Running head: PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT

Planning, Preparation, Instruction, and Assessment

Ashley L. Moose

Regent University
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Introduction

One thing that I have learned during student teaching is that in order to be a successful

educator, I must know what level of understanding my students have of a standard both before

and after my instruction. I cannot plan an effective lesson unless I know what my students

already know about the topic. Likewise, I cannot know if a lesson was effective or not unless I

know what my students know about the topic after my instruction. A good educator is one who

plans a lesson based on student’s needs, interests, and academic level.

The following artifacts show how I used pre-assessment data to shape my instruction

during my placement in a 4th grade classroom. The pre-assessment tool was short, but effective

in showing me that my students were struggling with identifying the theme of a fictional passage.

With this knowledge, I was able to plan lessons specifically about theme and how it differs from

the plot of a story. The post-assessment data shows that students displayed growth in their ability

to identify the theme of a fictional story.

Rationale of Selected Artifacts

Pre-Assessment

The pre-assessment that I gave to my students was focused on three specific ELA

standards about comprehension of a fictional text. The pre-assessment required students to read a

short fictional passage and to answer three multiple choice questions. The questions were based

on ELA standards 4.5.5, 4.5.7, and 4.5.11. My class was just coming out of a unit on nonfiction

text when they took this pre-assessment, therefore, many of them already had the skills and

ability to understand the problem and solution of a story as well as how to draw inferences. I

knew that the students would do well in these areas and many of them did. However, many of
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my students struggled to identify the theme of the passage. To my knowledge, the students had

never discussed the theme of a story before so it should not have been surprising that only 11 out

of 21 students got the theme of the story correct. As I was looking at the results of this

pre-assessment, I knew that my students needed more practice with identifying the theme of a

story and, more specifically, differentiating between theme and plot.

Theme vs. Plot Lesson Plan

My pre-assessment showed me that half of my students did not have an understanding of

what the theme of a fictional text was. With this knowledge, along with the fact that we had just

finished learning how to summarize a nonfiction text, I knew that my students needed to learn

how the plot and theme of a story were two different things. This is one of the lessons that I did

about the theme of a fictional text. The day before this, I did a lesson explicitly about the theme

of fictional text where the students learned that the theme of a story is the message that the

author is trying to communicate. Students also learned to use questions such as “what is the

character learning?”, “why did the author write this?”, and “how did the character grow or

change?” to determine the theme. Once my students had knowledge of what the theme of a text

was, I decided to plan this lesson to give them even more practice is determining the theme of a

text. This lesson plan shows how I used my pre-assessment data in my lesson planning.

Post-Assessment

The assessment that I used as a post-assessment was actually provided by my school’s

district. I chose this assessment because it was concise and gave me information on my student’s

understanding of several different standards. For the purpose of this paper, I focused on

questions that showed how students performed skills in compliance with ELA standards 5.5.5,
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5.5.7, and 5.5.11 since they are the standards I gathered data on with my pre-assessment. As

shown by the data chart, my student’s showed exponential growth in each of these standards;

specifically in their ability to identify the theme of a fictional text. This was encouraging to me

because it proved to me that my efforts to alter my instruction to meet learners’ needs were

successful.

Reflection on Theory and Practice

In an article on differentiation, Emily Pendergrass says that “​teachers must use

pre-assessments to make decisions” (Pendergrass, 2013). High-quality planning and instruction

are based on pre-assessment data. Pre-assessments can be used to modify whole-group

instruction, but they are also a great tool to use to create differentiated small groups. During my

lesson on plot vs. theme, I had students work in groups to complete a sort in which they had to

determine whether or not something was the theme of a story or part of the plot. I intentionally

grouped my students based on the pre-assessment data and based on my knowledge of their

individual needs. Pre-assessments can be powerful teaching tools when used correctly. Teachers

must strive to “harness the power of pre-assessment to improve student achievement, [by]

craft[ing] sound, efficient pre-assessment instruments and us[ing] those instruments thoughtfully

to drive instruction” (Hocket & Doubet, p.50, 2013).

According to Paul Bambrick-Santoyo in his book “Driven by Data”, effective data-driven

instruction has four key principles - assessment, analysis, action, and culture. Assessment refers

to teacher’s use of assessments as a way to understand what their students needs. Analysis refers

to the process of examining assessment data to determine both strengths and weaknesses of

students. Action refers to what a teacher does with the knowledge of students’ strengths and
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weaknesses. Lastly, culture, refers to the process of creating an environment that fosters success

for all students. I believe that using each of these principles in my instruction will create success

among my students. Data-driven instruction is important because it places focus on what the

students actually need to meet standards. It is easy to get caught up in what the standards says

rather than what children need to be able to reach that standard. As a teacher, it is my goal to

always use assessment data to drive and differentiate my instruction. I want to display the love of

Christ to my students by providing them with instruction that meets them where they are and

realistically challenges them to more.

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References

Bambrick-Santoyo, P. (2010). ​Driven by data: A practical guide to improve instruction​. San

Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Hocket, J. A., & Doubet, K. J. (2013, December/January). Turning on the Lights: What

Pre-Assessments Can Do. ​Educational Leadership,​ ​71,​ 50-54.

Pendergrass, E. (2013, December/January). Differentiation: It Starts with Pre-Assessment.

Educational Leadership​, ​71​.