Helping Students Manage and Overcome Test Anxiety

Listen to the full episode to hear strategies that help students manage test anxiety:

When it comes to preparing for a state standardized test, we tend to focus our energy and time on the content our students need to master in order to get a high-achieving score. We implement daily practice and review for weeks leading up to the test. However, one aspect that we don’t focus on but plays a big role in our students’ performances is test anxiety. In today’s episode, I’m providing you with a variety of information that will help students manage and overcome test anxiety.

Test anxiety is the emotional component around testing, which can often be difficult to identify in students. Therefore, I’m sharing the signs of test anxiety, some of the major causes or factors that contribute to it, and strategies to help reduce this overwhelming feeling they have. Knowing these signs and factors can help you identify students early on, which will then provide them with the necessary strategies and tools to help them process and manage it to the best of their ability.

Making sure your students are prepared academically to take the state standardized test is so important, but don’t forget to prepare them for the emotional role it can have on them as well. By addressing test anxiety directly, you will be supporting them by giving them the tools and strategies they need to feel confident and perform as their greatest selves.

In this episode on test anxiety, I share:

• In addition to content review, why you also need to prepare your students for potential test anxiety
• Signs and contributing factors of test anxiety and how early detection is beneficial for your students
• Simple strategies that are consistent and affirming to help reduce their overwhelm and stress
• 3 environmental takeaways that you can practice and incorporate in your own classroom that help with test anxiety

Resources Mentioned:

• Join The Daily Writing Disguise 
• Monthly Writing Prompts
• Vocabulary Writing Prompts
• Episode 163, Response Ready: Tips for Helping Your Students Understand Writing Prompts
• Episode 162, Mastering the Basics: Reinforcing Core Writing Skills

Connect with Megan:

• Join The Daily Writing Disguise Membership here
• Shop my TpT store here
• Receive emails from me here
• Follow me on Instagram here
• Read my blog posts here

About The Literacy Dive Podcast:

Do you find yourself seeking new implementations when it comes to literacy instruction? Do you crave fresh ideas and engaging lessons to transform your students into skilled readers and writers? The Literacy Dive Podcast was created to provide educators, like you, with actionable steps and strategies to improve teaching reading and writing. 

Your host, Megan Polk, is the creator and owner of The Literacy Dive, a company that creates educational, literacy curriculum that aims to close the gap and support children in reaching mastery. Being a literacy specialist and having over a decade of teaching grades K-5, Megan knows the power of collaboration and working alongside teachers and parents to provide them with the support, confidence, and resources they need to meet students where they are.

Dive in each Monday as Megan and her guests unpack an element of literacy or various topics relatable to educators. Here are some topics covered in this literacy podcast: writing strategies, reading comprehension, the writing process, the science of reading, and small group instruction.

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