While my intentions were lofty and I had planned on starting much earlier, I am only beginning to study today for the Praxis II exam that I will take on Saturday, June 9. Since I had already determined that there was no extensive study guide that I could purchase, I have printed out a six-page “About This Test” booklet from the Web. It contains sample questions and answers and lists the types of things that will be covered, specifically:
Analysis of Student Language Production
Linguistic Theory
Teaching Methods and Techniques
Assessment Techniques and Cultural Issues
Professional Issues
Under each of these topics are listed dozens of subtopics, for example, under Linguistic Theory are listed phonetic transcriptions; bound, free, and derivational morphemes; code-switching; communicative competence; and theorists such as Krashen and Cummins.
Today I used the metacognitive strategy of advance organization because I previewed what I was going to have to learn. I reviewed the list of every topic and subtopic and underlined the ones that I don’t think I already know inside and out – in other words, the ones I have to study. This amounts to more than 100 topics. It is pretty disheartening!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Today I used the cognitive strategy of grouping to figure out what I was going to deal with first. I decided to go with the area where I am weakest, which is phonology, including phonetic transcriptions and place and manner of articulation. I placed out of this class because I have an MA in Linguistics – but I obtained that degree several years ago and forget the details of phonology. Since I did not keep any of my books or notes from my Masters (big mistake!), I need to obtain the information anew. I asked a classmate, who gave me some Web links, and I asked Dr. Robbins, who directed me to her Web site for TRED 256. By asking questions I was using the social/affective strategy of questioning for clarification.
Once I got the information, I printed it out and looked it over. The knowledge started flooding back! I put the material in a folder for later reference.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Today I decided to write out the key aspects of the main teaching theories, methods, and approaches, with the names of the men who developed them (cognitive strategy of note taking). I made sure to include the names of the methods mentioned in the guide that I printed out. Some of this information was in my notes from my Educational Psychology class so I pulled out those notes.
I also looked at my textbooks for topics listed in the guide such as “components needed in a lesson when teaching a skill discretely or integratively” and wrote notes on those.
One of the sample questions in the guide gave a table of contents in an ESOL textbook and asked if it was organized in a hierarchical, grammatical, notional-functional, or core way. I could not answer the question so I did research on all the terms (cognitive strategy of resourcing) and took notes.
I put all of the notes into a folder.
Monday, June 4, 2007
I wasn’t able to study over the weekend because of homework for my two classes. I am starting to feel a bit panicked because I am still pulling together information but have not yet started to memorize anything.
There is one other area where I know nothing, and that is “legal foundations for ESOL programs, including Lau vs. Nichols,” as the Praxis II mini-study guide states. I used the Internet (cognitive strategy of resourcing) to find out what Lau vs. Nichols was, printed it out, and put it in my folder.
Tonight I listened for the first time to the Web sites that my classmate told me about, where a person speaks the various sounds in the IPA while I looked at the symbols. How can I possibly memorize all of these symbols? I can’t. I decide to learn what I think are the main vowel symbols (metacognitive strategy of selective attention).
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Today I decided I am finished gathering information. Now it is time to learn it all and memorize as much as necessary. I took all my notes, punched holes in them and put them into a green three-hole binder. I did not put the material in any particular order, since I have to learn it all and it won’t be in order on the test.
During the time at my high school that I am not teaching or assisting this week, I will study (metacognitive strategy of self-management).
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Today I was able to study for about two hours while at school. I worked on about the first third of the notebook. The way I study is to first read the material. Some of it I have learned in class already and I just need to review it once or twice to internalize it. However, some of the material is “new,” which means I never learned it in class, e.g., the Lau court case, or pidginization, which I had not yet learned about, or the International Phonetic Alphabet, which I knew once but have forgotten. For the latter items, I will circle or underline them since I really need to memorize them. Then I will study them, one at a time, and try to write them down on a separate piece of paper without looking at my notes. I will repeat the study/write process until I can write the information without looking at my notes at all (cognitive strategy: summarizing).
Friday, June 8, 2007
I spent most of the afternoon and evening studying. I used the strategy mentioned above to plow through the rest of my notebook. In addition, to learn the IPA vowels, I drew a picture that shows an abstract version of the mouth and the high, low, front, and back vowels. By doing this I was using the cognitive strategy of imagery.
For some of the items I needed to know, I used mnemonic devices as a strategy. For example, for the characteristics of communicative language teaching, I remember PUFFS: pragmatic and authentic material, unrehearsed discourse, fluency, facilitator (teacher), and strategies.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Test day. In terms of learning and testing environment, UDC is rather appalling. The concrete is breaking apart, walls are peeling, there is minimal air circulation, and there is an unbelievably foul smell that permeates the hallways and the classroom where we took our test. The CD and/or boom box that were used to play the sound portion of the test failed midstream and it took a while to get things working again.
Before the test, I was a bit anxious. I took my green notebook to cram during the half hour I had in advance of the start time. I used the social/affective strategy of self-talk to tell myself I would do all right.
The test was difficult. Using the metacognitive strategy of self-assessment, I am fairly happy with what and how I studied. There was nothing I chose to study that I should have learned more thoroughly. My shortfalls had to do with not selecting certain things to put in my notebook to study, such as more court cases other than Lau and more IPA symbols. I missed a couple of questions by not having done that. A few questions used terminology that I did not recognize and now that the test is over, I don’t even remember what the terms were. I certainly missed those questions.
The good news is that one needs to get only 55% of the questions correct in order to pass the test, and I am pretty confident that I did at least that well. I will know in another week or two.
