Usage Category:
Pre-Instruction
Intention:
Mrs. Ford is preparing to plan instruction for one of her guided reading groups. The standard she will focus on with their next text involves character development and character traits. She wants to see to what extent the students in this group have these specific skills.
Instructional Mini Test:
She selects and puts together several ELA Instructional Mini Tests that assess this standard. She selects items that have a difficulty level of easy to medium.
Considerations:
After reviewing reports, she sees that all students in this guiding group have the basic skills needed at the easy level, but struggle with the medium-level items.
Determinations for instruction:
Mrs. Ford decides to select a text that clearly displays characters’ thoughts, actions, dialogue, and relationships to help students identify character development and character traits.
Variations & Next Steps:
Mrs. Ford will gradually increase to higher-level questioning strategies involving this standard throughout the groups’ time with this text to stretch their skills. She may consider administering Instructional Mini Tests with difficulty levels at medium and hard during mid- or post-instruction to assess students’ understanding and progress with these higher-level questioning strategies.