BOI-Thought process

I've spent the last week reading the rest of Sara Kadjer's texts and letting my thoughts marinate before I made another post. I came to a few conclusions and also have even more questions; how do I find the "right task, right tool, right student" for some of the activities/strategies she suggests using? I'm also concerned with the fact that many of these strategies seem to be so time consuming. How will I ever be able to fit in all of the essential texts on the district list AND prepare my students for state-mandated, high-stakes assessments if I use strategies that will eat away at my instructional time? I realize that I should not teach to the test, but if I take as much time as Kadjer suggests on many of these activities, how will I be able to balance that with making sure that my students are prepared when so many of them come to me with below grade-level content knowledge and skills?