Running head: PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT

Planning, Preparation, Instruction, and Assessment of Learners

Regent University
Mike Lewis

In partial fulfillment of UED 496 Field Experience ePortfolio, Fall 2015

PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT

Introduction
Assessment is a crucial piece to instruction. It allows teachers to know if certain learning
targets are being met, if there is progress being made, and what, if any, remediation is needed.
All of this takes planning. Planning starts with the end in mind. Effective teachers know what
students need to learn and plan lessons and units around these learning targets or standards,
keeping in mind what is being tested. To do this, a teachers lesson plan, begins with the end in
mind (Wiggins, 2005, p. 338). Teachers will plan assessments along the way that do not count
against the students but offer a legitimate glimpse into progress of the students. These are
known as formative assessments that serve as pulse checks on the formation of the students
learning. At the end of a unit, summative assessments are given to document the sum of targeted
learning that has taken place in a particular unit. These grades act as final indicators for report
cards, so mom and dad can know how their child is doing in a particular subject.
Rationale
The artifacts I have chosen for this competency are a unit plan I created for the
curriculum development class during my time as a student at Regent University, a copy of the
notes for a planning meeting I had the opportunity to be part of, and snippets of some lessons
plans that list the assessments that track student learning in the classroom.
The only form of pre-assessment I witness that was done in either placement was for the
reading and math software. In Virginia Beach, the school used the Mobi Max math software and
the Achieve 3000 software. In Chesapeake, the school used the iReady math software and the
Raz-kids software. Each of the these programs will not let students start lessons until there is a
baseline of reading and understanding of math concepts. From there, students are given lesson

PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT

based on their level. The programs lessons will systematically work students through the levels
and formatively assess then periodically to make sure the students are on the appropriate level
for their lessons.
In my second placement, we would use data to put students in groups the day before the
unit test to give them the review they needed. If students did not need extra help, they would use
the software and play enrichment games.
Unit Plan
The document was developed to practice unit planning. It is a unit on math that covers
measurement, specifically money, weight, mass, and height/length. VDOE standards or learning
were listed that correspond with learning targets. A list of assessments were listed that would be
used in formative and summative assessment, a calendar was created to schedule the lessons on
certain days, and a rubric was developed to fairly assess what students have learned in an age
appropriate manner.
Planning Meeting Notes
I included a picture of the planning meeting notes with the Reading Specialist at Windsor
Oaks because in the meeting we talked about planning for the month. We talked about how we
assess students learning. We also set up a calendar that lists the different lessons on each day of
the month that the two language arts teachers will base their instruction on. Unfortunately, at
this meeting we did not fill in this calendar, but the skeleton of this planning is printed for an
artifact.
Lessons Plan Snippets
I included a picture of the box on the lesson plan template that lists the different
assessment tools to track students learning. This is anything from a computerized test that

PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT

gathers a students Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI), which is a pre-assessment tool to

formative assessments like class discussion or the modeling of the prediction worksheet that will
be used to summatively assess their ability to predict and revise their predictions.
Week-Long Lesson Plans
I included a week-long lesson plan as an artifact to show how extension the planning was
during the second placement. Lesson plans were expected a week in advance. Mrs. Hamilton
taught me her system of getting through the planning every week. Each day of the week, we
would plan the following weeks lesson on the first four days of the week. On Monday, we
would plan the comprehension and read aloud lessons. On Tuesday, we would plan the Math
lessons. On Wednesday, we would plan the Science or the Social Studies lesson, depending on
what week it was. On Thursday, we would plan writing. Then on Friday, we would upload the
plans on the share drive. Throughout the week, the plans would shuffle around as time would
run out on one lesson and be left over on another. There would always be something planned in
the day that would be prioritized and always something that it would ok if we did not get to it.
This made it easy to choose what could be sacrificed throughout the day and what could be
pushed to another day if a lesson went long.
Reflections
The Bible tells us that God is not finished with us (Phil. 1:6), that we are constantly
growing and becoming more like him with every decision we make for His kingdom and His
desires. This happens as we pray and we become less, so He can become greater (John 3:30).
As I look back on my journey, I did not know it at the time, but now I can at least in part chart
the progress that I have made becoming more like Him since I became a Christian in my teen
years, and I am sure that God had and has His own differentiated instructional plan for my life.

PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT

In theology we call this predestination and providence. Responsible teachers have the
opportunity to have a hand in the future of their students as well by guiding students on their path
by planning well and assessing them along the way to make sure they are staying on the path.

PLANNING, PREPARATION, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT

References
Wiggins, Grant; McTighe, Jay (2005-03-22). Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd Edition
(Page 338). Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Kindle Edition.