Using Pre-Assessments in a Unit on Percent

My first year of teaching I was both blessed and cursed by a lack of curriculum.  The previous 8th grade math teacher had left a collection of NY state test questions from the past several years.  But even as an unsophisticated first year teacher, I realized this was a far cry from a well-planned curriculum.  And so I spent about hours and hours every unit scouring the internet for different ways to teach a concept, interesting problems, and standards-driven activities.  This constant quest for good resources has dramatically accelerated my growth as a teacher and is a continual supply of professional development.Now that I have surveyed the landscape, I feel ready to give back to the community.  My initial contribution is a unit on percents that I planned while student teaching in an 8th grade classroom.  There are several features I’d like to highlight that I think were valuable.  In this post I will discuss the use of a pre-assessment.

This was the first time I gave a pre-assessment.  In the past I didn’t gave much thought to prerequisite skills and understanding.  By giving a pre-assessment, I forced myself to consider what students needed to know to learn the new material.  I also sent students the message that I was serious about helping them be successful, and not just blindly following some curriculum.

Following the pre-assessment I collected student work and used the document camera at the front of the room to briefly flip through student responses.  It’s important that this process is anonymous, as the point is to display the range of ideas and not single out students for their mistakes.  The teacher may also want to slip in his or her own work to make a particular point (whether it’s a common misunderstanding, a correct solution, or a controversial answer).  For example, this student’s solution prompted an interesting discussion.

After giving a pre-assessment it’s important to put the data to use.  I found that students had a lot of trouble multiplying decimals and converting between fractions, decimals, and percents.  So I planned a station activity the next day where students could practice two skills.  Each station was led by a teacher or pair of students who had demonstrated mastery of that particular skill.  In this particular instance I allowed students to decide which skill to practice, but you could also assign groups.