OPENING THE DOOR TO CURRICULUM DIFFERENTIATION

1. PREASSESSMENT: OPENING THE DOOR TO CURRICULUM DIFFERENTIATION Jeanne H. Purcell, Ph.D Connecticut State Department of Education jeanne.purcell@po.state.ct .us 860 713-6745

2. Preassessment: A Definition • Preassessment is an instructional strategy teachers use to uncover what students know about a curriculum unit before they begin formal instruction.

3. THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS • CONTENT • INTRODUCTION • INITIAL INSTRUCTION • PREASSESSMENT • DIAGNOSIS What are the CRITICAL DIFFERENCES in my students? How can I MODIFY one or more of the 10 curriculum components to address difference? CHOICE ALTERNATIVES Adjusting the Breadth TIERING Adjusting the Depth MANAGEMENT OF FLEXIBLE, SMALL GROUPS POST ASSESSMENT MEASURE THE IMPACT OF DIFFERENTIATION

4. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ASSESSMENT AND CURRICULUM STANDARDS Content Knowledge PREASSESSMENT and resulting modifications, if warranted, are based upon critical differences among students TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND FEEDBACK ON-GOING & POST ASSESSMENT

5. Preassessment: Diagnostic Tools • Teacher Observations • Learner Profiles • K-N-W Charts • Journals • Parent Letters • Lists, Surveys • Products • Performances • Conferences • Concept Maps

6. Preassessment Tool: A Modified K-W-L K N W What the student ALREADY KNOWS What the student NEEDS TO KNOW What the student WANTS TO KNOW -Prior Experiences -Knowledge -Skills -Accomplishments -Attitudes -Self-rating of current proficiency with unit objectives -Interests -Questions -Ideas for exploration or investigation

7. Preassessment Tool: Journals -Ask students to describe processes/ examples or provide reflections related to a curriculum objective Tell me what you know about fractions What is the purpose of a hero in a story? -Give the teacher an opportunity for a one-to-one interchange with the student

8. Preassessment Tool: Parent Letter • Informs parents about unit skills, concepts, and types of unit activities; • Enlists parents’ help with resources, artifacts, community connections, etc. • Asks for parents’ insights into their child’s interests, strengths, and experiences; • Informs parents that you will be giving homework assignments intended to be worked on together.

9. Preassessment Tool: Lists and Surveys • “Tell me all the words that come to mind when I say “oceanography;” • List the attributes of French Impressionistic paintings; • Name several types of land masses; • Give examples of foods that contain high fats and sugars.

10. Preassessment Tool: Products • Create a bar graph using data from the sports section of the newspaper; • Make a landscape drawing with a horizon; • Show me your latest science lab report

11. Preassessment Tool: Performances or Conferences • Explain how you found this answer; • Import a graphic for the newspaper; • Create a mobius strip; • Use a graphing calculator to determine an equation; • Develop a roll of black and white film; • Read to me.

12. Preassessment Tool: Concept Map -Used when teaching concepts and principles; -Graphic representation of students’ understandings; -Uses a word bank, web, and links day Word Bank Sun Hot gas Space Heat Night Constellation Day see in is a is in sun space Star has see at heat makes a makes night constellation hot gas

13. Selecting a Preassessment Tool • Nature of the content? • Nature of the feedback: Individual vs small group vs. whole group • Time/Efficiency?

14. Making Sense of Preassessment Data • Think like a qualitative researcher: What does all this mean? • Sort the data into 1 to 4 groups, based on a common, powerful difference • Identify the learning difference: interest, prior knowledge, etc. • Decide how to address the difference through differentiated teaching/learning activities.

15. Attributes for Differentiation PRIOR KNOWLEDGE conceptual precision application AREA OF INTEREST drawing painting sculpting PREFERRED LEARNING STYLE small-group alone with visuals adult support PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

16. Preassessment: When? • At the beginning of the year? • At the end of the year • At the beginning of each semester • At the beginning of a unit?

17. Talking with Students What is preassessment? When will we do preassessment? What will a preassessment look like? What will it tell me? Will my score “count?” Should I tell my Mom and Dad? What am I supposed to know? Talking with Parents What is preassessment? When is preassessment used? What does it reveal? Who sees preassessment data? How will students’ information be used? What will happen as a result of preassessment? Preassessment: Communicating with Students and Parents

18. What Do We Already Collect?

19. Now It’s Your Turn… Identify a curriculum unit. Make sure it is one in which you have witnessed critical differences among students. Select a prassessment and post assessment format, sketch some questions, and develop a rationale for your choices.

20. Debriefing… • What questions arose as you completed the assessments? • How did you answer them? • What was most interesting to you? Your colleagues? • What questions do you still have? • What questions might future participants raise?

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22. THE END