PP Strategy Intro · Teacher Directions

What this activity is

Students practice the P (Preview) step of the PROVE strategy on its own, before ever facing a full test. They see real STAAR-style questions and answer choices, but never a passage. There is nothing to answer; the work is learning to read the question. Four moves per question:

PAT = Pay Attention To. By the end, each student has built a complete PAT list, and the tool has revealed the skill every question was really testing. Plan on 2-3 minutes per question. The tool talks back the whole way: it confirms catches, nudges misses, and never leaves a student stuck.

If you have a PROVE it! account · assign it like a test

1. Sign in at thetestthattalksback.com/login and open the Strategy Intro tab.
2. Pick your grade level and press Assign. Choose how many questions (5-10), your class, and the open/close window, exactly like assigning a test.
3. You get a 6-character join code. Students go to thetestthattalksback.com/student, enter the code, and pick or type their name.
4. Watch the work arrive in My Tests: every student's key words, rewrites, and full PAT list, question by question.

No account? You can still run it today

The practice links below run the full student experience with nothing to sign into and nothing recorded. Put your grade's link on your board or LMS; students finish with their PAT list on screen.

Talking points while they work

1. "What's the job? Where's the job?" Every stem names a task and usually a place. If a student highlights everything, ask which word names the task.
2. Definitions are the tell. A student who can't match "infer" to its meaning will guess on every inference question. That matching screen is your quickest diagnostic.
3. Vague PAT entries get called out by the tool. "The story" is not a target. Push for the exact thing to hunt: a feeling, a reason, a comparison, a paragraph.
4. Close the loop: the next passage you read together, have students build a PAT list first, then read. That is the P step doing its job.