Adjusting Instruction

Carol Brewer
Mar 08, 2010

Have you ever taught a lesson that your students did not understand? Have you taught a lesson when you did not realize that students did not "get it" until the end of the lesson when they summarized? When reflecting on the lesson, where was the breakdown in instruction? At what point did you "lose" the students?

Assessment Prompts can assist teachers with the answers to the above questions. They are used during Teaching Strategies in the Acquisition Lesson. Assessment Prompts are the tools used to distribute the guided practice as well as the summarizing. This means that within a lesson, students are allowed time to practice and/or summarize what has been taught. This practice and summarizing is distributed throughout the lesson instead of just at the end.

Assessment Prompts can be used to adjust instruction. For example, let's say you are instructing a Cause and Effect lesson. Together with students read the first paragraph stopping occasionally to "think aloud" to model cause and effect. The first Assessment Prompt could be for the students to sort picture or word cards into cause and effect. These cards may or may not have anything to do with the content of the text because you are assessing their understanding of the comprehension strategy (cause and effect) that is being taught. The Assessment Prompt could be as simple as, "What is a cause? and What is an effect?" Observe the sorting activity to check for learning. At this time you can adjust the instruction according to the results of the sorting activity.

The most important thing about adjusting instruction is to have a "bank of ideas" for instruction. If the students do not "get it" one way, do you have additional ways for instruction? When the breakdown in learning occurs, are you flexible enough to adjust instruction to meet the needs of all?

During grade level planning time, brainstorm different ways to teach the same concept. Share with colleagues how you have used modeling and scaffolding. Write these different ideas on the back of the Acquisition Lesson, or add it on Toolbox in the Additional Information section at the bottom of the Student Learning Map.

For more on Acquisition Lessons and Assessment Prompts see Connecting Exemplary Practices in Acquisition Lessons.