ASSESSMENT CYCLE FOR IMPROVING INSTRUCTION: Part 1

ASSESSMENT
 Who are your students?
I tested a group of 17 6th grade students in a 6th grade Language Arts class.
There was one ESE student who is labeled as SLD and one ESOL student
labeled as C1.
 What do you want students to know and be able to do at the end of the three
lesson mini-unit?
I want the students to know the definitions of simile, metaphor, and
personification. I would also like the students to be able to recognize examples
of these figurative language elements in a text.

DATA COLLECTION
Analyze the results of the pre-test in narrative form, using the data and explain the
following:
 What are the scores in the pretest for each student and for each question?
Alexei, Alejandra, Steven, Nurod, Matthew, Blake, Chase, and Lacey all
scored a 20% and all only got number one, the definition of a simile, correct.
Natalie, Maria, Jennifer, Jephthe, and David did not get any questions correct.
Amanda got a 20% as well, but she got question number five, the definition of
personification correct. Dylan also got a 20%, and he got question number four,
example of a simile, correct. This is interesting because he did not get number
one, the definition of a simile, correct. Jason and Dean got 60% correct. They
both got questions one (simile definition), question three (metaphor definition),
and question four (simile example) correct.

AGGREGATION OF DATA
Analyze the results of the pre-test in narrative form, using the data and explain the
following:
 What are the results? (Provide an items/product analysis)
Over half the class, 58.8%, knew the definition of a simile, question
number one. No one got question number two, an example of personification
correct, but one student got number five, the definition of personification correct.
Two out of 17 students got question number three, the definition of a metaphor,
correct at 11.76%. Three out of 17, 17.65%, got the example of a simile,
question number four, correct. Only one student got question number five, the
definition of personification, correct.

DISPLAY OF DATA
 Simile  Personification  Metaphor  Simile  Personification 
Student  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  Q5  Pretest Score 
Alexei  1  0 0 0 0  20.00% 
Alejandra  1  0 0 0 0  20.00% 
Amanda  0  0 0 0 1  20.00% 
Steven  1  0 0 0 0  20.00% 
Natalie  0  0 0 0 0  0.00% 
Maria  0  0 0 0 0  0.00% 
Dylan  0  0 0 1 0  20.00% 
Nudrod  1  0 0 0 0  20.00% 
Jennifer  0  0 0 0 0  0.00% 
Matthew  1  0 0 0 0  20.00% 
Blake  1  0 0 0 0  20.00% 
Jason  1  0 1 1 0  60.00% 
Dean  1  0 1 1 0  60.00% 
Chase  1  0 0 0 0  20.00% 
Lacey  1  0 0 0 0  20.00% 
Jephthe  0  0 0 0 0  0.00% 
David  0  0 0 0 0  0.00% 
                  0.00% 
percent of 
students getting 
question correct  58.82%  0.00% 11.76% 17.65% 5.88%    

Pre‐Test Score
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00% Pre‐Test Score
0.00%
 Student's Score
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%

Matthew

Jephthe
Dylan
Alexei

Natalie

Jennifer

Blake
Alejandra
Amanda

Maria

Chase
Steven

Dean
Nudrod

Jason

Lacey

David
Student's Score

ANALYSIS OF DATA
Analyze the results of the pre-test in narrative form, using the data and explain the
following:
 What does each student know?
Alexei, Alejandra, Steven, Nurod, Matthew, Blake, Chase, and Lacey all
know the basic definition of a simile, but they could not recognize an example of
one, and they did not know personification or metaphor. Natalie, Maria,
Jennifer, Jephthe, and David do not know any of these figurative language terms
and would not recognize them in a text. Amanda seems to remember the
definition of personification but could not recognize it in a text. She does not
know simile or metaphor at all. Dylan seems to have some concept of what a
simile is because he could recognize an example, but he has forgotten it by true
definition. He does not know metaphor or personification. Jason and Dean both
have similes and metaphors down but do not know personification.

INSTRUCTIONAL DECISIONS
Analyze the results of the pre-test in narrative form, using the data and explain the
following:
 How will what you see in the pretest data affect what you will teach?
It is clear to me that these 6th grade students have probably been taught
about similes before, but many have forgotten what they would look like in a
text. This needs to be reviewed and practiced. I know that it is unlikely that
students would have been taught similes and not metaphors, but metaphor is
bigger word than simile, so the students may not have been confident about
spelling it out on the exam. This too needs to be taught again. We should look
 up some examples in a current text as well. Personification, on the other hand,
appears to be a brand new concept for most of the students in the classroom.
This will need to be taught for the first time, and I will need to treat it as new
vocabulary and a new concept.

INSTRUCTION-DELIVERY OF CONTENT
Analyze the results of the pre-test in narrative form, using the data and explain the
following:
 What methods of instruction will you use to have the most impact on student
learning?
Unfortunately, not one of my students passed my pre-test with flying
colors. The highest grade was a 60%, and even that was only made by two
students. I believe that the concepts of simile, metaphor, and personification
will all need to be taught by direct instruction, followed by guided practice of
how to find them and where to find them in literature, and wrapped up with
even more independent practice dealing with both discovering them in the
text and writing them from scratch. If the student can create an example of
the concept, than he or she has fully understood the concept.

REFLECTION
After completing this assignment, I am now more informed about what my students
know and need to learn. I am capable of analyzing test data to help me create a
lesson plan. As an ethical educator, I know I must meet the needs of all my students
by creating activities that will help them learn the material. As a reflective decision
maker, I will use data analysis to help me get to know my students’ academic needs.

DOCUMENTATION
Attach a copy of one student’s pre-test.