Pre-Assessment

                I ran study hall for the baseball team this week. I have four students who are currently enrolled in an Intermediate Algebra class. It just so happened that the students are at the point in their units where they are transitioning from graphing equations, to factoring quadratic equations. The week long unit plan that I made for assignment 2A is on factoring and the different techniques that can be used to solve binomial equations. The student-athletes that I was working with mostly fall into the category of advanced support to average students.

                I decided to have the students create a KWL chart. A KWL chart include what a student Knows, Would like to know, and Learned. The chart should be filled out throughout the week and updated as students learn more about the concept. I plan on having students use the KWL chart as a “ticket to exit” and plan on returning the charts to the kids so that they can keep using them. I think that the most important pre-assessment is when you are starting a new unit. It is essential that teachers get an idea about what students already know about a new concept.

           
              I began my pre-assessment by handing out KWL charts to the four students that I had, and had them fill out the first two columns of a KWL chart. I was surprised to find out how much the students already knew about factoring. After they filled out the K section we had a discussion and I learned that for two of the students this was the second time they had taken the class; that probably explains why the students already knew quite a bit about factoring. I believe that they probably just need more time practicing it.

              
                I found that the students had more problems with filling out “What they wanted to know” about factoring. The two students who had previously taken the course had a much better idea of what they wanted to learn. To aid the other two students, I broke down the ways that factoring would be used in a week long period. This helped them to come up with some things that they were curious about. When I have students create a KWL chart again, I plan on breaking down exactly what we will be doing over the week at the start of the class. I think this will help students to fill out the first two sections of the KWL chart.

                I had made a rubric for the assessment that is posted below. The rubric was made to be evaluated at the end of the day. Obviously students won’t be able to fill out what they have learned until I have taught them the full lesson plan. The only adjustment that I would make to the rubric would be change it from “each category” to “the first two categories" (if evaluating the pre-assessment only). Besides that, all the students were able to list at least two things for each of the first two columns (I did have to help two of the students with the second column).

                  Overall, I found this to be a very effective exercise for the students. I really like KWL charts as a pre-assessment activity. This was a test-run and I do need to make some adjustments. I think that it will be valuable to introduce  the students to what we will be doing for the week before handing out the KWL charts. I also should have given or shown the students the rubric before the activity. When I do the lesson with a learning activity students should be able to list what they learned, so the rubric won't have to be adjusted after a full lesson plan. I really enjoyed this assignment and am looking forward to teaching a full lesson for assignment 3A.