HIT: Praxis II, Part 1

[smm2p <smm2p@MTSU.EDU>]

I really appreciate the response I got to this post! There is a lot of good
information contained in here. Thanks to those who participated! I hope to
post another follow up HIT after January 12 because their are a few people
taking the test then. Their input will be the most accurate.

Shannon Murphy
smm2p@mtsu.edu
Murfreesboro, TN
MTSU-Grad Student

My apologies if I excluded anyone.

I took both of the Praxis tests in June at UT in Knoxville. I graduated from
UT with a MS in Information Science, and I am currently working as an
elementary school librarian in Knox County. I made scores well above what I
needed to be certified in Tennessee, so I did not think the tests were
difficult, but they were different than I expected or studied for.
I chose to take the Prinicples of Learning and Teaching for 7th--12th grades
because I had been a former instructor of English at both the community
college and university level, but I could have chosen any of the PLT tests.
The test did not have the type of questions on it that I had thought it
would--I studied educational theories important people in the field
(Piaget),etc. and most of it was not on the test. I do remember that there
were several questions about Bloom's taxomony ( a hierarchy of learning). One
part of the test that is important is the writing part. You are given
classroom scenarios and then asked questions about the situation in both
mutliple choice and essay questions. A course I had take on classroom
management helped me with this part. But in many cases I think your answers
just need to be based in common sense.
The library media test also had questions on it that I did not expect. For
example their were quite a number of questions about constructing a new
facility. The questions about literature also seemed dated. One question was
about Ezra Jack Keats, but no questions were about current award-winning
authors. There were also some questions about using online search engines like
Dialog. While Dialog is used at Universities, I know of no K-12 school system
that now uses Dialog. So some of the questions were definitley dated. You do
need to know what the major publications and awards are in children's and
young adult literature, and you need to always choose the answer that reflects
the school library as being always open and flexible for student use. ALA's
book Information Power can help you with these points.
I've heard that several tests exist for each Praxis category, so you may not
get the same test that I did. Don't "cram" the night before--get plenty of
rest, and take the full time to take the tests. Each test was 2 hours long and
I took the full time and carefully answered the questions.
- Debbie Callis

Read Information Power...twice.
- Julie Stephens, LMS

This is what you need. Your need and old copy of the Information Power book
(1988) and there is media specialist study guide to pass the Florida test.
That has general information. Praxis II Educational Media Specialist Library.
To Order
XAM, Inc.
310 NE 7th Ave
Delray Beach, FL 33483
phone 1-561-243-6080
fax      1-561-265-3769
email winwin11@aol.com
web url  http://mypage.ihost.com/asap
But I got most of my studying from Information Power. ALA does not have any
copies. I also studied from my notes from library school at my University. Go
over --- professional journals, budget, AECT (code of ethics), ALA (code of
ethics), ALA Library bill of rights, go over all types of book awards.
-       Carol Hammond (From Jennifer)

I took the learning and teaching test.
There are a couple types of questions. First there are the basic multiple
guess. These cover a lot of developmental psychology type stuff. There was one
question that I blew that included initials that stood for some type of ESL
classes. If you are involved in developmentally appropriate practices and know
where these practices come from you are OK with these questions. The other
portion of the test involves classroom scenarios. Following these are multiple
guess type questions then some essay. I did use a book to
study, but it wasn't that helpful and the title evades me. The study guides
that you download are about the most helpful resource that I used. That
information allowed me to know what to expect.
- Sharon Flesher

I took the Praxis for LMS in the fall of 2000 (a little over a year ago). I
took it as a paper pencil test. I did not need to take the general knowledge
part. The test at that time was way out of date. I had re-read Information
Power II and the test was based on Information Power (the original). The
re-reading of IP 2 is somewhat helpful, but a cruise through the original
would be more so. A look through lists of genres and authors
would also be helpful. A fair amount on budgeting and related terminology. As
I mentioned earlier, the test is out of date with current practice, but you
have to take it so just relax and try your best. Don't analyze it to death.
- Jen Newcome

Hi, I just took the Praxis II in early November. Some questions were about
our professional journals and who is responsible for them and what they are
used for (in which one would you find book reviews, etc) so look at those.
Other things discussed are criteria for weeding, famous authors of genre
books, that's about all I can remember. Good Luck (it's not too bad)
-       Judy Hammer

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