Differentiated Instruction Based on Pre-Assessment Results

During the Journalism Unit for 9th graders, learning can be broken down into 3 levels:

	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3
Understanding Journalism	Facts - kinds of journalism - publication sources - historical influencers - elements of style	Concepts - Why journalists choose one story over another? - How journalists balance demands of publishers and needs of the public?	Debatable - Can journalism be objective?
Process toward a deeper level of understanding	Learn the facts: Identify Describe Define Classify List Terms	Think about the facts:  Explain why Differentiate Compare Organize Examine Interpret	Make conclusions: Argue Hypothesize Defend Create Select  Predict
Practicing journalism	Primary questions: Who, What, When, Where?	Secondary questions: How, Why, What’s the relationship?	Deeper questions: Now what? If...then… (So what?) What’s best?

It's useful to look at it this way not only in terms of ticking all the learning boxes, but checking the development and deepening of students' thinking.

During the pre-assessment quiz of students, we set out to learn

• How much experience with journalism have these students had and what are those experiences?

• How familiar are students with a diversity of journalistic sources?

• What language do students have already to describe the various facets of journalism?

• Are students able to analyze news stories and think critically about them?

• Are students able to come to their own conclusions about the news?

The results show 5 students in need of extension work, 12 familiar with some of the information but needing reinforcement and further exploration, and 5 seemingly having very little exposure to the subject. They’ll be grouped as Questioning, Exploring and Discovering to provide a more respectful, less hierarchical delineation that represents the work they’re actually going to do.

Questioning: Those needing extension work are sent to a The New York Times: The Learning Network to do an activity - reading an article, answering questions, and writing responses. This should inspire them to consider how their own writing in the summative could have an impact at school. They should finish the task wondering what impact they want to have on their own school and how they might effectively do that.

Exploring: These students will be exposed to more types of journalism, working in pairs. They’ll compare and contrast styles and the corresponding advantages or weaknesses. And they’ll consider what makes a news story particularly effective in reaching its audience. This reinforces their knowledge of journalism while allowing them to think more critically and find new news sources and styles.

Discovery: These students will review the specific vocabulary around journalism. The students can make digital flashcards for review, along with visual examples of the concepts. Through direct instruction, study guides and discussion, we’ll review the styles and elements of journalism. I’ll have the students quiz each other. And I’ll preview structural elements, as well, so that they have a grasp on the new material to be covered the following week in preparation of students writing their own articles. For the ELL students, there will be more emphasis on vocabulary. SNS will receive guidance to support their taking the lead in the initial analysis of photojournalism and videos. For both, we’ll be looking at shorter written articles.

Assessment

Questioning: Choose one of the NYT writing prompts and write in your journal.

Exploring: Use your journal to make a bullet point list of the strengths and weaknesses of the  different news story styles.

Discovery: Through listening to the student quiz each other and our group discussion, I can check for comprehension and vocabulary usage.