Pre-Assessment for Differentiation: "Time for School"
In order to gauge how much students have learned, it is not enough to assess their knowledge and skills at the end of the lesson. We also need to find out what they know coming in so that we can identify more specifically the knowledge and skills they have gained during the lesson.
There are a variety of ways to assess students’ prior knowledge and skills. Some methods (e.g., portfolios, pre-tests, auditions) are direct measures of students’ capabilities entering a lesson. Other methods (e.g., students’ self-reports, inventories of prior content or experiences) are indirect measures.
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Performance-Based Prior Knowledge Assessments
The most reliable way to assess students’ prior knowledge is to assign a task (e.g., quiz, paper) that gauges their relevant background knowledge.
you assume students have acquired and are prerequisites to your course
The 5 students who answered most, including the most difficult, of the pre-assessment questions correctly
These students will watch the six video segments independently, and compose a comparison essay highlighting the challenges faced by the six school children in the documentary series “TIME FOR SCHOOL.
These students are motivated when they are given independent projects they can complete as well as a choice in how they can add to their learning. These assignments may take many forms including open ended questions, learning contracts, challenging existing ideas, potential solutions to real world problems, creative book responses, tapping into a student’s particular interest, or the testing of a hypothesis. When these students work independently, it is important for the teacher and students to work together to determine clear outcomes, a timeline for the completion of the work, a rubric so each student can set learning goals, and checkpoints along the way to monitor the progress of the student’s work.
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After watching the six video segments, I will also ask these students to explain the six school children in a letter to a friend.
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The 12 students who have some knowledge about the topic as shown in their score, but need to develop higher order thinking skills
One of the main 21st century components that teachers want their students to use are higher-order thinking skills. This is when students use complex ways to think about what they are learning.
Higher-order thinking takes thinking to a whole new level. Students using it are understanding higher levels rather than just memorizing facts. They would have to understand the facts, infer them, and connect them to other concepts.
These students will create a collage around the themes presented in the six segments. They will then explain their choices in one paragraph.
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They will also create a KWL Chart responding to the following questions: What do you know, what do you want to know, and what have you learned?
I will also ask these students to write five words they would you use to describe the six children from the video segments. Explain and justify your choices.
The 5 students who appear to have limited knowledge about the topic, of which 3 are struggling with language and are at different reading levels and 2 students who have little to no comprehension of the the topic and need to be tested further for special needs
Many ELL and special education learners may benefit from assessing by way of an oral presentation, interviews, oral reports and summarizing/paraphrasing pieces of text due to the limited reading and writing skills. The following assessment strategies incorporate oral presentations or performances as an assessment tool.
Muddy moments: What frustrates and confuses you about the documentary series? Why?
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Illustration: Draw a picture that illustrates a relationship between the six school children in the documentary series. Explain in one paragraph your visual representation.
3-2-1: Three things you found out. Two interesting things. One question you still have.
Tagxedo: What are key words that express the main ideas of the documentary series? Be ready to discuss and explain.