The concept of pre-assessment is valued in almost any type of classroom. In fact, when I took my CELTA ( Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults ) back in 2016, I recall conducting a ‘diagnostic test’ as part of the lesson. This test was done in order to find out if the students as a whole in order to diagnose how much students know.
As a pre-assessment, I decided to make it into a topic of vocabulary. Vocabulary knowledge is one of the aspects among students which is very various. Although these students may be at the same level, it is important to know that students’ abilities are always going to be vast. Despite passing the same level test that supposedly defines their language level, the level of vocabulary memorization and comprehension will always be various.
Stahl and Bravo list the three types of vocabulary assessments on this website. https://www.readingrockets.org/article/classroom-vocabulary-assessment-content-areas)
Preassessment:
As a teacher, I will hand out a worksheet that consists of different words. The content will be based on the classroom topic. For instance, if the class topic was about traveling, teachers could list words like airplane, baggage, phone, Disneyland, temples, beaches, mountains, hotel, domestic, international, passport, money, hike, experience, frolic, explore, swim.
This type of vocabulary assessment is considered as a Vocabulary Recognition Task.
Here is a copy of a worksheet:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jxqdO9OS65aCrC4pvTY_c68Utq6SFy8xKncg28UtrUo/edit?usp=sharing
Differentiated Instruction
As teachers, it is important to know that not all students are diverse and have different abilities. In order to overcome this situation, differentiated instruction is key. Differentiated instruction is defined as teaching the same material using a variety of ways. Some examples include rewording instructional sentences for ELL students or enlarging texts for students with special needs.
Here are the differentiated instructions I would like to share.
1)The top 5 students (students who were able to do the worksheet almost perfectly) will add more vocabulary to the lists for extra material.
In addition, as a way to have students enhance their strong ability, I would have students create a travel blog by using the vocabulary they have brainstormed.
2) 12 mid-range students: No major accommodations and adjustments. However, in order to be sure of their vocabulary knowledge, I will have them make sentences based on the listed verbs as an exit card. In addition to their exit ticket, they will do Think-Ink-Pair-Share. Students will show what they know by first getting into pairs or groups and show which vocabulary they already know. They will also share their knowledge with the whole group of mid-range students.
3)5 students with special needs: adjust the letter size. reading the words aloud, pictures/visual aid, and adding charades. In order to adjust the pre-assessment, I will have students use yes/no cards. The teacher will display a picture with a vocabulary card, and students would either display a ‘yes’ if it is correct and a ‘no’ if it isn't.
Here is the coggle mind map I created!
Overall:
As I have mentioned earlier, when creating this mind map as well as this blog, I went back to the lesson plans I made for my CELTA class back in 2016. Based on the lesson content, which I have somewhat borrowed from, I had to adjust the lesson content to a content that is rather appropriate for ELL students in elementary school.
The pre-assessment itself is pretty simple. Students will be asked to divide the words into separate categories. As simple as it is, this assessment would help students gain an opportunity to actually use and understand the core concepts of these vocabularies, instead of simply memorizing the translated words that are listed in their book. Keep in mind that this type of learning may work for some students.
Just like in every class, there will always be a student who is stronger than the average. For those students, I will have them enhance their ability by having them present their even further knowledge of any other vocabulary that is applicable to the context of ‘traveling’.
For students in the middle, there will be no particular accommodations or adjustments, as they fulfill the general expectations of this lesson. However, in order to ensure their understanding, I will have them create sentences as exit tickets, and/or conduct a Think Ink Pair Share. Students with special needs will have some modifications. Depending on the condition, I could always modify the lesson material by adjusting the letter size of the instructions. Other modifications would be to instead of simply filling out the worksheet, I could give them an option to either match the words with pictures and/or images, or use charades. As I am still not quite an expert in special education, there is still yet to explore on how to accommodate ELL students with special conditions.
Sources:
Stahl&Bravo (n.d), Classroom Vocabulary Assessment for Content Areas. Retrieved from: https://www.readingrockets.org/article/classroom-vocabulary-assessment-content-areas
Weselby, Cathy (Oct. 2014) What is Differentiated Instruction? Examples of How to Differentiate Instruction in the Classroom Retrieved from:
https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/examples-of-differentiated-instruction/
Differentiation and LR Information for SAS teachers. 5. Pre-assessment Ideas
https://sites.google.com/site/lrtsas/differentiation/5-preassessment-ideas