writing is one of the most challenging skills for students to master.

It requires them to analyze texts deeply, understand an author’s purpose, and construct well-supported arguments—all skills they need for testing season and beyond.

So…what’s the problem?

Many students don’t dig deep enough when analyzing arguments. They might identify a claim, but they struggle to explain how the reasoning and evidence connect.

That’s why our Analyzing Argumentative Writing – Test Prep Packet is a game-changer.

Analyzing Argumentative Writing - Author's Purpose, Author's Claim, and Supporting Evidence

Why Argumentative Writing is a Must Before Testing

Standardized tests expect students to:

✔️ Break down an argument – What is the author’s claim? What evidence do they use? How do they justify their reasoning?
✔️ Recognize counterclaims & rebuttals – Can they identify and evaluate multiple perspectives?
✔️ Use strong transitions – Do their ideas flow logically from one point to the next?
✔️ Answer evidence-based questions – Can they support their responses using textual evidence?

Our Test Prep Packet helps students build all of these skills while keeping them engaged with a high-interest topic: “The Benefits of Dogs in the Workplace.”

Pin image of a student writing in class. Text reads, "Argumentative writing: why it matters and how to teach it."

What’s Inside the Test Prep Packet?

This resource makes argument analysis interactive and accessible, with multiple activities designed to deepen student understanding.

Here’s what’s included:

Argumentative Passage
Passage Interactive Activity
Graphic Organizer Sort Activity & Cheat Sheet
Evidence-Based Question Set
Transition Words & Counterclaim/Rebuttal Activities
Self-Assessment Tool

How to Use It in Your Classroom

Kickstart your learning about analyzing argumentative writing with a simple question… “What makes an argument strong?”

Ask students to discuss this in small groups and come up with possible answers. Collect their thoughts somewhere where all students can see them. Then, let students debate the responses in search of some key things that make an argument strong.

Then, use the resource to break it down step-by-step. Use the handouts and pieces of this resource to guide students through claims, reasoning, and finding good evidence.

Once you’ve worked through the resource in its entirety, the pieces of the resource and the ideas used can be used with other passages. Don’t forget to check out our high-interest Paired Passage sets at The Sparkly Notebook store! There are a lot of great topics to work with as you continue to discuss analyzing arguments with students.

The Best Part?

Students get high-rigor practice without the boredom of standard test-prep worksheets.

This packet makes argumentative writing engaging, accessible, and follows the standards!

Want to dive deeper into real-world argumentative writing? Check out Analyzing Argumentative Writing – Social Media and Teens for another high-interest topic!

👉 Get your students test-ready with the Analyzing Argumentative Writing – Test Prep Packet today!

Why Socratic Seminar is CRUCIAL During Testing Season

Although grammar and reading comprehension skill review gets a lot of attention during testing season, remember that using the Socratic Seminar is crucial this time of the year for helping students create strong, well-thought-out arguments.

As testing season approaches, it’s easy to get caught up in drill-and-practice routines. But is that really helping students engage with the material?

Instead of passive test prep, let’s give them something that actually builds critical thinking skills—Socratic Seminars.

Our SL. 1-3 Standards-Based Units are all about using Socratic Seminars in middle school ELA. To learn more about these standards and how to address them in 6th-8th grade, check out this blog post!!

Blog Post (How to teach SL.1-3 in Middle School)

Why Socratic Seminar?

Socratic Seminars aren’t just class discussions. They help students practice high-level speaking and listening skills while strengthening their ability to analyze texts, ask thoughtful questions, and defend their reasoning with evidence.

These are the exact skills they need to tackle standardized tests confidently.

Why Now?

Right now, students are expected to analyze passages, compare sources, and support their ideas with textual evidence. Students also need to be able to pull key details out of their reading and use that reading to support answers to questions about the text and it’s goal/purpose.

A pin image of a group of students working together on a group project. The text reads, "Read on the blog: Socratic Seminar - What it is and why it's crucial during testing season."

A Socratic Seminar brings these skills to life! Instead of simply reading, students are:

Making real connections
Forming strong arguments
Defending their ideas with logic and evidence
Hearing how others are interpreting the same text

This interactive approach naturally reinforces Speaking and Listening (SL.1-3) standards for 6th-8th grade, and we want to make it as easy as possible for you to implement these strategies with your middle school ELA students.

Our SL.1-3 resources provide lesson plans, discussion guides, and assessment tools tailored to each grade level.

Take It Up a Notch

Want even stronger results?

Incorporate writing into your Socratic Seminars.

Writing Activity Ideas:

Write a short reflection before and after the discussion
Cite sources properly to support their ideas (great for working on proper citations)
Have students write blog posts and/or news stories about what they learned from the seminar.
Ask students to write down the key points for both sides of a given argument based on the discussion.
Ask students to identify the key parts of the reading based on the direction of the discussion.

This bridges the gap between speaking and writing, reinforcing their ability to construct well-supported written responses.

Ready to Elevate Test Prep?

If you’re looking for an engaging way to refine speaking, listening, and argumentation skills, Socratic Seminars are a must!

And if you want an easy, standards-aligned way to implement them, check out our SL.1-3 resources for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade below!!

Start transforming your test prep today!

Fun ELA Springtime Test Prep Activities

Five fun ELA springtime test prep activities for middle school students!

Spring is in the air, and so is testing season!

As we inch closer to standardized testing, it’s important to keep students engaged while reviewing key skills. But let’s be real—test prep doesn’t have to be boring!

With a little creativity, you can make reviewing grammar, reading comprehension, and writing skills a lot more fun and interactive for your students.

Let’s explore some fun springtime test prep activities you can try with your middle school ELA students!

Pin image of students working on a project together. Text reads, "Fun ELA Test Prep Activities: Spring activities for middle school."

1. Digital Escape Rooms – Test Prep with a Twist

Escape rooms are a fantastic way to get students thinking critically while reviewing key ELA skills. Luckily, we have several Digital Escape Rooms that fit right into the spring season:

Our digital escape rooms reinforce figurative language, reading comprehension, and grammar concepts—all while making students feel like they’re solving a mystery or completing a challenge!

Each escape room includes puzzles, reading passages, and interactive challenges that keep students engaged while practicing essential middle school ELA test-taking strategies.

Bonus: Since they’re digital, they require NO prep for you!

Sign Up for a FREE plot structure digital escape room!

2. ELA Task Card Scavenger Hunt

Turn your classroom into a scavenger hunt zone!

Create task cards covering key ELA skills (main idea, text structure, vocabulary, etc.) and hide them around the room. Students work in pairs or small groups to find and complete each task card.

To add an extra layer of fun, include “bonus” cards with small prizes or funny challenges to keep them engaged.

Need task cards? We have middle school ELA-themed task cards that are ready to print and use!

3. Jeopardy-Style Review Game

Game-show-style test prep always gets students excited! Use an interactive Jeopardy game with categories like Grammar Rules, Reading Comprehension, Figurative Language, and Writing Strategies to keep things competitive.

💡 Pro Tip: Divide students into teams and let them “buzz in” by raising their hands or using small whiteboards. Offer small prizes for the winning team to add an extra incentive!

There are plenty of fun buzzing options, like classroom buzzers with different sounds to add extra excitement!

4. Classroom “Around the World” Grammar Challenge

It’s like a spelling bee… but for grammar!

Put a fun spin on grammar review with an Around the World game. This fast-paced activity has students competing to answer grammar questions correctly as they move from desk to desk.

If they get the answer right, they move forward.
If they don’t, they stay put and wait for the next round.

It’s a great way to reinforce grammar rules while keeping energy levels high!

5. Digital Sorting Activity Relay Race

Another quick and effective test prep activity is a digital sorting relay race!

This no-prep activity works great as a station in a class challenge. Here’s how it works:

Set up five computers with a digital sorting activity on one side of the room.
Divide students into five teams and line them up on the other side of the room.
One student at a time runs over, moves one tile, and returns to tag the next teammate.
The first team to correctly complete the sort wins!

With the weather getting nicer in the Northern Hemisphere, this is also a fun activity to do outside!

Click here to learn more ways to use our DIGITAL Sorting activities!

Blog Post (Quick review with these 3 digital sort activities)

Figurative Language DIGITAL Sort Activity

DIGITAL Nonfiction Text Structure Sort (Common Core Aligned)

Types of Sentence DIGITAL Sort Activity – Zero Prep

Make Test Prep Fun and Engaging!

Test prep doesn’t have to be dry or stressful! Incorporating interactive activities like escape rooms, scavenger hunts, and games keeps students engaged while ensuring they’re ready for those end-of-year assessments.

Want ready-to-go test prep resources? Check out our Digital Escape Rooms and ELA task cards to make your review sessions stress-free and fun!

Here’s to a successful (and fun) test prep season! 🚀

– The Sparkly Notebook

Review the ELA Middle School Standards…have your students learned all of them?

With the end of the year, we know it is time to review the ELA middle school standards, and really think about what you need to teach, reteach, or review as we head into the fourth quarter.

We all know that teaching is like juggling a million things at once, and every once in a while, we drop one of the things we’re trying to keep in the air.

Sometimes, those things we drop are the standards.

If we don’t have a good system in place, despite our best efforts, we may lose track of whether our students are truly hitting the mark when it comes to the ELA middle school standards.

However, if we have a good plan to review the ELA middle school standards (in an organized and purposeful fashion, of course!), we can be sure that we are on the right track!

Getting to Know the Middle School ELA Standards

The middle school ELA standards are like the GPS for our teaching journey. They map out what our students should know and be able to do by the end of each grade level.

But like a GPS, there are usually many different routes you can take to get students to know the skills outlined in the standards. This is where we, as middle school ELA teachers, get to add in our own flair and fun.

How to Review the Middle School ELA Standards in a Purposeful Way

The best way that I know to review the middle school ELA standards in a purposeful way is through a checklist.

I break down every standard into a list in an Excel document and then make a plan for when I will introduce, review, and assess each standard.

In the middle of the year, during review, I make sure that I’ve followed my plan or take note of anything I’ve missed.

This checklist can take a long time to set up, but once I have it set up, I can revisit it over and over.

Our Standards-Based Checklists

To make it easier for our teachers to review the ELA middle school standards, we’ve created standard checklists for teachers in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade.

These checklists have all of the standards for each grade level and a comparison chart so that you can see how the standard compares to the previous grade.

I love the comparison charts because I can see how the standard is just a little different at each level…or not.

Click on the images below to see each checklist in more detail.

Preparing Middle School Students for standardized tests: 6th grade standards checklist — 6th Grade Checklist

Preparing Middle School Students for Standardized Tests: (7th Grade Standards Checklist) — 6th Grade Checklist

Spotting the Gaps

As you work through the checklists, look for places where you may be introducing the standard, but you aren’t reviewing it. Or maybe you’re introducing it and reviewing it, but you are not formally assessing it.

Maybe there is a part of the standard that you’re hitting but a part that you’re not.

In this blog post, we go over how to break the standards down into learning targets and then make a plan for the year. These learning targets give us a checklist of manageable tasks that we can focus on to ensure the standard is being fully taught.

In each of our blog posts on the middle school ELA standards, we’ve broken the standard we’re discussing into learning targets. Click on the posts below to read more about the standards you feel you need to cover in more detail.

Resources and Blog Posts for Each Standard

Note: We also have a resource for each standard. In the resource, we’ve broken the standard down into learning targets and then developed lessons for each! We’ve written a blog post about each of these standards and our resources for them. Click on the links below to take a closer look at the standard your students need more work on!

Writing Standards (for Middle School)

Reading Literature

Reading Informative Texts

Language Standards

Speaking and Listening Standards

When you review the ELA Middle School Standards, it doesn’t have to be a stress-inducing ordeal.

You just need a plan or checklist that you can follow along with and refer back to as you move through the school year. Hopefully, this blog post has provided you with plenty of both to make this process one you can ease into!

Importance of Standards in this Modern Teaching World

When we focus on the importance of standards in the modern teaching world, we are choosing to consider the foundation of our student’s educational experiences before giving any credit to the fluff and shine of modern ‘educational’ tools and resources.

With resources available at the click of a button, Amazon Prime delivering our last-minute crafting needs straight to our classrooms, and an endless supply of ‘educational’ games to choose from, the number of directions you could choose to take your classroom can be overwhelming.

In order to navigate all the options, you need to get very clear on what is most important in your classroom.

To me, teaching will always need to be like building and designing a house. Some houses are both well-built and beautiful, but some of the prettiest houses could also be hiding a terrible foundation.

Pretty doesn’t always mean better.

Fun doesn’t always mean better.

Yearly Curriculum Edits

It is never a teacher’s goal to make teaching boring; in fact, teachers should go out of their way to find ways to make lessons more engaging. But, if pretty and fun take precedence over focused learning and teaching to the standards, we are doing our students a huge disservice.

Each year in the spring, I encourage teachers to spend time revamping their curriculum, taking a close look at their assessments, and editing their plans for the following year to make sure that all of the standards their students are expected to know and understand are being covered and mastered. This yearly activity places importance on standards and reminds you to put the standards first at all times!

Read this blog post to learn how I plan my curriculum by breaking down the standards.

These standards checklists are a huge part of that process and have a front-row seat in my computer’s ‘recently viewed’ files.

With all of the different activities to choose from, teachers can’t get distracted by the pretty exterior, flashy clipart, or quirky themes. A resource that isn’t standard-aligned does not serve your students, just as pretty tile and a rainfall showerhead only upgrade a bathroom if the plumbing is correctly hooked up and the suitable materials are used to adhere the tile. When all of the bright and shiny new resources try to distract us, we have to stay focused on what matters most… the foundation.

Standards are the foundation of education, and we need to stay laser-focused on the importance of standards throughout the year to make sure our students are getting the education they deserve.

If you’ve completed your classroom edit for the year and found that your tools regarding a specific middle school ELA standard have been lacking, check out our grade-level standards-based resources in the store.

Our goal is for each resource in these product lines to focus on introducing, breaking down, teaching, reviewing, and assessing each standard for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade ELA.

Whether you are in your 30th year of teaching or your first, keep the importance of the standards as the basis of your teaching and resource decisions. It is okay to have fun and find great, standards-based games and activities, but do your due diligence and make sure the resources you’re using actually meet the standards and meet your students where they are!

Revamping Curriculum for Next Year

We are spring cleaning in the classroom and that means revamping curriculum for next year!

Spring cleaning is a real thing.

Every year as I start to hear the bird chirping, the squirrels race around, and the bugs start making noise again, I think about a fresh start.

I don’t know if this is just the teacher in me that believes a fresh start is really the end of the previous school year or if it is something everyone feels.

Either way, I find myself in clean-out mode right around April and May every year.

And if I’m not cleaning everything out, I’m definitely simplifying.

Spring Clean by Revamping Curriculum

Simplifying in my home life looks like taking totes to consignment stores, cleaning out that closet that has been filling with clutter over the course of the school year, and deciding if I really am going to get into ‘that’ dress this year or not.

Simplifying at school is about revamping my curriculum, getting rid of the excess waste from my plans, and eventually making room for new ideas and fresh assessments.

When I work on revamping the curriculum to prepare for the next school year, I like to turn to my trusty old spreadsheets.

Standard Breakdown Spreadsheets for the Win!!

I start by laying out all the standards and thinking through each quarter of the year and mapping out what we did, how it went, and whether it was successful in accomplishing the goals I had for the unit/assessment.

I like to use editable spreadsheets that already have the standards mapped out and the skills listed, like those that I have ready for all the K-12 standards.

However, I also like to have a set just for middle school as well.

6th Grade Standard Breakdown Spreadsheets

7th Grade Standard Breakdown Spreadsheets

8th Grade Standard Breakdown Spreadsheets

These editable spreadsheets make it easy for me to make copies, move things around, and add or delete anything that needs to be ‘thrown out’ in the new year. I also frequently link my digital assessments and plans into these documents to keep everything organized and simplified as we head into the new year.

Fill in with Standards-Based Resources

As you begin your spring cleaning this year, make sure to tidy up what matters most, and in the classroom, revamping the curriculum is a good place to start.

If you find that you have a hole in your curriculum where you are not quite hitting the standards the way you need to be, consider grabbing one of our standards-based mini-lessons to provide some focused instruction on each skill you need to attack.

Enjoy the spring, find some time to get outside, and enjoy all the sights and sounds of the world waking up!

Auditing your Curriculum Assessments while they’re Fresh

Set yourself up for success by auditing your curriculum assessments while they’re still fresh!

We did it!!

We have made it through yet another year of teaching, and we think we did pretty well this year.

How are you feeling?

Now that the planning is done and all the lessons and skills have been introduced to students, it is time to start the end-of-the-year to-do list.

You know the one. That to-do list where you review your plans and assessments from this last year or semester, audit them and then decide what needs to go.

It is like our own little Marie Kondo cleaning regimen.

Does this lesson serve its purpose? Yes.

Does it bring me joy? Nope.

Then “Thank you for doing what you did, but you gotta go!”

Okay, so maybe it’s not just like that, but it may be.

To be completely honest, many of the items on our end-of-year to-do list can probably wait until next fall, but some of them really can’t.

One task you need to complete sooner rather than later is an Assessment Audit because auditing your curriculum assessments while they’re fresh can be a good way to figure out how efficient your planning was last year and what kinds of things you need to reconsider for next year.

As you begin auditing your assessments, consider these questions.

What standards/skills was this assessment supposed to assess?
What standards/skills did this assessment actually assess?
Are there any standards that can be blocked into this assessment? (Learn more about how we plan assessments and block standards in this blog post.)
If the assessment failed to adequately assess a specific standard, where did it go wrong?
Is there a way to set up the assessment to do the job it was supposed to do?
If that standard/skill is not assessed here, is there another assessment that can take its place?

Make a list of all of your assessments, and then put these questions on a sheet and answer each one honestly. You can even create a quick Google form with the questions so that your answers are all nicely laid out in a spreadsheet when you’re all done.

No matter how you do it, these questions need to be asked and answered for you to really know if the assessments you had students complete this year were really all that and a bag of chips or if they were simply a bag that was supposed to hold chips but was actually messy… how is that for a metaphor.

Cleaning your room and checking the viability of your markers is one thing, but cleaning up your assessments and lessons and making your teaching more purposeful and efficient is invaluable as you plan for the next school year.

Have a wonderful end of the year!

Happy auditing!

What Makes for a Great, Educational ELA Escape Room?

Educational ELA escape rooms are the ones that focus on content and skills as much as they do locks and keys.

Escape rooms have built up a lot of hype over the course of the last decade or so, and their educational use has exploded.

We see people designing escape rooms left and right and claiming that they are intended for educational use.

This begs the question…How are escape rooms educational?

There will, of course, always be that group of people who say that games and problem-solving opportunities of all types are educational in their own right, and that may be true. However, there is a time and place for escape rooms, and not all ELA escape rooms help students actually learn content.

So what makes for a good educational ELA escape room?

The Non-Example

Members of The Sparkly Notebook were once a part of an in-person escape room where we were given a packet of materials and a lockbox and were instructed to try to escape by getting to the information inside the box.

This escape room was fun and frustrating and required our group to work together, but in the grand scheme of the escape room, we could not actually provide any information about the content we had looked at or any of the data we shifted through as we searched for the codes.

What went wrong?

The fact of the matter is that the information itself was not tied to the codes. The code was found within the content, but it was not dependent on knowing it. Once we figured out the code, the content didn’t matter.

In one particular scenario, the code was created by the first letters of the capitalized words in the document. Once we noticed the capitalized letters, we didn’t read any of the content. We noticed that the words were capitalized right away, and we quickly guessed the code by skimming through the document and highlighting just the capitalized words.

Sign Up for a FREE plot structure digital escape room!

Content-Driven, Educational ELA Escape Rooms

ELA escape rooms (or any escape room for that matter) that separate the content from the code do not serve students in the same way that educational ELA escape rooms depend on the content to figure out the code.

For example, in this ELA Test Prep Escape Room, students have to be able to read a passage (very similar to the type of passage that they encounter in ELA standardized tests) and answer questions. Their answers to those questions create the code.

Educational ELA Escape Room Example: ELA Test Prep Escape Room

In this situation, the code is directly tied to the content. Students HAVE to do the task to escape the room.

To find the answer to the second ‘lock,’ students have to make predictions about a character’s choices based on their actions within the reading and then use the symbols next to those predictions to change the symbols into letters which in turn are the key to unlock the next ‘door.’

Each of these specific task examples requires students to not only think critically, problem-solve, and possibly work with a group but also require the students to read the information closely enough to answer questions about it, analyze it, and make predictions.

When you are looking for educational escape rooms, really look through what you want students to work on, and make sure the escape room is challenging them both with content and with the ‘locks’ themselves.

A good educational escape room is focused on classroom content, and learning that presents students with a mental challenge and focuses on the skills that your students specifically need to practice.

As you begin to “Plan Your Curriculum Like a Boss,” consider how the activities you’re adding support the learning and standards within your classroom, and find some great, educational ELA escape rooms that align with your goals.

If you’re interested and you want to see a full list of our Educational ELA Escape Rooms, click here!

Practice Test-Taking Strategies with Paired Passages

Read about high-interest topics while you practice test-taking strategies with paired passages.

We love when students love reading, but we’ve found that our students don’t love reading when they have to read about topics they struggle to connect with.

Shocker, right?!? (Yep. That was sarcasm!)

Although students may need to know that the Stamp Act took place, a non-fiction passage about the Stamp Act is not something they will probably get really excited to read.

When you are practicing test-taking strategies related to reading, find highly engaging passages for students to work with. Testing is not really exciting, but when we are practicing test-taking strategies with paired passages, there are no rules that say you have to pick passages that are just as dull as a typical standardized test passage.

Why read about the Stamp Act when you can practice test-taking strategies with paired passages about social media, TikTok, video games, sports, and so much more?

What’s Included in a Paired Passage

Before we talk about test-taking strategies, let’s talk about what these paired passages look like.

Each paired passage set includes passages that are focused on a common topic, and each passage includes a set of reading comprehension questions to test a student’s knowledge.

You can also create your own questions to go along with a passage or ask students to use the paired passages to support their writing practice.

We love paired passages so much; in fact, we’ve come up with a whole bunch of different ways to use them. You can read about the ways we like to reuse our paired passages in this post!

Paired Passages also challenge students to think about the text in a different way. In this post, we’ve talked about how paired passages can prepare students for testing situations.

Practice Test-Taking Strategies with Paired Passages

There are a variety of test-taking strategies out there, and these paired passages allow you to put your students in a test-like situation so they can practice several of those strategies.

Maybe you are practicing taking timed tests. If you know that students are typically given 60 minutes on their reading tests, and the reading test includes six passages, then you can give your students 10 minutes to complete one of the passages.

Maybe you are working on narrowing down answer choices. Use the questions that come with the paired passages to practice figuring out which answers can be thrown out and which ones need to be seriously considered.

Maybe you are teaching your students how to quickly annotate a passage to help them be more successful in a testing situation. Use one of these paired passages to demonstrate how you might do that.

For more test-taking tips, check out this blog post!

The paired passages we have in the store are very similar to the passages that students may encounter during testing situations, making them great for you to use as you practice test-taking strategies.

Take a closer look at all the different paired passage topics we have available here!

Testing doesn’t have to be scary, and you can do a lot to prepare your students when you practice test-taking strategies with paired passages!

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ELA Test Prep

Prepping Students for MAP Testing in Middle School ELA with These 3 Ideas

1. Turn the Standards Into a Game

2. Use Short Texts with High-Quality Questions

3. Reinforce Skills Through Discussion

Prep Doesn’t Have to Be Boring

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

Why Argumentative Writing is a Must Before Testing

What’s Inside the Test Prep Packet?

How to Use It in Your Classroom

The Best Part?

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

Why Socratic Seminar?

Why Now?

Take It Up a Notch

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

1. Digital Escape Rooms – Test Prep with a Twist

Sign Up for a FREE plot structure digital escape room!

2. ELA Task Card Scavenger Hunt

3. Jeopardy-Style Review Game

4. Classroom “Around the World” Grammar Challenge

5. Digital Sorting Activity Relay Race

Make Test Prep Fun and Engaging!

Getting to Know the Middle School ELA Standards

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

How to Review the Middle School ELA Standards in a Purposeful Way

Our Standards-Based Checklists

Spotting the Gaps

Resources and Blog Posts for Each Standard

Yearly Curriculum Edits

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

Spring Clean by Revamping Curriculum

Standard Breakdown Spreadsheets for the Win!!

Fill in with Standards-Based Resources

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

Grab FREE Middle School ELA Standard Breakdowns Below!

The Non-Example

Sign Up for a FREE plot structure digital escape room!

Content-Driven, Educational ELA Escape Rooms

What’s Included in a Paired Passage

Practice Test-Taking Strategies with Paired Passages

@thesparklynotebook

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