pre-assessment for differentiation

Next year I will be teaching a subject I've never taught before (business) in a new-to-me school. I'm excited for the many challenges, and I also anticipate much more autonomy in my classroom, which will allow me to integrate differentiation strategies. Although I am merely guessing at what next year will be like, it is still important begin preparing now so I can make the most of opportunities as they come.

Because the school has strict entrance requirements, I do not anticipate students with extreme disabilities in my classroom. For me, the assessment will be more about understanding clearly what elements of business the students already know so we don’t waste time, and also which areas they may have incorrect understanding, in which case we will need to spend extra time to “unteach” the mistakes before teaching the original content.

In reality I believe pre-assessments will take place regularly and in a variety of ways. After I receive information from my new principal (who taught the Business Studies class last year) I will be able to significantly revise the content on my pre-assessments to fit the teaching material, but from what I foresee now I anticipate using something like THIS PRE-ASSESSMENT before each new unit.

Based on the pre-assessment results, information will be used to group students appropriately for projects. I feel it is important for all students to have opportunities to lead their peer group at least once during the year. If a student is particularly competent in one area, then they should be assigned leadership roles for that project. Students who trail the rest of the class need to be distributed among the groups so as to not unfairly burden any one group as well. In this way groups will be created with appropriate student distribution, rather than organically form based on friendships in the class.

In addition to distributing students equally into groups for projects, I will also need to add individualized attention to high and low performing students. The higher performing students will need to meet increased performance expectations and the lower testers will need extra attention to ensure that the knowledge deficit is made up over the course of the unit.

This will all coincide with regular formative assessments from the teacher, from peers within the project group, and also personal reflections.