Anna Reid

TCH_LRN 409
Unit 13 Reading Guide
Content Area Assessment
*This reading guide applies to OMalley & Pierce Ch. 7
1.

A. On pg. 166, OMalley and Pierce describe 3 general procedures for adapting content area
assessment to meet ELL students needs. Explain each.
-Scaffolding this reduces the language demands for the assessment and in return the ELL will
likely reveal their strengths in the content areas.
-Differentiated scoring provides separate scores on written passages for language conventions
and for content knowledge.
- Visible criteria provide students with information on how their work will be scored before the
assessment is given
B. What are five assessment examples of scaffolding techniques and which one would be most
beneficial in your classroom for your students?
1. Exhibits or projects
2. Visual displays
3. Organized lists
4. Tables or graphs
5. Short answers
I would use exhibits or projects in my classroom because I feel as if students like to work
together in groups and exhibits allow for the students to learn more about other areas that their
project did not cover.

2.

Assessing background knowledge is essential for ELL students. In Figure 7.3 on pg. 176, there
are 6 techniques for eliciting prior knowledge. Choose two techniques to describe and list the
advantages and disadvantages. Which technique would be most beneficial for your students?
Recognition:
Advantage good for accessing student knowledge and allows for teacher to understand where
students are struggling
Disadvantage very time consuming, limits info obtained
Free Recall
Advantage teacher doesnt need very much time to prepare requires only one probe
Disadvantage students must have adequate language and organization of knowledge to respond
I would use free recall in my classroom because it doesnt take very much time to prepare and
students would be able to use their first language to help them complete the task.

3.

What are 4 alternative ways to assessing vocabulary? (pg. 180)

Anna Reid

-Recognizing and generating attributes, examples, and non-examples

-Sensing and inferring relationships
-Applying concepts to a variety of contexts
-Generating novel contexts
4. What are the 5 types of thinking skills? Give a definition of each thinking skill.
1. Comprehension: recall or paraphrase information
2. Analysis: divide a whole into component elements, including part/whole, cause-effect, or
elements in a sequence
3. Comparison: recognize or explain similarities and differences based on one or more attributes
4. Synthesis: combine elements to form a unified whole or to form a generalization from
knowledge or elements
5. Evaluation: judge the quality, worth, or credibility of information or arguments
5.

Describe what declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and self-assessment might look
like in science, social studies, or math. Pick one subject and briefly explain what each may look
like.
Declarative knowledge can be assessed using oral interviews, cloze tests, semantic maps, and Tlists. Teachers can formulate questions to ask the students so teachers can have a clear
understanding of their prior knowledge.
Procedural knowledge taking measurements, keeping records, using science materials, and
drawing conclusions and making inferences from data.
Self-assessment students need opportunities to reflect on what they knew before the lesson
began and what they learned during the lesson. Also, how the new and prior information may be
compatible or in conflict.

6.

Of the eight guidelines for conducting content-based assessments on pg. 199, which is most
important to you as a teacher?
The most important guideline to me as a teacher is number 5: always assess prior knowledge in
specific content areas as a guide to designing instruction that is manageable yet challenging for
students. I think this is important as a teacher because you want to know where your students
stand in certain subject areas and what knowledge they have already acquired. If you know this
information then you can plan accordingly and make sure that the students are learning new
material while still being somewhat challenged in class.

7. Note something that you found interesting or useful in the chapters that isn't already

noted in this RG.

I really like how it provided different scoring rubrics for the different subjects. I think
having these specific rubrics will be helpful.