Planning, Preparation, Instruction, and Assessment 1

Planning, Preparation, Instruction, and Assessment

Isabella Szczur
Regent University
Planning, Preparation, Instruction, and Assessment 2

Introduction
As the teacher is developing the outline for their instructional unit, they have many

factors to consider during the planning period. These factors include information such as what

Virginia Standards of Learning are going to be covered, how that matches up with the school

curriculum standards and lastly, that the unit must teach students what they need to know not just

for the test but for the future. An issue many teachers run into during the developmental stage, is

figuring out how much of the content students already have prior knowledge of. The result of

this problem finds a solution in pre-assessments which help teachers in “accessing prior

knowledge and surfacing misconceptions and naïve understandings” (Rutherford, 2012 p.153).

This is usually done at the beginning and the end of the year, allowing the students and

teachers involved to see the progress that has been made.

Teachers will use pre-assessments to gain an understanding of the different areas where

students might struggle during the unit. Not every student is similar, nor is every student going to

understand material in the same way. As such pre-assessments can be used to help clarify and

strengthen certain areas in which students might have a tendency to get confused. It allows for

the teacher to be flexible in their planning and adjust accordingly to the students’ needs.

Rationale for Selection of Artifacts

The first artifact selected is the test which served as both the pre-assessment and post-

assessment for my classes. This covers SOL Standards: CE 1a, CE 6ab and CE 9abcd which

primarily deal with understanding the judicial system of the state and federal government. The

test is created not by the teacher but by the downtown school offices. At the beginning of the unit

I had the students take the assessment in order to gauge how much prior knowledge they held

about the topic. The results were about what I expected, the students all scored between 10-20%
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on the pre-assessment. This truly did not change anything about how I continued to plan my

lessons for these classes, as I had been anticipating scores around this range.

One of the most important things a teacher can do is to still take this information into

consideration when planning a lesson. As such the data present in this pre-assessment was useful

to me as it helped to distinguish where students were confused. With this in mind I was able to

add more depth to my lessons by focusing on “effective instruction and greater student learning”

(Gronlund & Waugh, 2009, p.19) and provide specific activities which would reinforce what the

students were going to be learning.

The second artifact is a link to an ICivics activity entitled “Judicial Branch in a Flash”.

This artifact provides a brief rundown and summary of how the judicial branch works. On a

separate page there are activities provided which test student knowledge and allow them to apply

what they have learned from the activity. These include a Venn Diagram where the students have

to match each letter to the corresponding court, completing the sentence, numbering the order of

events in courts and a crossword puzzle. ICivics is a very useful teaching resource as it provides

different activities and resources for upper level social studies and civics discussion. It also

caters to different learning styles, with opportunities to expand upon previously learned material.

This artifact reflects the influence the data from the pre-assessment has when a teacher is

considering what resources to use. This activity assisted in guiding my students toward their

learning goals by providing different mini activities for them to learn. In doing so the students

are getting hands on application for what they have been learning and can reflect on it as they

complete the tasks given. The data gathered from the pre-assessment led me to make the decision

that I should provide multiple resources for each topic to the students.
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Reflection on Theory and Practice

While I can understand the importance of gathering and collecting data on my students

and how they progress, the idea of constantly assessing them with test after test is something

which concerns me. I believe assessments should be more than just a student taking a test, they

can be a simple as an exit ticket, entrance ticket or even just having a brief class discussion about

the subject. These assessments should provide clear references to standards so the teacher is able

to see “the extent to which the desired goals are achieved” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2008, p.150).

The problem that a lot of teachers run into is that they are too comfortable giving pre-

assessments constantly in test form. It is easy and it is convenient. Granted, I understand this

may sound hypocritical coming from someone who gave a pre-assessment in test form.

However, I did make it a point to provide different activities for learning groups which doubled

as mini assessments to check the student understanding. One way in which I was able to assess

the students and check their understanding is by going over the answers to their activity sheet

and seeing where the disconnect was happening. As such I am helping them to better understand

the material and am preparing them based on their pre-assessment.

Part of how pre-assessments are beneficial to the classroom, is that they are able to help

give the students an idea of where and what they should focus on. I commonly used learning

groups as a way to differentiate for students needs and to help assist the students. One of the

decisions a teacher needs to make is how to interpret the data that is gained from the pre-

assessments. If one class seems to grasp a concept and another does not, the teacher needs to

make a decision on how to adjust learning in these situations. As I have mentioned in my

philosophy of teaching, these adjustments could be as simple as taking more time for student

questions or even changing the way a certain class is taught. What might work well for one
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group of kids might not work well for another group. As such it is important to be prepared and

flexible in these situations. One way in which I did this was by changing how I taught one of my

classes. Out of all my classes, one group continually had struggles with understanding the

material. In an attempt to try something different, I changed the way I taught that class. Instead

of giving them interactive and detailed projects like the other classes, I tried a more lecture based

teaching style. With this change I still continued to make sure there would be other activities for

them to do instead. As a result of the switch, my teacher and I began to notice the students were

making gradual improvement. Although the results were nothing drastic, by changing instruction

method based on pre-assessment data I was able to begin figuring out how to better help my

students.

My attitude in regards to pre-assessments is a complicated one. I understand that the data

coming from pre-assessments can be very useful in regards to lesson planning and focusing on

the content areas of the subject. However, with this attitude there comes the question of what if

the kids know everything? If by some chance one or two students were to score a 100% on the

pre-assessment, what would the teacher do in response? Would they be expected to completely

rewrite in order to cater to one student’s needs? Or would they teach the student the same way as

the rest of the class? Often with these situations students either know it or they don’t. Is the pre-

assessment data really going to drastically change the way a teacher is going to prepare a lesson?

I don’t believe it should. To clarify, I am not saying pre-assessments should never be given.

They can be useful as a reference to see how far students have come during their time in class. I

am attempting to convey my concern with the constant pre-assessment techniques that often

teachers are forced to give.

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The results from my pre-assessment did not drastically change anything I had planned to

teach this unit. I continued to teach normally by giving them activities and different opportunities

to learn and apply the material that they have been learning. Regardless of what a pre-assessment

states, teachers should continue to provide different learning techniques for the students. This

way they are getting the content in more than one format. While students are going to initially

perform poorly on the initial test, they will likely perform better on the final test they take. If the

students still do not demonstrate understanding at the end of the unit then clearly there was a

disconnect somewhere and it may not just be the failure of the teacher. For upper level grades

this is especially true, as in addition to the content they have been learning, there are resources

available for them to review. Again, the point should be made that the students are either going

to understand it or they will not. As a teacher it is my job to help my students the best I can, to

guide them properly I need to consider their strengths and weaknesses “and what they will need,

individually and collectively, to achieve the desired results” (Wiggins and McTighe, 2008, p.

191). Ultimately the goal of the teacher is to help these students understand the content and apply

the information that they have learned to their lives.

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References
Gronlund, N. E. (2009). Assessment of student achievement (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J:

Pearson.

Rutherford, P. (2015). Instruction for All Students. Alexandria, VA: Just ASK.

Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2008). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association

for Supervision and Curriculum Development.