Activity 3: Pre-Assessment for
Differentiation
Pre-assessment are designed for ways to better understand
and modify teaching methods that is optimal for the students. Every student is different in their own way,
and differentiating helps teachers and students learn the skills and knowledge
in the best way possible.
A teacher can use pre-assessment to know which students are
capable of advancing to the next unit.
The teacher can group certain students together with similar skill
levels, and can also adjust the lesson plan and teaching methods to meet the
students’ strengths and needs.
Let’s just say we are doing a topic of “Desert” for my grade
1 kids.
Pre-assessing the
students
I have several ways of doing this:
1.
Having a chat with them 1 on 1
2.
Doing a simple worksheet to see if they can name
the desert plants and animals
3.
Have them write a very simple sentence or some
words related to desert
4.
Show a video about the desert and ask them to
raise their hands to see what they know
5.
Flash cards and props if available
6.
Brainstorm or mind mapping in a group
Class Routine
During the 3 minute attendance time, for my grade 1 kids, I
use class dojo to motivate them and participate with the activity. Unfortunately, the avatars do not look
anything like desert animals but they can use their imaginations. And so, I ask the students “What does Sarah’s
avatar look like?” and “Frankie’s?” and they would all name some desert
animals.
I would have decorated my class with many desert plants and
animals and have them guess which is what and what is special about it. We would choose other decorations the next
day.
My co-teacher and I would model a plant or animal have the
students guess what it is.
There is a poster at the back of the classroom and any
student can draw anything related to desert.
Class Grouping and
Worksheets
Low level – They can draw any plant or animal about the
desert.
Mid level – They can draw and name the plant or animal if
they can.
High level – They can draw, and write a sentence about their
drawing.
Some activities and
teaching strategies
-
I use sing along songs, short stories with
colourful pictures, and videos about desert.
-
Determine which students have a low, mid, and
high knowledge about desert knowledge.
-
I like to group students with same interests,
who likes camels? Who likes cactuses? Who likes snakes?
-
I could have my co-teacher focus on the lower
level, while I focus on the mid and high level students after we have
differentiated, because this helps students get more out of the lesson
Personal
Pre-assessment Rubrics
Reading & Writing & Listening
Rubrics
|
Grade 1
|
D
Developing
|
Q
Qualified
|
G
Good
|
E
Excellent
|
|
Reading
|
Able to read some letters, 0 -1 sight word, and has difficulty
understanding the content
|
Able to read some letters, 1 sight word, and comprehends the content
|
Able to read a sentence, 2 – 3 sight words, and comprehends the
content and grammar structure
|
Able to read full sentences, all sight words, and comprehends all
grammar structure
|
|
Writing
|
Writes 0 or 1 word, cannot spell sight words, or use beginning sounds
|
Writes some words, and comprehensible, and can spell 1 – 2 sight
words
|
Writes a sentence, subject and verb, a capital and punctuation mark,
and sight words
|
Writes a complete sentence, subject verb, adjective or modifier. Sentence begins with a capital, a period,
legible handwriting, use phonetic spelling, and spelled sight words correctly
|
|
Listening
|
Is not able to follow instructions and continuously asks them to be
repeated.
|
Has difficulty following instructions and asks many of them to be repeated.
|
Able to follow most instructions clearly but asks 1-2 of them to be
repeated.
|
Able to follow instructions clearly without needing it to be
repeated.
|
Lesson Plan
|
Grade:___
Grade 1_____Teacher:_____Andy______
|
Week:
______8______No. of lessons:______5_____
|
|
Key
questions:
Is the desert
hot?
What are some
desert plants?
What are some desert animals?
Where are the deserts around the world?
Do you want to
live in the desert?
objective/s:
-Discuss
the theme
-SWBAT
use oral vocabulary words “desert” theme
-SWBAT
write the words about desert and other reviewed words
-Ask
questions; compare and contrast
-SWBAT point and read simple words related to the
theme
-Listen and respond to a fable
-Listen to and share information
-SWBAT use letter knowledge to write letters in a
word web and brainstorm on their IPads
-
|
Assessment:
(activity, worksheet, observation…)
use tracing worksheets and blank sheets to
observe their writing skills
observe how the students repeat he target
languages observe their reading abilities and vocabulary words assess if they can answer some
questions like “Where do camels live?
What is the temperature in the desert?
Input grades and comments in the computer
|
|
Teacher
Input (5-10 mins):
Introduce the
book title, author and point to the children and map.
Point to and say
the target word language.
Draw or use IPads
to make a word web and guide students to read aloud
Read and review
the meaning of “desert” with storybooks and class activities
|
Materials
needed (including text tiles, w/s, flashcards, videos…etc)
Youtube videos to see how animals live in
the desert in different countries, laptop connected to overhead projector
Use
the book “Desert Animals”, “Desert Plants”
Use
the projector to show how to make a picture web,
IPads
for students
|
|
Vocabulary:
review previous words
|
|
|
Guided
Practice: (estimated time_____5________)
Teachers demonstrate
how to read the story books
Teachers will use
the overhead to show how to write the target letters and words
Introduce some
videos and flashcards that relates to Friends
Use the overhead
to review the “desert” word and help students write a basic sentence “ I like
camels”
Review the word and meaning of desert animals and
plants by modeling and using classmates
Teachers will
demonstrate how to write a word web and brainstorm
|
HW:
(please attach to this form) Homework sheet about friends
|
|
Independent
Practice: (estimated time:____5____
)
Teacher ask: what
is a camel and how does it live?
How do you write
“Desert” and target vocabulary
Who do you
“Like”? They can answer “I like
snakes”
Can you live in
the desert? What is your favorite animal? What is your favorite plant?
|
Journal
entry/ies:
Students can draw
a picture of their favorite plant or animal
Students can write a word web about desert
anchor
activity: The attendance, on-line
Class Dojo
|
In the start
of the lesson, I will show a video about the desert and other related plants
and animals. Students were paying
attention to the video and few distracted with other things.
I would use
IPads to get the students motivated and started brainstorming with other
students. Meanwhile, I would also write
good ideas on the board to help assist some students.
I would a
projector to show everyone all the great ideas being shared, and the projector
was easy to operate and helped the students a lot.
I would also
use flashcards on the projector as well, so that all students can see clearly.
Later, I
would ask all the students to take out here folders and complete their
worksheets. My co-teacher and I would
later walk around and grade them on their behavior and effort in class by
uploading them into the laptop.
Sandra would
also use Class Dojo, an on-line program that helps grade the students’ performance.
Mind Map
Student groups and
work stations
I will probably only be able to handle 2 work stations; while,
my co-teacher handles 1.
The first work station would be to use flash cards to name
some desert plants and animals. Later,
they can draw and name their items on their posters. Books are available for the students to
use.
The second work station would be to use their IPads and surf
the internet to research a little more in detail. The teacher will assist whenever
necessary. Later, they can draw and
write a full sentence on their posters.
The last work station would be handled by my
co-teacher. She will use the laptop and
projector to show various plants and animals, and just talk about it. Later, students can just draw whatever they
wish that is related to the unit.
Learning experiences
Overall, students will be able to learn in various ways and
hopefully can retain all the information in class.
1.
Drill and practice: My co-teacher and I like to
use activities like “I do, we do, and you do” They students can later do it in
their own groups. Flash cards are
useful, and fun worksheets are also nice for kids to practice and be engaged
with the class.
2.
Reinforcement: Practice makes perfect, and so,
teachers should always use various methods to have a little review and reminder
to help students. Class dojo in the
beginning of class, classroom decorations, and last minute questions.
3.
Developmental: Once students get the general
idea of what desert plants and animals are, they can now expand their knowledge
and are able to expand from there. I
would use various worksheets and activities over the course of the week and help
them learn new concepts and knowledge about deserts.
Citations
Website title: WKU, Renaissance Teacher Work Samples
Consortium
Website title: Differentiation: It Starts with
Pre-Assessment
URL: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/dec13/vol71/num04/Differentiation@_It_Starts_with_Pre-Assessment.aspx
Website title: Assessing Prior Knowledge
Website title: Pre-Assessment in the Differentiated
Classroom
URL: http://www.diffcentral.com/examples/brighton_preassess.pdf
