Running Head: PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT
Planning, Preparation, Instruction, and Assessment
Charis Sileo Regent University UED 495-496, Field Experience/Student Teaching ePortfolio Dr. Gould October 30, 2016
In partial fulfillment of UED 495-496 Field Experience/Student Teaching ePortfolio, Fall 2016
PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT
Introduction The primary goal in every day instruction is ensuring your students understand, comprehend, and meet the learning objectives. The teachers job is to determine the extent to which each individual student is arriving at the learning objective. The data pulled from preassessments, mid-instructional monitoring and grading, and post assessments, is key to recognizing patterns of student growth, student needs and how to accommodate them, and any potential requisite for enrichment or learning aids. Data analysis can provide a snapshot of what students know, what they should know, and what can be done to meet their academic needs. With appropriate analysis and interpretation of data, educators can make informed decisions that positively affect student outcomes (Lewis et. al., 2015). As an outgrowth of planning, preparation, instruction, and assessment, student data as a whole guides instruction and improves student learning.
PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT
Rationale My first artifact of choice is evidenced through a fourth grade unit plan I have developed on the topic of research. This unit plan is stretched over the course of a month (four weeks), and is comprised of: (1) Pre-assessment tool - a computer-based quiz that assesses prior knowledge of basic research skills. Quiz will include questions whose content covers knowledge in constructing research questions, use of research tools, collection/integration of resources, and citing of sources; (2) instruction, projects, and activities related to the SOL objective. During this instructional learning and practice phase, the teacher will continually monitor for student progress and comprehension, through whole group, paired, and small group settings, and through direct feedback from students through exit tickets and a confidence checklist; and (3) postassessment tool a G.R.A.S.P. (goal, role, audience, situation, product) e-portfolio assignment. This unit plan includes group discussions, brainstorming, student-to-student sharing of progress, collaboration, self-assessment/reflection, and constant feedback. Evidence of differentiation is evidenced through the students ability to choose technology tools or a topic for some of their activities. Using the formative and informative assessments pre, mid, and post unit, the teacher will gather the data prior to and throughout the unit to drive her instruction and modify if necessary. The teacher will compare data collected from the assessment tools to guide instruction. To help students directly with their assignments and tasks, the teacher will model the steps and clearly outline the expectations for each activity, as well as conduct a whole group review of student work or specific student samples as necessary. My second artifact of choice is a collection of the four steps of instruction planning, preparation, instruction, and assessment for a first grade geometry unit on solid vs. plane geometric figures and their attributes. First, the students took a paper-based pre-assessment on
PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT
the fundamentals of geometric shapes. This satisfies a portion of the assessment phase. From those results, I determined individual levels of pre-instructional comprehension, using the data to compile a list of students who: (1) needed one-on-one guidance, (2) small group guidance, (3) whole group practice, or (4) enrichment. This satisfies part of the planning and preparation phase. For whole group morning math, my students practiced drawing their plane geometric shapes (circle, rectangle, square, and triangle), identifying the shapes attributes, and practicing vocabulary (sides, right angle, vertex/vertices, etc.). This activity was done with white erase boards. This satisfies a portion of the instructional phase. The students held their boards up when their task was complete so that I could review their work. I recorded the individual results on a grid (attached). This satisfies a portion of the assessment phase. For small group guided math and one-on-one practice, I worked with the students who needed more direct application and reinforcement (instructional phase). This was done using following the Madeline Hunter lesson plan I developed (planning and preparation phase attached). Throughout whole group and small group practice, I recorded anecdotal notes as another means of informally assessing in order to further guide my instructional input (assessment phase picture attached). Rationale Assessments should be versatile. No single assessment can tell educators all they need to know to make well-informed instructional decisions, so researchers stress the use of multiple data sources. Generally, schools collect enormous amounts of data on students attendance, behavior, and performance, as well as administrative data and perceptual data from surveys and focus groups. But when it comes to improving instruction and learning, its not the quantity of the data that counts, but how the information is used (Lewis et. al., 2015). A students greatest performance potential in any given subject or learning topic may not necessarily be best
PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT
demonstrated through a single mode of assessment; nor will a students pertinent or most insistent learning needs or deficiencies be best exposed through a single mode of assessment. Therefore, it is the teachers responsibility to create variety in the assessments given. This is not to say that a formal assessment, such as an exam or quiz, is not needed or not adequate in measuring student performance. As a quantitative tool, it is undoubtedly useful for this purpose. That said, using versatility in the delivery and mode of assessment before, during, and after a learning objective is crucial. This is done through offering several modes of assessment from diagnostic to formative, from formative to summative, from formal to informal and providing differentiated ways of drawing student performance within the parameters of those assessments. Instruction should be differentiated. Students show their comprehension of a learning concept the way their brain functions. If kinesthetic learner is obligated to write out the steps he or she took to get to the final product, this will most likely not be an accurate display of the childs understanding, skills, or ability. Instead, this particular learner might prefer to show comprehension by performing a reenactment of the task and how to reach the final result, or by manipulating the materials and resources provided to prove practical understanding. Instruction, as LEARN NC articulates, requires a teacher who can provide age-appropriate, culturally relevant, learning-style appropriate, cognitively challenging, linguistically comprehensible input for each student in an environment that respects a range of physical abilities. It requires the ability to provide meaningful learning opportunities for every student, taking into consideration what makes them unique (Hobgood, n.d.). Following this platform, a teacher will enabled herself to most tactically educate her students on an individual basis. Planning and preparation should be student-minded. With the student at the forefront of the mind, planning and preparation becomes not only necessary as a groundwork for effective
PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT
instruction, but also as a reflective period in which the teacher thoughtfully and critically considers how her students would be most engaged and interested in what they are learning. Planning requires strategic analysis on the part of the teacher, with which she explores and implements creative ways of delivering content with the students best interests as her guide. Preparation, which goes hand in hand with planning, protrudes from the development and organizing of materials, resources, and instructional delivery for both the student and the teacher. It, too, must observe the guidelines of student-mindedness by providing ease of access and efficiently paced construction.
PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT
References Hobgood, B. (n.d.). Reaching every learner: Differentiating instruction in theory and practice. Retrieved from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/every-learner/6778 Lewis, D., Madison-Harris, R., Muoneke, A., & Times, C. (2015). Using Data to Guide Instruction and Improve Student Learning. SEDL Letter, Volume XXII(2). Retrieved from http://www.sedl.org/pubs/sedl-letter/v22n02/using-data.html