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M5U4A1    Pre-Assessment for Differentiation- an innovative differentiation strategy

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M5U4A1    Pre-Assessment for Differentiation- an innovative differentiation strategy

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Pre-assessment: a way to determine what students know about a topic before it is taught.
It should be used regularly in all curricular areas
• To make instructional decisions about student strengths and needs
• To determine flexible grouping patterns
• To determine which students are ready for advanced instruction

Here are some strategies :

1) K-W-L charts or other graphic organizers.

K-W-L charts are graphic organizers that help students organize information before, during, and after a unit or a lesson. They can be used to engage students in a new topic, activate prior knowledge, share unit objectives, and monitor students’ learning.

I used to give my students a K-W-L chart to do the pre-assessment, I want to know how much vocabulary or knowledge they know about this new unit. However, I found that K-W-L may be useful in other subjects, but not very ideal in foreign language subject learning. Basically, my students knew nothing about the new topic, or even they knew something, they can't express what they knew in written format by using the target language.
I am wondering, if I need to allow them to use their first language to write K-W-L chart, if I do, they just spent too much time using the first language in a foreign language classroom. I wonder the meaning of using K-W-L.
Probably, they can fill in the last column " what I have learned" after the unit.

2) An open-ended question that gets them writing/talking

To help students grasp ideas in class, ask open-ended questions that require students that get students writing/talking. They will undoubtedly reveal more than you would’ve thought to ask directly.

3)Yes/No Cards

Students make a card with Yes on one side, No on the opposite side. Teachers ask an introductory or review question. Students who know the answer hold up the Yes card, if they don’t know the answer they hold the No card. This is very effective to use when introducing vocabulary words that students need as a knowledge base for a specific unit of study.

4)Conjure, Cluster, Categorize

Provide each learner with a stack of sticky notes. Prior to new learning, encourage each student to generate a set of curiosities, questions, and predicted challenges: one per sticky note. Cluster the notes that are relevant to one another, and create categories for the clusters. These can inform your teaching points.

5)Wonder Board

After introducing students to the topics they will explore, ask them what they wonder, and have them add these questions to a shared display. As learning unfolds, encourage students to attend to these questions and provide time for them to connect and share their discoveries.

Please find the flowchart I made via coggle to illustrate how would I do the differentiation or students at three levels of academic readiness and identifies assessments for tracking those students' learning.

Reference

(n.d.). 5. Pre-assessment Ideas - Differentiation & LR Information for SAS Teachers. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/lrtsas/differentiation/5-preassessment-ideas

Stockman, A. (2019). 10 Creative Pre-assessment Ideas You May Not Know - Brilliant or Insane. Retrieved 2 September 2019, from http://www.brilliant-insane.com/2015/04/10-creative-pre-assessment-ideas-you-may-not-know.html

Blaz, D. (2015). Differentiated instruction: a guide for foreign language teachers. Place of publication not identified: Routledge.

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an innovative differentiation strategy _ for learning new vocabulary in a...

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an innovative differentiation strategy _ for learning new vocabulary in a...: an innovative differentiation strategy _ for learning new vocabulary in a unit

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Project description

The theme for our project-based learning unit is pollution and conservation. In Hong Kong, waste disposal is a huge social issue. Hardly any waste is recycled, and Hong Kong’s landfill sites are almost full to bursting. For my project, students will work in groups to produce news report style videos concerning the recycling of waste in Hong Kong. The group that will be completing the project are a class of 20 grade 3 students in an international school in Hong Kong.

Driving question

How does Hong Kong’s recycling system work and what are the major issues concerning waste disposal?

Grade level

Grade 3 students

Task goals

·         Understand Hong Kong’s waste disposal system and the major issues concerning it
·         Use portable video recording equipment to record an interesting part of the recycling plant
·         Work in groups to answer given questions about waste disposal in Hong Kong
·         Use their answers to write the script for a news report
·         Present answers in groups to a camera

Project work description

Class 1

Students will be introduced to Hong Kong’s recycling system and to the project and will be shown examples of news reports. Students will be divided into pairs in preparation for the visit to the recycling plant. On the trip, each pair will be responsible for recording a video clip of a particular stage of the recycling process, and each pair will be told which part they will be responsible for in this class.

Class 2

Students will be taken to the local recycling plant to gain an understanding of how waste is sorted and processed for reuse. Each pair of students will record one stage of the recycling process as described above.

Class 3

Students will be divided into 5 groups of 4. Each group will be given questions to answer about recycling in Hong Kong (1 question per student) and will be required to write and memorize their answers. The teacher and teaching assistant will visit each group and rehearse their answers and give them tips for the video recording.

Class 4

Groups will take turns to present their findings in news report style in front of the video camera (or mobile device). If necessary, groups may take a second recording.

Assessment

Students will be assessed individually, although students will receive the same marks as their group mates for criteria that apply to the whole group
Students will be marked according to the rubric below (3 for at standard, 2 for approaching standard, and 1 for below standard for each criterion)

See the Word file attachment for the rubrics.

Monitor and feedback plan

How to monitor the Project?
-Use technology tool to monitor collaboration during project-based learning.
There are a variety of technology tools that foster collaboration. Students can work together to create presentations, make a video, or make a display board. Most collaborative technology tools give teachers the ability to track student participation and to monitor the progress of a group and the actions of individuals. . This is true of Google Docs and Google Slides where teachers can open a document and track changes to see the contributions of each student. Also, students might use a discussion thread in a learning management system like Schoology or a shared message board like Padlet to post questions or build on each other’s ideas.
-Set expectations for commenting.
Collaborative documents give students the ability to instantly add comments to their group work—and for teacher to check in on student collaboration. Just like other routines in your classroom, having set expectations for commenting is essential to help students understand the appropriate way to provide feedback on the work of their peers.
-Let students use various ways to reflect their daily learning process.
Reflections could be used like an exit ticket to check for student understanding at the end of a lesson. Students are encouraged to use paper exit slips to write down their reflection or use the iPad to record the video reflection (e.g. 1 min reflection). Students might also create video reflections with the purpose of including the clips as part of a final digital portfolio to document their learning experience.

Ways to gather data during the project
1. Before and after each day learning, have a short whole class time, listening to students discuss their ideas, experiences, and opinions is perhaps the most effective formative assessment we can do.
2. Ask students to use graphic organizers (e.g. KWHL, Think-Puzzle-Explore, Fact vs Opinion organizers, Venn…) to facilitate conversation, clarification, and reflection make their thinking visible. Graphic organizers are powerful tools to support student ideation and inquiry as well. Teachers can gather students’ data through their visual works.

How to incorporate it in the final evaluation
-Set clear rubrics to let students know in advance that what factors the teacher will evaluate at the final evaluation. Teachers can present some samples good or inadequate, to let students have clear understanding of what we expect from them at the end.
-Use technology tool to keep records and track all the way from beginning of project to the end. Seesaw is a good platform I recommend many times. In Seesaw, you can establish different folders and label them with colors. Different colors stand for different area of the learning, presentation, reflection slips, participation in discussion, book report, such as.

References

3-5 Presentation Rubric (non-CCSS) | MyPBLWorks. (2019). Retrieved from https://my.pblworks.org/resource/document/3_5_presentation_rubric_non_ccss

Hong Kong’s dismal recycling efforts: the numbers don’t lie. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2110603/hong-kongs-shameful-recycling-efforts-numbers-dont-lie

Robson, D. (2019). Hong Kong has a monumental waste problem. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170427-hong-kong-has-a-monumental-waste-problem

Alexander, S., Crick, R., Peery, A., Honigsfeld, A., Dove, M. G., Bustamante, V., & Burns, M. (2017, October 17). Check for Understanding During Project-Based Learning Experiences. Retrieved from https://corwin-connect.com/2017/10/check-understanding-project-based-learning-experiences/