Pre-Assessment:

I pre-assessed my students on Monday, March 2nd during the time we

usually did our read aloud. The students knew before they took the test that
this was not going to be going to be counted as a grade and to just answer
each question to the best of their ability. If students wanted to they could
have just left a question unanswered. None of the students, however, left
any questions blank. Unlike previous tests that the students have taken they
were not allowed to look at any notes or study guides while taking the test. I
was worried that some students were going to get very frustrated because
they were not allowed to look at anything and they have not learned any of
the information yet. I surprised though because the students proved that
they are mature to take a pre-test on their own without complaining or
stressing out. After I told the class the directions and before I passed out the
test students already had think boxes set up on their desk so that they could
not look at their partners paper. I read the test aloud to class while they had
their think boxes up so they could not see their neighbors paper. Even
though students did not complain about the test I did have multiple students

Pre-Assessment Scores
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during the test

ask me
what certain questions meant and students did not understand some words,
in the questions. For example, one of the questions was Which of these
inventions are used to navigate ships today a majority of the students did
not know what the word navigate meant. I told students when they asked
me what something meant that I could not help them now and to not worry
because we will be learning about it soon and to just try their hardest.

The pre-test that the students took was 16 multiple choice questions.
The questions on the test go through everything from vocabulary terms that
the students need to know to all the different types of inventions that China
has contributed today. I decided to use this pre-assessment rather than
another one because my cooperating had given the test to me to use for my
unit. She told me that this is the test that they used last year and it covers
everything that we are going to be covering for the next two weeks. We
agreed that it would be easier this way.
After the students took the pre-test and I had graded them I had one
student that scored a 100% on it. When I was discussing this information
with my teacher we were not surprised that this student received this score
because he has an older brother who is a year older than him. This student is
always coming into school and whenever we are starting a new unit he
always will say that he already knows everything because his brother tells
him all the information. This student is very hard working and even though
he knew a lot of information going into the unit after all the lessons he got a
deeper understanding. Also he is one of the top students in the class. After
figuring out the scores for the pre-assessment, if I had counted that, nine
students would not have passed the test. Meaning that nine students scored
a 63% or below. The other students in the class ranged from an 87%-25%.
Looking back on how the pre-assessment went there are some things I
would have changed. I would have changed some of the questions on the
test. There were three questions that I felt like were repetitive and I would
not have put them. I would have changed these questions because I feel like
a majority of the students in my class could have answered these questions
without knowing anything about China and could have gotten them correct.
For example, one of the questions was Which group of people invented the
kite and fireworks? There were two more questions very similar to that
question. I would have changed those questions to questions that were more
specific about the material that they will learn about in my lessons. Some
flaws that my test had was that it was multiple choice so the students did
have a 25% chance of getting a question right that they may have guessed
on. Another flaw is that the class that I am in has never had a preassessment before so this may have caused some students that have
anxiety, in the class, more stress. Also every test that the students have ever
had, in this class, has been open study guide. This is also a factor when it
comes to the students that have anxiety. This was a good tool to use while I
was teaching my lessons to see where I needed to spend more time and
what material the students already understood and knew. I felt, since it was

a multiple choice test that I still needed to cover all of the information that is
on the study guide and test because I do not know if students actually knew
the answer on the test or if it was a lucky guess.

Analyze the Results:

I gave out my post-assessment exactly the same way I gave out my preassessment. Except, this time I told the students that this was for a grade
and I wanted them to try their hardest on it. When I handed out my post

Pre and Post Assessments

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assessment
to students, they had think boxes on their desks so that they could not look
at their neighbors paper. I also read the test aloud to the class so that
students could follow along if they wanted or if they wanted to go ahead and
read the test to themselves they could. I made the decision to read the test
aloud because my cooperating teacher usually reads every test to them and
they can work ahead if they want. I felt that they would be more comfortable

with me reading the test aloud to them. Just like during the pre-test, students
were not allowed to have any study guides or notes out. I told the students
to try their hardest on the test and good luck. Then I explained to the
students that once they are done answering a question to put a thumb up so
that I knew that they were ready for the next question. This really helped me
take a quick glance and see right away which students were ready. After the
test was done and they were collected I had students say how well they
thought they did on the test. Being in the teachers spot it felt really good to
have students give that positive feedback. After reviewing my tests I saw
that all of my students improved from the pre-test. Also 100% of my class
improved by 40% or more when comparing the pre and post-tests so all of
my students met my goal and I have proof that they did in fact learn.

Implications for Further Instruction:

If I were to teach this unit again I would not include the Power Points
that were on fireworks and silk. I felt like I ran out of time to get those in and
to get them in we quickly went over them while the students were packing
up I read the information very quickly to them. Also on the pre and post-test I
would change those three questions that were very general to questions that
go into more detail about what we covered in class. One last thing that I
would change would be that on the assessment there is a question about
navigation and we actually did not cover that during any of my lessons.
Some students still struggled with that question on the post-test. In the
future, if I were to teach this lesson, I would either take that question out or I
would spend more time explaining those vocabulary words to the students.