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10 Creative Pre

This document discusses 10 creative pre-assessment ideas for teachers to use to better understand what their students already know before beginning a new learning experience. These pre-assessment strategies include having students rank concepts by difficulty, create similes to demonstrate their understanding, generate questions about upcoming topics, and share what they are curious or uncertain about. The purpose of pre-assessment is to empower both students and teachers by identifying strengths and needs so instruction can be tailored to students' existing knowledge and interests.

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188 views3 pages

10 Creative Pre

This document discusses 10 creative pre-assessment ideas for teachers to use to better understand what their students already know before beginning a new learning experience. These pre-assessment strategies include having students rank concepts by difficulty, create similes to demonstrate their understanding, generate questions about upcoming topics, and share what they are curious or uncertain about. The purpose of pre-assessment is to empower both students and teachers by identifying strengths and needs so instruction can be tailored to students' existing knowledge and interests.

Uploaded by

api-257746864
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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10 CREATIVE PRE-ASSESSMENT

IDEAS YOU MAY NOT KNOW


Angela Stockman | Assessment,Innovation

Pre-assessment is a powerful instructional tool. Conducted prior to new learning


experiences, the process empowers students as much as it empowers teachers.
I became acquainted with pre-assessment during the early years as a classroom
teacher. This was when differentiated instruction felt new to everyone. In those days, we
used pre-tests, anticipation guides, and student work samples from previously taught
units to identify what kids knew, what they were already able to do, and where we
should invest our greatest energies.
Our pre-assessment practices have evolved quite a bit since then. Many teachers have
come to understand that assessment in any context rarely requires testing,
and data isnt just a simple set of numbers, and defining strengths and needs serves
learners in more ways than we previously understood.
Sure, we still pre-assess to compact the lessons we teach, but engaging learners in this
sort of reflective work helps them carve productive pathways through student-directed
learning experiences as well. Consider some of these approaches as you design learning
experiences for your students or prepare to engage them in self-directed projects:

TEN CREATIVE WAYS TO PRE-ASSESS LEARNERS


1. Ranking: Invite learners to surface, review, and then rank new concepts, content,
and skills that will be learned according to anticipated difficulty. Debrief by asking them
to explain their reasoning, and help them use what is learned to approach the
experience proactively. Use it to inform the way you support your students as well.

2. Similes: Ask your students to create similes for concepts, content, and skills they
feel they already know. Use their responses to consider the depth and complexity of
their understanding. Allow them to revisit and revise their work as they learn more, and
challenge them to explain how and why their thinking is changing.
3. 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.
4. Guess the Question: Provide learners a set of essential concepts that they will
explore throughout the new learning experience. Ask them to guess what the most
critical questions might be, relevant to each.
5. First and Final Thoughts: Prior to beginning your study, ask students to share
their initial thoughts regarding what they are about to learn, what they are most
compelled by, and where their personal interests and needs might be best satisfied. Use
this information to adjust the instructional plan. Ask them to revisit and revise these
statements at the end of the learning experience in order to describe their levels of
satisfaction.
6. 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. Alternatively, inspire them to attach the answers
they uncover to relevant questions on the wonder board.
7. A Carousel of Catalysts: Craft a handful of powerful pre-assessment questions that
will enable you to understand the needs of your students. Post each question at the top
of its own chart, and hang the charts around your classroom. Ask students to carousel
from one to another, adding their responses to each question to the corresponding
charts.
8. How Certain Are You? Challenge students to brainstorm everything they feel they
already know about the topic at hand. Ask them to record each idea on a separate
sticky note. Then, create a way for them to display these notes according to levels of

certainty. For example: post a scale at the front of the room. Label the far left end of the
scale very uncertain and the far right very certain. Ask learners to post their sticky
notes on the scale according to how certain they feel about their background
knowledge.
9. Pass the Prompt: This works much like the carousel of catalysts, but learners may
remain seated instead of moving around. Here, each catalyst is added to the top of a
sheet of paper, and it is passed from one student to the next. Kids add their responses
to each sheet as it is received before sending it along.
10. Quaker Read: After previewing a text, each reader underlines the post powerful or
important sentence, phrase, or word. Then, the group forms a circle. One student stands
and reads his or her selection. Another follows as soon as the first reader is seated,
striving to continue the narrative. Students are encouraged to read selections even if
others chose the same portions of the text. Listening for what is repeated helps
everyone identify which portions of the text resonated most.

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