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

Planning, Preparation, Instruction, & Assessment

Cameo Roman

Regent University

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

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Introduction

Making sure that all of the necessary components of instruction are met is the key to

ensuring that effective learning can occur in the classroom. The teacher's ability to thoroughly

plan for teaching and assessing a SOL standard is one of the most crucial ways that separates a

great, responsible teacher from a careless teacher. To show how I handled my responsibility of

teaching the students addition, I included the following artifacts: three forms of assessments that

my lessons aligned with (pre-assessment, mid-chapter assessment, and final assessment); an

outline of the necessary content for addition; one lesson plan; a PowerPoint that I used for

instruction; and data that was recorded throughout the period spent on addition.

Rationale for Selection of Artifacts

To ensure that my lessons were relevant to the SOL standards regarding addition, I first

took into account the assessments that I would use. After gaining a full understanding of what

the students were expected to know, I was able to determine what assessments were appropriate.

For the pre-assessment, I wanted to know if the students could solve simple addition problems

(in horizontal format) that had sums no greater than ten. I also wanted to see if they could solve

addition problems that included pictures and numeral equations. Both of these parts align with

the SOL standard 1.5 and 1.6.

The mid-chapter test asked the students to find the whole number when two parts were

presented, to solve various picture addition problems by writing the equation and its parts, to

write and solve vertical addition problems when given pictures of dominos, and to solve word

addition problems. The final assessment asked the students to identify the descriptions of

keywords and concepts; to solve vertical, horizontal, picture, and word addition problems; and to

create their own addition number sentence when given the sum.
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To help prepare how I was going to approach the instructional aspect, I wanted to really

make sure that I had in depth understanding of what I wanted the students to grasp. In an outline,

I wrote what I expected the students to understand, facts that they should know, what they should

be able to successfully do on their own, and essential questions to help foster their

understanding. This was beneficial for me because it helped ensure that everything I included in

my lessons were relevant and helpful towards getting the students to master the required skill.

The outline served as my personal guide for instruction.

To help keep track of the students progress, I documented how they did on their

assessments and on various activities done in class. The class average for the pre-assessment was

a 93%. The class average for the mid-chapter assessment was a 92%. Overall, the students have a

good grasp on the concept of addition, but there is room for improvement. A small handful of

students still need more practice with addition. I honestly believe that some of it are just careless

mistakes, but when the scores are compared individually, one can see significant improvement

with students who did poorly on the pre-assessment.

I was able to use the data from the pre-assessment to help guide my instruction before the

mid-chapter assessment. After reviewing the pre-assessments, I was impressed on how much the

students knew about basic addition. Most of them did really well. I knew that I would still need

to cover the terminology, but I predicted that I would not have to spend a whole lot of

instructional time reteaching the basics throughout the given time frame. For the students who

were struggling, I made sure to include a variety of strategies within my lesson. I wanted the

students to visually see how easy addition could be through number lines, manipulatives, videos,

and by counting on with ones fingers. For those who breezed through my assignments, I

occasionally allowed them to practice addition problems that had higher sums.
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Reflection on Theory and Practice

So much thought, preparation, and planning must go into developing and executing well-

rounded lessons. Not only have my courses at Regent University shown me how a diligent

teacher must set aside time for planning, my courses have also taught me what steps to take so

that this process is not as stressful as it may seem. One course in particular that comes to mind is

the Curriculum Design and Assessment Techniques course. What I really found to be valuable

was being shown how to develop unit plans, which is what helped my preparation during my

experience. Although I did not include a full unit plan, my outline that I included derives from

the first stage template of a unit plan.

My perspectives on planning and preparing for lessons also changed when I was

introduce to the concept of focusing on the assessments first and building off of that.

Recognizing the relationship between the two elements of instruction really helped pave the way

to a better understanding of achieving student learning. In one of our required texts, authors

Norman Gronlund and Keith Waugh (2009) even emphasize an assessments ability to

contribute to more effective instruction and greater student learning.Effective instruction

requires that we expand our concern to a teaching-learning-assessment process, with assessment

as a basic part of the instructional program.

There are many truths that God wants us to understand in life. God is the ultimate teacher

and sometimes He does give us challenges and in a sense, assessments. He always has the

desired outcome in mind, just as teachers should have the ending goals in mind too. This is what

authors Wiggins and McTighe meant when they discussed backwards design. Keeping the end in

mind and making sure that the assessments really inform teachers if the students understood the

content. Its about making sure that each activity and lesson are relevant to the assessment.
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Why are we asking the students to read this particular novel (Wiggins & McTighe,

2006). It reminds me of the times when I am being tested in life and I ask God, Why am I going

through this? I would hope that His response would be, Because I need you to grow more in

this way/trust me more/understand something a little better, etc. As a teacher, I will aim to

continue giving my all in preparing, planning, and using assessments and data to drive my

lessons. Just as God prepares, plans, and assesses me for the good, everything that I do will aim

to be beneficial to my students.
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References

Gronlund, N., & Waugh, C. (2009). Assessment of Student Achievement (9th ed.). Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Pearson.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2006). Understanding by Design (2nd ed.). Alexandria, Va:

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.