Step 1: Big Ideas and Essential Questions

Step 3: Build a Learning Plan

 

Outside Links

The Vital Connection Between Assessment and Differentiation

MI Poster

Learning Styles Chart

Preassessment: A Powerful Tool

Some Preassessment Ideas

Building Checklists (orgainzed by grade level)

Assessment
(huge collection of resources from Enhance Learning)

 

Step Two: Assessment
Evidence of What Was Learned

Planning backwards (UbD) helps you keep a focus on your final objective which is:

What do you want students to understand and be able to do when you have finished your instruction?

Carol Tomlinson/Jay McTighe

Whether you ask for a product, an authentic assessment, or give a traditional final assessment, as the designer of instruction, you need to plan it before you plan for strategies and activities (learning plan).
Preassessments
Knowing your students helps you design your instruction.
When you begin to work with a group of students you will look for many different facets of who they are, what their experiences have been, and what grabs their interest and passion:

Who Are Your Students?

  • what is his/her learning style?
  • what intelligences help them learn better? (MI Table)
  • what are their interests - in what areas have they become 'experts'?
  • what past experiences do they have (places visited, people met, hobbies, family events)?
  • what is his/her level of commitment to their own growth?
  • what attitudes do they have about learning/effort/responsibilities for own growth?

What Really Matters - Understanding Your Students
Planning must include collecting
data about what students already know.
Preassessments help you to plan for your students learning experiences. They are like a road map: knowing the pathway to get to the final destination keeps you from getting lost.

Short cuts can become part of the trip. Side excursions are choices too, but you've got to know the major routes to take first. Preassessments give you that kind of information.
  • What knowledge do they already know?
  • What skills do they already have?
  • What misconceptions might they have?
  • Who has prior knowledge?
  • What might cause a detour?

**All that you decide when you plan for instruction will be closer to student learning needs when you match pre-assessment information with your planning.**

Preassessment Ideas

(quadrant design and concept developed by Dr.Sylvia Rimm)


Sylvia B. Rimm "To steal a person's struggle is to steal his self-esteem"

Effort is a key word when assessing and planning for student learning.

This quadrant chart can help teachers determine where their students are in the effort-results component. Expecting quadrant 2 learners to be challenged is in itself a challenge for all teachers.
Ongoing Assessments

These are your pit stops, your stops for gas and food along the way. Checking for understanding and how concepts are being developed are vital to making it to your destination. Here's a great visual representation of this whole process for assessing before, and during, and at the conclusion of instruction. Notice the words 'Support' and 'Extension' as outcomes from ongoing checks. They are the biggest reason for doing formative assessments. (thanks Carol!)


Carol Tomlinson/Jay McTighe
last update
03/18/10