Running head: PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT 1

Planning, Preparation, Instruction, and Assessment

Kristen Clark

Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2017

PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT 2

Introduction

As a teacher, it is vital to keep track of student learning; for this to be true, many steps are

needed. These steps include, planning, preparation, instruction, and assessment. In order to

ensure that a student can best learn, small, differentiated groups can be used to help that student

and provide a smaller student to teacher ratio. In order to form these small groups, pre-

assessments can be used to guide how they are formed. With small groups, varied by ability, a

teacher can focus on either remediation or enhancement to best serve that group of students

needs. Then, after the content has been taught, a post-assessment can be given to assess how

much a student has learned in a unit. All of these steps are necessary to ensure that a teacher is

able to teach and the students are able to learn.

Rationale for Selection of Artifacts

The first artifact I chose, was a pre-assessment that was given in math. This pre-

assessment was for Virginia Beach Objectives 4.2.8 and 4.2.9. These objectives state that

students will be able to solve single-step and multi-step real-world problems involving addition

and subtraction with fractions and decimals. These objectives go along with the fourth-grade

Math SOL 4.4d which says that the student will solve single-step and multistep practical

problems involving addition and subtraction with fractions and with decimals (VDOE). After

students completed the pre-assessment, I looked at the resulting data and grouped students into

four categories: those who got three out of four questions correct, those who got two out of four

correct, those who got one out of four correct, and those who got none correct there were no

students who got them all correct. With this data, I found that five out of twenty-two students got

three questions correct, six out of twenty-two students got two questions correct, seven out of

twenty-two students got one question correct, and two out of twenty-two students got none of the
PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT 3

questions correct. With this, data I was able to group the students and create new small groups

for the unit (I have included a picture of the small groups board with my first artifact). This data

also drove my instruction for the unit as I was able to focus on things that students may have

struggled with on the pre-assessment. For example, the pre-assessment included three questions

for addition and subtraction of decimals and one question for addition and subtraction of

fractions (which none of the students got correct). For the lowest group, who either missed all the

questions or three questions, I knew that I needed to review adding and subtracting decimals as

well as adding and subtracting fractions. Then for the highest group, who missed only one

question, adding and subtracting fractions, I knew I could focus on fractions more than I would

need to focus on decimals. By using this data, I was able to plan and prepare for small group

instruction each day.

The second artifact that I chose was a formative assessment checklist that I used to track

learning throughout the unit. By keeping track of how students did in small group each day, I

was able to see the areas students struggled in, which allowed me to adapt my instruction each

day to best suit their needs. If a student was having a particularly hard time with a concept, they

could stay in small group for two small group sessions so that they could receive more

assistance. Additionally, a whole group, or most of a group, struggled with one concept, I made a

note in my lesson plans to continue working on that concept the next day. By keeping track of

the students learning daily, I was able to make sure my instruction each day would best help the

students learn, and this helped me to prepare for the small group lessons each day.

Lastly, the third artifact I included, was the post-assessment for VBO 4.2.8 (The student

will be able to solve single-step real-world problems involving addition and subtraction with

fractions and decimals). After the students took this summative assessment, I was able to take the
PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT 4

resulting scores to see how much the students learned from the time of the pre-assessment until

the post-assessment.

When I began to look at the summative assessment, I looked again at the pre-assessments

and looked at them as a grade, rather than the number of correct answers out of four. By doing

this for the pre-assessment, I determined that five students received Ps, six students received

DPs, and nine students received Ns. Then, from the post-assessment, I determined that three

students received APs, eight students received Ps, eight students received DPs, and four

students received Ns. From these results, I was able to see student growth, as the number of

students who received APs and Ps went from only five students receiving Ps to eleven

students receiving Ps and APs. Additionally, the number of students who received Ns went

from ten students receiving Ns to only four students receiving Ns.

However, this post-assessment was given during the last week of my placement, so my

cooperating teacher and I discussed the results from this post-assessment, but I was not able to

see the resulting scores from VBO 4.2.9 (dealing with multi-step word problems). Because of

this, we talked about what she could do before she began teaching VBO 4.2.9 the following

week. From this discussion, we determined that she would change groups based on the results of

the VBO 4.2.8 summative assessment, and then base instruction for VBO 4.2.9 on the needs of

the various groups. We determined that it would be best for the lowest group (those who

received Ns and DPs) to focus on the area they were still having trouble with, which was

identifying whether they should add or subtract using the clue words in the word problem. Then,

we decided that the focus for the students who received Ps and APs would be on the multi-step

word problems and how to solve them. This post-assessment on VBO 4.2.8 allowed us to assess

how much the students grew throughout the unit, but it also served as a pre-assessment for the
PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT 5

next unit, VBO 4.2.9, and was used to help create new groups and guide the instruction for those

groups.

Throughout this unit, I was also able to adapt and accommodate for various learning

needs among the students. One of these ways was by creating the small groups, so students could

receive more individualized instruction than they would with whole group instruction. By doing

this, there was a lower student to teacher ratio so that I could better focus on each learners

needs. Additionally, I was able to provide students with fraction tiles when working with adding

and subtracting fractions and hundreds blocks when working on adding and subtracting

decimals. By providing these manipulatives, I was able to help those who needed to see the

concept in a concrete way to better understand the concept. Overall, throughout the unit, I was

able to plan, prepare, instruct, and assess student learning in order to help them best learn the

concept of adding and subtracting fractions and decimals in single step word problems.

Reflection on Theory and Practice

Planning, preparation, instruction, and assessment is essential in any classroom. Without

it, a teacher cannot be as effective as they can possibly be. As a teacher, we follow a given

curriculum given by the state or city in which we teach. However, we are the ones who are

responsible for planning, preparing, instructing, and assessing our students based on the

standards given in the curriculum. Without effective planning, preparation, and instruction, a

teacher cannot teach their student to the best of their ability and this will show in the results of an

assessment.

Planning and preparation are the two steps of the process that drive the rest. With

planning and preparation, a teacher should look at the standards laid out by the city or state in

which they teach. These standards outline what the intended learning outcomes are and will
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explain how we will know whether students have achieved the learning outcomes (Waugh &

Gronlund, 2013, p. 4). Furthermore, pre-assessments can be used to assess student knowledge of

the upcoming topic. After getting results from a pre-assessment, a teacher can use the results to

plan and prepare for instruction by place[ing] students in the most beneficial position in the

instructional sequence and use it as a base for assessing future progress (Waugh & Gronlund,

2013, p. 4). Additionally, the results should be used to plan the daily lessons of the unit

(Powell, 2015, p. 119).

Next, Rutherford (2008) explains that the instruction, or how we teach, should meet the

needs of the learners. As a teacher, we can do this by creating a repertoire of varied learning

experiences that best help each student learn (Rutherford, 2008, p. 4). The results from the pre-

assessment should be used to drive the instruction that is given. It should influence the content,

the instructional strategies, and the pacing or sequence of the unit (Powell, 2015, p. 119). The

instruction that is given should be adjusted to best meet each students need and given in a way

that can help each student to learn best. Furthermore, during instruction, a teacher should

formatively assess students in order to track their learning and then give feedback so students can

be aware of where they are in the learning process; these formative assessments should then

show us whether we need to reteach or teach differently to help our students better understand

(Powell, 2015, p. 119).

Lastly, assessment, or how we know what students have learned, is when the students

show what they have learned in various ways (Rutherford, 2008, p. 4). Assessments do not only

have to be summative, they can also include the daily activities and assignments that provide us

with data to show what the student has learned. We can then use this data to make instructional

and learning decisions (Rutherford, 2008, p. 4) The summative assessments, however, are used
PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT 7

to judge the success of a process or product and usually occur at the end of a unit (Powell,

2015, p. 120). These assessments are normally paper-and-pencil tests to measure how much a

student has learned, but they can also include a project or performance of an authentic task, or

one that actually applies the knowledge and skills (Powell, 2015, p. 120). These summative

assessments should measure whether students have mastered the learning tasks so they can

move on to the next unit (Waugh & Gronlund, 2013, p. 9). They also provide the grade the

student receives in the unit, which helps to show whether they have a good understanding of the

concept or not.

Overall, planning, preparation, instruction, and assessment are essential in making sure

that our students can learn best. If we do not properly plan and prepare, our instruction will not

be effective. Additionally, if we do not effectively instruct our students, it will result in our

students not being prepared to move on to the next unit and it will affect their grades. Because of

these things, it is vital to make sure that we are able to effectively plan, prepare, and instruct so

that we can ensure that our students are best equipped and ready for the summative assessment.
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References

Powell, S. (2015). Your Introduction to Education: Explorations in Teaching (Edition 3. ed.).

Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson.

Rutherford, P. (2015). Instruction for All Students (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Just ASK.

Waugh, C. K., & Gronlund, N. E. (2013). Assessment of Student Achievement (10th ed.). Boston:

Pearson.