“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.”

-E. O. Wilson

I am sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of information available about effective instructional practices. So…I’m going to make my Wednesday blogs about specific components of Differentiated Instruction and Tabor Rotation. Today I’m going to begin at what is the beginning of differentiated instruction for most teachers–pre-assessment.

Pre-assessment helps the students and the teacher determine what is already known so as not to cover the material students have already mastered. Pre-assessment also gives the teacher an opportunity to discover the most effective methods for teaching the concepts that will be matched to a student’s learning style and/or interest.

Some educators think that pre-assessment has to be in the form of a pre-test from the text. Others think it needs to be a lengthy paper-and-pencil task. Thinking of pre-assessment this way makes it seem laborious, costly, and time consuming. But, pre-assessments could be a short quiz, game, discussion, journal entry, value line placement, K-W-L chart, or any activity that gathers information about the learner’s knowledge of a concept.

I really like the way Jana Kirchner and Tracy Inman describe pre-assessment in their article, “The Challenge.” [http://bit.ly/8TBYcE]

In order for differentiation to be effective , assessment must be an ongoing part of teaching and learning. Pre-assessment is especially critical to be able to determine the student’s level of readiness to proceed with the new unit of study.”

I’d recommend making a copy of the following questions and putting it in your lesson plan book:

1. Planning: What do I want students to know and/or to be able to do?

2. Pre-Assessment: Who already knows the information and/or can do it?

3. Differentiation: What can I do for them so they can make continuous progress and extend their learning?

More importantly than giving pre-assessments is using the information gathered to make instructional decisions. Anthony Robbins says that information is power only when it is acted upon. Pre-assessment is a vital if a teacher wants to ensure that every learner receives respectful, meaningful, engaging, and challenging instruction.

“Information is the seed for an idea, and only grows when it’s watered.” -H. Bergen

Hope this blog has planted a seed or watered the ones already growing!

I’ll be in Brooks County ISD for the rest of the week training their primary school in Tabor Rotation, but my blog will be posted on Friday. Get ready for more math games!