A Mathematical Happy Meal

Posted by & filed under Inspiration, Math Activities, Math Games, Uncategorized.

“The potential of the average person is like a huge ocean unsailed, a new continent unexplored, a world of possibilities waiting to be released and channeled toward some great good.” -Brian Tracy

“The greatest waste in the world is the difference between what we are and what we could become.” -Ben Herbster

I didn’t have to go far for my source of inspiration for today’s blog. It happened at my dining room table with my two youngest children. As I was fixing dinner, I handed a set of Fraction Bars to my daughter, a 4th grader. I asked her to practice saying her fractions while I finished dinner. Well, all it took was a set of some kind of cards to get her younger brother’s attention. He immediately asked if he could name the fractions, too. (Explaining, very logically, that if his sister could do it, so could he and it didn’t matter that he was in 2nd grade).

She agreed (after a few minutes of making him suffer by watching her flip bars over enthusiastically) to let him play…and they began to flip the bars over face up and see who could say the fractional part of a whole first. As I brought the food to the table and we began to eat I decided to experiment with what I know about learners moving from the concrete-to the representational-to the abstract.

My son knows how to play war, he knew what the fractions were after practicing with the bars, so I taught him how to play Fraction Flip (each player flips over a bar and the player with the greatest amount shaded wins the hand—if they can say their fraction).

Exactly what always happens when a teacher

  • provides a concrete experience with a concept,
  • dialogues and uses the language of the concept,
  • and engages the learner through a game,

happened this time. Before the game was over my 7-year-old son was telling me that he knew his fraction bar was 8/10 because he “knew there were 10 parts in all and 2 of the parts weren’t shaded, so that left 8 and that made 8 out of 10, or 8/10.”

We repeated this conversation after each play. I layered the complexity of the questions for my 9-year-old daughter and she was able to answer the questions consistently, too. As they shared their results verbally, I used my small dry erase board and wrote what they had just done in their head. My 7-year-old son was sooooo proud that he was adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators…just like a 4th grader. Here’s the bonus…

HE COULD EXPLAIN AND KNEW CONCRETELY WHAT HE WAS DOING!

Now he’ll be able to do it again. By the end of the game my son was “high fiving” me, his sisters, his dad, and the dog because he had the most bars. He won the game. More importantly, he had proven, again, that children can learn complex, higher-level concepts if it’s given to them first in a concrete experience and is connected to something meaningful that engages them.

Think of it as a “Mathematical Happy Meal.” I can’t wait to give him another!!!

“People of talent resemble a musical instrument more closely than they do a musician. Without outside help, they produce not a single sound, but given even the slightest touch, and a magnificent tune emanates from them.”     – Franz Grillparzer

Pour the Concrete First!

Posted by & filed under Math Activities, Math Games, Mathematics.

“We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” —  T.S. Eliot

A few weeks ago I watched a group of first grade students use base ten blocks. I admired the fact that their teacher was using manipulatives to help her students understand place value. Her emphasis that week was on learning about tens.

I sat at the table and watched the students interact with the task. After a few minutes I picked up two longs (tens) and asked how much I was holding. Three students immediately yelled out 2. I followed their statements by asking two of what? They replied,

“Two sticks.”

What concerned me about the students’ responses was that I was pretty sure they didn’t understand, concretely, what a ten was.  That is the reason why today’s blog is about making ten our “very best friend” by beginning with concrete experiences such as creating bean sticks and flats.

Let’s build some background (or attach to prior) knowledge before we get to the activity. What is meant by a concrete experience? Why begin there? The University of Kansas gives some good information regarding moving from the concrete-to-representational-to-abstract:

“The purpose of teaching through a concrete-to-representational-to-abstract sequence of instruction is to ensure students develop a tangible understanding of the math concepts/skills they learn. When students are supported to first develop a concrete level of understanding for any mathematics concept/skill, they can use this foundation to later link their conceptual understanding to abstract mathematics learning activities. Having students represent their concrete understandings (representational) by drawing simple pictures that replicate or mimic their use of concrete materials provide students a supported process for transferring their concrete understandings to the abstract level. Moreover, teaching students how to draw solutions to problem solving situations provides an excellent strategy for problem solving in the future.”

Their website has great definitions, too:

Concrete. Each math concept/skill is first modeled with concrete materials (e.g. chips, unifix cubes, base ten blocks, beans and bean sticks, pattern blocks). Students are provided many opportunities to practice and demonstrate mastery using concrete materials.

Representational. The math concept/skill is next modeled at the representational (semi-concrete) level, which involves drawing pictures that represent the concrete objects previously used (e.g. tallies, dots, circles, stamps that imprint pictures for counting). Students are provided many opportunities to practice and demonstrate mastery by drawing solutions.

Abstract. The math concept/skill is finally modeled at the abstract level (using only numbers and mathematical symbols). Students are provided many opportunities to practice and demonstrate mastery at the abstract level before moving to a new math concept/skill.

A few years ago, when I was teaching in a self-contained fourth grade classroom, many of my students had not developed good number sense. They could “regurgitate” the algorithmic procedures back at me, but they really didn’t know what a ten or a hundred was…so we spent days building them!

The Crafty Classroom has a really nice visual tutorial that includes pictures of how to make bean sticks. [http://www.thecraftyclassroom.com/CECraftToolsBase10.html]

My students were so engaged in their exploration of tens and hundreds that they asked if they could build a thousands block. It took a while, but they did it. They glued 10 of the hundred flats in a stack, put sticks around to support their stack, and created 1,000 beans. You know what the next sincere question was…

“Can we build 10,000?”

One of my most intense years of teaching was my sixth. I had moved from a suburban school to a very urban school with completely different challenges. I had so much more to learn. But I knew that by providing many concrete experiences with concepts my students’ number sense was growing. (And, for those of you who are crossing your arms and thinking “If you do so much hands on, what about the state tests?” My students made the highest scores in that grade that year and some of greatest improvements in the school.)

Those students helped make me the teacher I am today. They instilled in me a small voice that remains today. It regularly says,

“Remember me, I’m the student who won’t learn it the traditional way. What are you going to do for me?”

Can your students build 100? 1,000? 10,000? What will happen if they try?

“Jump into the middle of things, get your hands dirty, fall flat on your face, and then reach for the stars.”     -Ben Stein

Tiering Instruction

Posted by & filed under Differentiated Instruction, Math Activities.

“Once you have experienced excellence, you will never again be content with mediocrity.” – Thomas S. Monson

Are you ready to challenge yourself by trying another strategy for differentiating instruction? One that has been successfully used by many educators is tiering instruction. Tiering an assignment is using varied levels of the activity to make sure that all students explore ideas at a readiness level that builds on their prior knowledge and deepens understanding of the identified concepts.

I like the following definitions of tiered instruction.

“Tiered instruction is a means of teaching one concept and meeting the different learning needs in a group. Task and resources vary according to learning profile, readiness, and interest.”     -Regina Public Schools and Saskatchewan Learning

“Tiered instruction is a method by which the teacher can ensure that students with different learning needs work with the same essential ideas and learn the same key concepts and skills.”     – www.eht.k12.nj.u

Let’s put it another way (Please don’t cringe at this next statement, DI theorists!). Tiering instruction is taking an on-level assignment and simplifying and sophisticating it. But, what does tiering instruction have to do with Tabor Rotation and why am I talking about it on my blog? As teachers become more comfortable with the essential components of the Tabor Rotation structure, they are encouraged to layer on the complexity of their differentiated strategies. One of the ways this can be done is by tiering the activities at the Tabor Rotation stations.

“OK, now that I know the definition of it, what does tiering look like?” “Can you give me an example?”  These are typical questions teachers ask after they have determined to try the tiering strategy.

This is an activity from a kindergarten classroom where the Tabor Rotation structure is used to effectively differentiate instruction during their math block. At the Manipulative Station, kindergarten students will be using bags of varied and interesting buttons and pattern work mats to express the A-B pattern. AB Pattern Work Mat

The teacher places the students in 3 readiness groups for this concept of patterning: approaching level, on-level, and above-level. Take a look at a previous blog on pre-assessment [https://glennatabor.com/blog/2010/01/differentiated…pre-assessment/] for simple ways to assess the readiness levels of students)

*Approaching-Level (Simplification):

  • The written directions on the T-Post at the Manipulative Station include pictures clues.
  • Several “real-object” examples of A-B patterns are placed at the table.
  • In his Friday Readiness Grouping the previous week [Tabor Rotation Planning Guide, the teacher meets with his “At-Promise” students and “front-loads” the information for the coming week by using using components from the accelerated learning model [http://www.briantracy.com/]. The teacher models how to create an A-B pattern and shapes the students’ procedural knowledge as they try creating A-B patterns of their own.
  • In addition, the approaching-level student have all of the on-level directives listed below.

*On-Level (Maintenance):

  • Simple written directions are placed at the table.
  • The teacher shows A-B patterning on Monday during the Whole-Group Mini-Lesson. During the Mini-Lesson, the students work with their M-W-F partner to make A-B patterns using the work mat and interesting buttons. During this time, the teacher practices “clipboard cruising”  as he circulates amongst the students on the carpet. That enables him to help correct and/or encourage pairs of students as they work.
  • The leaders and co-leaders for the Tabor Rotation teams, as part of the Leadership Academy, are trained how to successfully complete the activities at all the stations, including the “Find the Pattern” activity at the Manipulative Station. During the Leadership Academy, the leaders and co-leaders are coached, by the teacher, in how to assist students who might be initially challenged by the activity.

*Above-Level (Sophisticate):

  • The above-level students are given all of the directives that the on-level student receives.
  • A different work mat is used that includes A-B-B, A-B-C, and other more complicated patterns. Varied Patterns Work Mat
  • For the child who understands and can explain verbally how to create more complicated patterns, the teacher includes a double- and triple-ring Venn Diagram that will help them organize the buttons by traits in a more challenging and different way.

Ready to try tiering yet? Maybe a template would help you organize your thinking. Tiering an Activity Template For those of you who are more visual learners, you may also want to look at the graphic organizer that was created by a school system in New Jersey.

[http://www.eht.k12.nj.us/~jonesj/Differentiated%20Instruction/Developing%20a%20Tiered%20Activity%202.htm]

After you’ve tiered an activity you might want to use the following checklist developed by Becky Mann:

Criteria for evaluating differentiated activities

  1. Did every student do it?
  2. Should every student do it?
  3. Would every student want to do it?
  4. Could every student do it?
  5. Did the student do it willingly and zestfully?
  6. Did the student use authentic resources and methodology?
  7. Was it done for an audience other than (or in addition to) the teacher?

Remember to tier activities in such a way that all students are given a respectful, meaningful, and qualitatively challenging opportunity to learn the essential skills and concepts in order to deepen their understanding. Your role, as a facilitator in the learning process, is to move students a little bit further than they were the day before.

“That students differ may be inconvenient, but it is inescapable.  Adapting to that diversity is the inevitable price of productivity, high standards, and fairness to the students.”     -T. Sizer

Building Teacher Capacity

Posted by & filed under Inspiration, Mathematics.

“We are all functioning at a small fraction of our capacity to live full in [life’s] total meaning of love, caring, creating, and adventuring. Consequently, the actualizing of our potential can become the most exciting adventure of our lifetime.”     -Herbert Otto

Since the beginning of the 2009-10 school year, I have worked with many schools to assist them in effectively planning for math instruction using small groups and differentiated strategies.

Sometimes working with schools can be challenging, especially when the school has been making some progress…

“It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem.”     -Gilbert Chesterton

This last week I had the honor of working with a school in Montgomery County, Maryland. The teams of teachers worked hard the entire week. I am still in awe of one group of teachers as I reflect on their professionalism.

We began the 3-hour planning session, by listing the teachers’ celebrations after implementing Tabor Rotation in mathematics for the last several months. They were genuinely proud of each other and gave each other verbal “pats on the back” as each person listed their triumphs.

Then we began to list their challenges. The most amazing statements were made as they began to speak. One teacher, still recovering from the flu, came to school because she wanted wanted me (and the leadership team) to know how well her students were doing and how hard everyone was working.

Another teacher, when describing her challenge, said she was uncomfortable with the students being in small groups working on mathematical concepts because they weren’t “under her wing” in a whole-group setting.

After she described this challenge, she made the most incredible statement of personal accountability (John Miller [Question Behind the Question] would be proud of her)…

“You know…that may be a challenge because I’m just not used to using small groups in mathematics. I have done it for years in literacy and don’t feel uncomfortable at all with that. I believe that this won’t be challenge for long if I just change my attitude about small groups in math.”

WOW!!! Instead of coming up with reasons why small groups and hands-on instruction wouldn’t work, these teachers were taking personal accountability for raising the level of instruction in their rooms. Kudos to them as they continue on their journey…doing what is best for all students…no matter what!

“Your biggest challenge isn’t someone else. It’s the ache in your lungs, and the burn in your legs, and the voice inside your head that yells ‘can’t.’ But you don’t listen. You just push harder. And then you can hear the voice whisper, “CAN!” and you discover that the person you thought you were is no match for the one you really are.”     -2002, Phoenix Fire Department Website

A Little Fraction Fun

Posted by & filed under Math Games.

Happy Friday! I’m on the road in Montgomery County, MD this week working with a dynamic school full of incredible educators! We’ve been busy mapping the math curriculum and creating Tabor Rotation planning guides, but I didn’t want to miss Math Game Friday, so…

“If it’s not fun you’re doing it wrong.”    -George Di Carlo

I believe this is true about so many mathematical concepts, especially ones like fractions. Maybe some of the reasons why fractions can be intimidating to students is because they don’t have a concrete understanding of fractions. But, maybe, it’s because they just never had any fun with fractions!

To share a little bit of fraction fun, I’ve posted a few games.

Fraction Identification

Fracton Flip

Several use fraction bars [purchase at http://www.fractionbars.com/Products/; free: http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/scottforesman/Math_6_TTT_14.pdf]

What would our world be like without fractions? Our language would certainly change!
You could never tell a friend to break a cookie in “half” to share with you. You could only tell them to break it into two pieces. A glass containing water could never be described as “half full.” How could you describe this glass? There would be no such thing as “half past the hour” with timekeeping. You could never say you are “halfway” there when traveling.     -http://ksnn.larc.nasa.gov/webtext.cfm?unit=fractions

Remember, five out of four people can’t do fractions. I wonder why?

Varying Questions

Posted by & filed under Differentiated Instruction, Mathematics.

“I haven’t failed, I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” -Thomas Edison

When I read this quote I think of how driven Edison was by “what if” and “I wonder” type questions. Great minds have always asked questions of the world around them.

Asking questions is a natural mode of learning and growing, at the basis of human and social coordinates. Asking questions, beside being a method to assess acquired knowledge, is a natural way of teaching and stimulating relational and deep knowledge. A student’s question requires, for an answer, knowledge (www.conceptmaps.it).

Varying Questions is considered a strategy for differentiating instruction in the classroom. When discussing this strategy many people include a study of Bloom’s Taxonomy and the various levels of questioning that occur in a classroom.

While I have trained many groups in how to vary questions, the most powerful discussion occurs after I show the slide entitled, “Assessment vs. Sincere.”

Assessment questions are
•    Questions we know the answers to
•    Questions we ask in order to check or monitor our students

Sincere questions are
•    Questions we don’t know the answers to
•    Questions we ponder and wonder about
•    Questions that require further research by both teacher and student

Do you ask enough sincere questions–you know, the ones you don’t know the answer to and aren’t in the teacher’s guide?

Conduct your own research project on effective questioning. Chart the number of assessment questions asked in your classroom and the number of sincere questions asked in your classroom in a given day. Now consciously vary the questioning in your room by increasing the number of sincere questions that are asked. What happens to the energy level in your room?

I have had more results with students by encouraging the asking and answering of sincere questions. I believe the same thing will happen to you.

“Schools, and what happens in them, are vital to our children’s future success. We must design schools that will prepare young people to thrive in the 21st century, to master rigorous literacy, math, and science standards and have the ability to think critically, be creative, and respond to new challenges with agility. Those are the keys that will unlock doors for our young people. We simply need to pause long enough to listen and observe—child’s play.” -Steven T. Webb

Are We Cultivating Curiosity???

Posted by & filed under Inspiration.

“I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

Are we cultivating curiosity in our classrooms? Are we aiming to cultivate the genius potential in all of our students? If you read Thomas Armstrong’s book, Awakening Genius in the Classroom, you’ll see that curiosity is one of the qualities of genius. Armstrong went into schools in the United States to observe how teachers were providing experiences that included the qualities of genius. Instead, what he and his researchers found was that 75-90% of the learning occurred through textbooks and worksheets. He noted,

“No genius has ever attributed his or her success to a worksheet.”

In this age of mandated testing, is curiosity at the top of our “To Do” lists? If it’s not, should it be?

“One could say that curiosity is a program of the mind that pursues new information. Curiosity is something innate, which newborns demonstrate as soon as they are born when the look around…without innate curiosity, education is not possible…” -N. Kobayashi, M.D.

If curiosity is innate and we can’t have education without it, then how can the passive “spray and pray” type of instruction still exist so prominently in today’s educational environments? Evidently, this challenge is not just occurring in the United States…

“Such characteristics of passive learning can still be found today in our education systems. Most obvious in this schooling method is that, monotonously, information is provided to be absorbed by students. But does this deliver knowledge? Will it motivate us to think out of the box, will it make us crave more learning, and will it get us far in the future?” -K. Soemarwoto, from, “When Education Fails to Cultivate Curiosity” [www.jakartapost.com/news/2008/05/14/when-education-fails-cultivate-curiosity.html]

“Curiously, curiosity is no-where to be found in reform measures being debated today. Rather, curiosity is left to scrub the proverbial floors of education institutions. It’s the forgotten and malnourished of NCLB and mistreated stepsister of Race to the Top. Click on some of the speeches by President Obama and Secretary Duncan and then search for ‘curiosity.’ You won’t find it anywhere.

Yet, in order to promote lifelong learning, it is a, if not THE, necessary ingredient. It is the high octane fuel of learning. It is the glass slipper.” -Jason Flom

If Jason’s comments sparked your curiosity, you might want to read his entire post [ecologyofeducation.net/wsite/?p=1276].

I believe that you can cultivate the genius potential in all your students while “uncovering” the curriculum and still prepare students to do well on state tests. That’s why I created the structure called Tabor Rotation and why I train teachers across the United States how to use it. It’s why I post blogs and hope to spark dialogue about making our pedagogy better. It’s why I offer  games and information on my website-for anyone to use.

But, let’s get back to you…are you cultivating curiosity in your classroom? Are you providing learning experiences that foster thinking?

“There’s still so much to discover, all around us. And even if something’s been seen by someone, when you see it yourself for the first time, it is your own, new discovery. and you might see something differently.” -Jane Goodall


Active Engagement via Anchoring Activities

Posted by & filed under Differentiated Instruction, Math Activities, Mathematics, Tabor Rotation.

“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” -Jesse Owens

“If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.” -Abigail Van Buren

“What do I do with the rest of the class when I’m working with my differentiated, readiness groups on Thursday and Friday? This question is frequently asked when teachers begin to implement the Tabor Rotation structure into their classroom. I’m glad teachers ask this question–it means they are systemically differentiating their math or science instruction  of the concepts for the week based on pre-assessments, on-going assessments and tasks, and observations made during “clipboard cruising.”

After Vivid Vocabulary Instruction and the Whole-Group Mini-Lesson on Thursday and Friday, there are multiple options for the meaningful engagement of the entire class. After the students begin this independent or partner work, the teacher can gather students based on their readiness.

One suggestion is to make a “Tic-Tac-Toe” Menu of Activities. This differentiation strategy provides students with a choice of which options to select and in which order. The options can also be tiered at simple, average, and challenging levels. Menu Sample: Mean, Median, Mode

Some teachers simply assign pages from their text. Others choose to have students work on individualized dictionaries of math vocabulary based on the Marzano method or play some of the games from the Games Station.

Another option is to offer Anchoring Activities. Anchoring Activities are part of the foundation of many differentiated classrooms. An Anchoring Activity is

“…a strategy that allows students to work on an assignment that directly relates to the curriculum. An Anchoring Activity is a logical extension of learning during the unit, an elaboration of important goals and outcomes that are tied to the curriculum.” -www.webster.k12.mo.us

“Anchoring activities should be self-directed, include aspects that can be completed on an ongoing basis, relate to the concepts being learned, be engaging and meaningful tasks (not busywork or packets of worksheets), and be activities that everyone in the class will have the chance to do…” -Martha Kaufeldt

How do you make Anchoring Activities? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Explain, model, and practice each activity with the entire class. This could be done in the Whole-Group Mini-Lesson or during the last few minutes of Teacher Time.

2. Develop management techniques such as using “6-Inch Whisper” voices when working and asking three other students for clarification before approaching the teacher (Ask 3, Then Me).

3. Have clear methods for accountability and evaluation. Determine locations for completed work, incomplete or “catch-up” work, and timing for grading plus feedback.

4. Train a student or two how to do each Anchoring Activity. Model how to do the activity, where to obtain materials, and what to do when challenges arise. Make this student the “Master of the Task” and write their name next to that Anchoring Activity.

5. Take baby steps! Begin with 3-5 Anchoring Activities and add to the list as you and the students become more proficient.

Why take so much time and effort into something like this? In creating Anchoring Activities you are differentiating based on the students’ readiness, interest, and learning style. You are varying the modality by which a concept is learned and explored. You are also giving the students time to understand a concept more deeply.

You are also doing it because,

“Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him.” -Booker T. Washington

Exceptional Teachers

Posted by & filed under Differentiated Instruction, Inspiration, Mathematics.

“Strong teachers insist that effective teaching is neither mysterious or magical.” -S. Farr

What is it that makes a teacher strong, vital, and exceptional? What is it that separates the good teachers from the master teachers? Farr and his colleagues found certain patterns in the teachers they observed:

*Tended to set big goals for their students.

*Perpetually looked for ways to improve their effectiveness.

*Constantly reevaluated what they were doing.

*Avidly recruited students and their families into the process.

*Maintained focus ensuring that everything they did contributed to student learning.

*Planned exhaustively and purposefully by working backward from the desired goals.

*Worked relentlessly, refusing to surrender to the combined menaces of poverty, bureaucracy, and budgetary shortfalls.

[http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/good-teaching]

This past week I had the honor and privilege of working with some exceptional teachers in Brooks County, Texas. From the moment I walked in the door the teachers exhibited exceptional patterns. They are teachers in a primary school–not “state-tested grades.” Yet, they brought me in to help them improve their effectiveness because they felt they could do better in their teaching of mathematics. They had heard about Tabor Rotation from their principal, their regional supporting consultant, and other schools in the area. They were already implementing the structure but knew they could do better if they just had some intense, on-site training.

These teachers were receptive to the information shared, observed closely during the demonstration lesson, asked purposeful questions, and were relentless in their desire to understand how Tabor Rotation could help them better differentiate instruction for their students.

These teachers also persevered–even on their day off. The second day of training occurred on Saturday. Every participant showed up early, with a smile. They spent the day planning exhaustively and purposefully.  Not one teacher looked at the clock–even when we went past the end time. They didn’t want to stop until they had planned for the entire upcoming 6 weeks. This is evidence of exceptional teaching!

“Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverence.” -Samuel Johnson

“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” -Wayne Gretzky

Are you persevering? Are you continuing on your journey to become and remain exceptional?

Differentiated Instruction and Pre-Assessment

Posted by & filed under Uncategorized.

“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!