RUNNING HEAD: PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT

Planning, Preparation, Instruction and Assessment

Niyoria McKinnis

Regent University
RUNNING HEAD: PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT

Introduction

Assessing students is one of the most important things to do as teachers. Pre-assessments

are a great way for teachers to see where students are, so they can plan accordingly and see what

students need to work on. This will help teachers figure out where they need to focus their

lessons and which areas they need to focus less on. After the pre- assessment is done, teachers

always have to think where they want their students to be in the end and go from there. Teachers

should always look to see what the post test will focus on and then teach from there. Creating

lessons with the end in mind will boost student achievement in the end and students will benefit

more from it. When pre-assessing my students I took the information that was given from the test

and went from there. As I taught the unit, I kept track of each students success daily.

Rationale for Selection of Artifacts

The first artifact that I chose to share includes what I used for a pre-assessment of a unit

in math. The unit we focused on was on SOL 2.22- The student will demonstrate an

understanding of equality by recognizing that the symbol = in an equation indicates equivalent

quantities and the symbol indicates that quantities are not equivalent (VDOE). The pre-

assessment given gave me information of what the students know and dont know about equality.

Taking the information provided I was able to see where I need to focus my lessons the most.

After examining the pre-assessments I came up with different ideas to differentiate my lessons,

so all students would be able to learn and grasp the concept of equality. Taking pre-assessments I

feel is a vital part to teaching because it lets you know where your students stand before you

actually teach a unit. Teachers are able to teach what the students need to practice on rather than

teaching them what they already know and grasp.

RUNNING HEAD: PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT

The second artifact I chose to share was my lesson plan on equality after students took

the assessment. After looking at the assessments I decided to think of ways to differentiate my

lessons. So for the instruction part of this unit I used different strategies to help students learn

what it means to be equal and not equal. To begin this lesson I used a manipulative which was

pretzels. I first began the lesson by going over what the two symbols mean the symbol = in an

equation indicates equivalent quantities and the symbol indicates that quantities are not

equivalent. I did a few easy practice questions with the students that didnt include equations just

to get a little practice in. After practicing about two equation problems I talked with the students

about how we would use pretzel sticks to show if the equation is equivalent and not equivalent.

As I presented different problems to the class on the document camera using my white board the

students had to either say if the equation presented was equal or not equal using their pretzel

sticks to show the different signs. The students really enjoyed this activity. They were all focused

and engaged. The students were also able to use the balance beam for different problems to see if

they balance out. The students really enjoyed making their own problems and seeing if they are

balanced by using the balance beam. With this activity, the students were able to grasp more onto

the concept of what makes an equation equal and not equal. The following day I had the students

write down equal or not equal on their white boards for different equations I presented. We did

many different practices throughout the week so the students can fully understand the concept

being learned.

The third artifact is the post assessment I used for equality. To prepare the students for

this post-test I evaluated the test to see what students should know in the end and taught from

there. So my lessons were taught with the end result in mind. Letting students explore on their

own with the balance beam helped many students in many ways. In the end all students were
RUNNING HEAD: PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT

able to tell me why they chose equal or not equal for certain equations using their own words. In

the end, I compared the pre and post-test together to see how much students learned overtime. I

also looked at grades in between to see the progress in students. I was happy to see that all

students in the end progressed. Differentiation in my lessons really helped my students achieve

and pass their test.

Reflection on Theory and Practice

Pre-assessing students plays a huge role in how teachers plan to differentiate their

lessons. In my lesson on equality I was able to plan accordingly depending on what my students

mostly needed help on. After students take their test teachers are able to see what students know

and understand and also what they need work on. With this information teachers are able to plan

activities based on need. Assessment is the key to drive instruction in the classroom and it occurs

from the beginning of the unit till the very end of the unit (Tomlinson, 2000). So first teachers

find out what students know, then teachers keep track and check up on student progress then

teachers make sure students understand in the end. So this is a continuous process throughout

learning. The question teachers have to ask is how do we assess the gap between what we know

about students and what performance is expected of them for the final assessment of the unit

(Gregory, 2004).
RUNNING HEAD: PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT

Works Cited

Gregory, G.H. and Kuzmich, L. (2004). Data driven differentiation in the standards-based

classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Tomlinson, C. (2000). Differentiating Instruction for Academic Diversity. San Antonio, TX:

ASCD