Pre-Assessment for Differentiation

1. Group 2- the twelve students who have some knowledge about the topic as shown in their score, but need to develop more higher order thinking skills.

1.1. Innovative Strategy- These students probably just need reminders of the steps and are probably struggling with wording. So I will break them off into groups and they will have a chart with a subtraction sign, addition sign, multiplication sign, and division sign. They will then have cards with words like difference, more than, less than etc. They will have to paste the cards under the correct signs. They will have to develop 5 expression sentences with what they have come up with on their chart, and justify why it is correct. Afterwards they will have some expression questions, and some question where they have to identify the variable, operation, and number in a mathematical sentence.

1.2. Assessments Used to Track Progress- There will be some formative assessments. I will ask them questions, and check for understanding, and clearing up any misconceptions they might have. They will also have to do a peer review for the group portion to ensure everyone is doing their part and contributing to the group. They will also complete a quick 5 question quiz based on what they worked on.

2. Group 3- the five students who appear to have limited knowledge about the topic.

2.1. Innovative Strategy- These students probably struggled the most, and will need the most remediation with expressions. They will go over what a variable is and identifying parts of an expression. They will do a hands on inquiry lab dealing with the parts of an expression. They will then watch a video on I-ready, do some activities based on that video, and finally complete a small quiz on I-ready.

2.2. Assessments Used to Track Progress- We will go through the inquiry lab together. We will also go over some examples using bar diagrams. I will work a lot with them asking them questions and clearing up any misconceptions they have. After they watch the video and do some practice on I-ready they will take a quick 5 question quiz on I-ready.

3. Group 1- the five students that answered most including the most difficult of the pre-assessment questions correctly.

3.1. Innovative Strategy- these students will work in a group on more critical and contextual problems like the last two on the pre-assessment. They will have discussions about what they need to know in order to solve the problem, and how to solve the problem. They will be responsible for taking those questions a step further and read the problems then as a group they will set them up as equations. For example The highest elevation in Florida is 105 meters. The highest elevation in Georgia is about 5,000 meters higher than that in Florida. They will have to come up with the equation g-5,000=105, and talk about how they think they will solve it, and what each part of the problem is (the variable, and why it equals 105).

3.2. Assessment Used to Track Progress-  formative assessments. I will be going around asking questions, and checking for understanding. Since they are working in a group they will also do a peer review, to make sure everyone in the group is contributing to the discussion. They are also responsible for submitting a paper that has their justifications, and answers to the five questions that will be given. This will not be graded it is just to see their thinking and any misconceptions they might have going into the lesson.