Summary of Pre-assessments

Throughout this preclinical experience, I have learned a great amount of knowledge on

pre-assessments. One important thing to know is that pre-assessments drive the instruction

that occurs in the lesson. If a pre-assessment is given and the students get all of the questions

right, that is a key indicator that the standard and information does not need to be taught to

the students. Instead, the students will be able to move on to another standard and be taught

different information. If students are given a pre-assessment and they are unable to answer

any of the questions correctly, it shows the teacher that the standard and information being

taught needs to be taught in depth. The teacher may even need to spend multiple days

teaching the material so that the students show mastery of the material. If the students only

answer some of the questions on the pre-assessment correctly, this shows the teacher that not

all information is known and it should be taught, but they do not need to spend days on the

material.

When developing the English language arts lessons for the class, I had first began

forming my lessons by asking the mentor teacher what the students have previously covered

in the class. I also used the knowledge that I had from observing and working with the

students prior to the lessons. The students have previously been taught about a method for

writing in the class, but from observations and students work, the students seem to be having

trouble mastering this method. Due to this problem, the lesson that the students will be

taught includes using the method. The students have not previously discussed recycling in

the classroom, which is why they were asked about their knowledge on this material.
 Recycling is what the students are writing about in the lessons. Both of the observed target

students in this class have difficulty writing with the method that students are using and they

are unable to form well-written paragraphs. I have developed my own pre-assessment for the

students for these lessons, which asks the students about their knowledge on recycling and

the CERCA method, which is the writing method in the classroom.

Pre-assessment: ELA

1. What are the three R’s in recycling?

2. What does this symbol stand for?

3. What types of items have the symbol above placed on them?

4. What does each letter in the CERCA method stand for?

C-
E-
R-
C-
A-

Answers: 1. Reduce, reuse, recycle, 2. Recycling, 3. Answers may vary, but could be glass, paper,
plastic, 4. C- Claim E- Evidence R- Reason C-Counterargument A- Audience