STEP Standard 3 - Assessment and Data Literacy

Pre- and post-assessments are used to assess the learning that takes place from participating in a
learning activity. The pre-assessment is given to students before instruction, in order to
determine their prior knowledge of the topic, or inaccurate knowledge, which is sometimes the
case. After students have participated in the unit, they are given the post-assessment, which can
be the same as the pre-assessment, a modified version, or something comparable that measures
the same concepts.
Formative assessment is acceptable, work with your mentor teacher to determine the best way to
collect data in your classroom.

Pre-Assessment - Copy and paste the pre-assessment you plan to use to assess the students’
knowledge of the topic prior to implementing the unit lessons. Include the scoring criteria used
to determine whether the student is Highly Proficient, Proficient, Partially Proficient, Minimally
Proficient when it comes to meeting the learning goal and measurable objectives.
The students are reading The Giver; they were to pretend they took a field trip to Jonas’
community, and write a letter home describing their experience.
Highly Proficient: Has all of the necessary letter parts (heading, greeting, body, close, signature)
Proficient: Has 4 of the necessary parts of a letter
Partially Proficient: Has 3 of the necessary parts of a letter
Minimally Proficient: Has only 2 or less of the necessary letter parts

Pre-Assessment Data: Whole Class - Once you have assessed your students’ knowledge on the topic,
collect and analyze the pre-assessment data to determine if you will need to modify the standards,
learning goal, or measurable objectives that will be addressed during instruction.

Number of Students

Highly Proficient (90%-100%) 1

Proficient
(80%-89%) 25

Partially Proficient
(70%-79%) 6

Minimally Proficient
(69% and below) 11

Pre-Assessment Analysis: Whole Class

The heading was definitely the issue. Coming from 6th grade, I am not sure if they were ever taught to

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write their address at the top of a letter, and I know a lot of them do not even know their address. So, I
can see how that would definitely be an issue, but an easy fix. Other than that, most students kept
forgetting a close. They would sign their name, but not preface it with “sincerely” or “love” etc. Others
did not have a greeting, a closure, or a signature.

Post-Assessment – Copy and paste the post-assessment you plan to use to assess the students’ knowledge
of the topic after implementing the unit lessons. The post-assessment can be the same as the pre-
assessment, a modified version, or something comparable that measures the same concepts. Include the
scoring criteria used to determine whether students are Highly Proficient, Proficient, Partially Proficient,
Minimally Proficient when it comes to meeting the learning goal and measurable objectives.
After finishing The Giver, students will step into Jonas’ shoes and write a letter back to the
community explaining his journey and what ended up happening in the end.
Highly Proficient: Has all of the necessary letter parts (heading, greeting, body, close, signature)
Proficient: Has 4 of the necessary parts of a letter
Partially Proficient: Has 3 of the necessary parts of a letter
Minimally Proficient: Has only 2 or less of the necessary letter parts
I will also be checking for grammar and punctuation as I grade, but as far as the skill set, I am
focusing on making sure they have all the necessary parts in the correct format.

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STEP Standard 4 - Unit and Lesson Planning
During the design phase, you will carefully construct activities that are geared toward improving learning outcomes in your specific
disciplines. Each activity should align to instructional goals and demonstrate your understanding of the pre-assessment data results,
contextual factors, student learning needs, and management strategies.

Collaborate with your Cooperating Teacher/Mentor to design a unit of instruction that aligns to state content standards. Be sure to
include technology integration and demonstrate how you will differentiate your lessons to meet the needs of individual students.

Note: When implementing the unit of study, you will be choosing one of these activities to video record, review, and reflect on your teaching in
the STEP process.

Due to school closures and the way my school is doing online schooling, I can’t really plan things in unit form. My school is doing
weekly assignments, so I will attach that weekly assignment at the bottom of this lesson plan, and fill out the Day 1 Column as best I
can, based on that. Typically, I would have made this a 3-day letter writing lesson, but due to the circumstance I just have to send out
work on Mondays and hope to get something turned in on Friday with intermittent email communication with parents.

Grade Level: 7

Unit/Subject: Letter Writing for The Giver

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

National/State Learning 7.W.3
Standards 7.W.4
List specific grade-level 7.W.6
standards that are the focus
of the lesson being presented.
Specific Learning The students will be
Target(s)/Objectives able to write a letter to
Based on state standards, Jonas using proper

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identify what is intended to be letter writing
measured in learning. technique as outlined
in a PowerPoint.
Academic Language Letter
General academic vocabulary Heading
and content-specific Greeting
vocabulary included in the Body
unit. Conclude
Signature

Unit Resources, PowerPoint, paper,

Materials, Equipment, pencil/pen, computer,
and Technology access to the internet
List all resources, materials,
equipment, and technology to
be used in the unit.
Depth of Knowledge Have you ever written
Lesson Questions a letter before? Are
What questions can be posed you familiar with the
throughout the lesson to specific parts? What
assess all levels of student type of letter do you
understanding? think the example
 Level 1: Recall letter is? How will
 Level 2: Skill/Concepts your letter differ? Give
 Level 3: Strategic
some examples of
Thinking
difference greetings
 Level 4: Extended
and closures you can
Thinking
put in your letter.
Anticipatory Set I would have gone
How will students’ prior over their pre-
knowledge be activated as assessments with
well as gain student interest them.
in the upcoming content?
Presentation of Content
Multiple Means of PowerPoint, Word
Representation Document with
Describe how content will be instruction, access to

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presented in various ways to email to ask me
meet the needs of different questions
learners.
Multiple Means of
Representation Unfortunately, I
Differentiation cannot really provide
Explain how materials will be this kind of
differentiated for each of the differentiation at this
following groups: point. My ELL student
 English Language is not responding to
Learners (ELL) any contact, and my
 Students with special IEP students will have
needs
to have help from
 Students with gifted
abilities
parents in terms of
Early finishers (those who breaks and workload
finish early and may need at home.
additional sources/support)
Application of Content
Multiple Means of They will look through
Engagement the PowerPoint, think
How will students explore, of what they want to
practice, and apply the write, and write their
content? letter. They can take
however long they
need if they need brain
breaks to stay
engaged, as they are at
home and I cannot
monitor that.
Multiple Means of Unfortunately, I
Engagement cannot really provide
Differentiation this kind of
Explain how materials will be differentiation at this
differentiated for each of the point. My ELL student
following groups: is not responding to
 English Language any contact, and my

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Learners (ELL) IEP students will have
 Students with special to have help from
needs parents in terms of
 Students with gifted breaks and workload
abilities at home.
Early finishers (those who
finish early and may need
additional sources/support)
Assessment of Content
Multiple Means of They are all writing
Expression letters as summative
Formative and summative assessment. They may
assessments used to monitor write it by hand or
student progress and modify type it.
instruction.
Multiple Means of The students have to
Expression turn in their letter by
Differentiation email, whether
Explain how materials will be handwritten or typed.
differentiated for each of the This unfortunately has
following groups: to apply to every
 English Language student. I will always
Learners (ELL) accept late work from
 Students with special here on out for all
needs
students, not just for
 Students with gifted
abilities ELL and IEP students,
Early finishers (those who as the online platform
finish early and may need can be difficult.
additional resources/support)
Extension Activity and/or Homework
Identify and describe any The extension activity
extension activities or could be a follow up
homework tasks as where students receive
appropriate. Explain how the another student’s
extension activity or
letter, and write them
homework assignment
supports the learning
back.
targets/objectives. As

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required by your instructor,
attach any copies of
homework at the end of this
template.

Here is their letter writing PowerPoint that I made for them. They are to write a letter to Jonas (in The Giver) telling him about their favorite
memory. I based this PowerPoint off of the results of the pre-assessment.

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STEP Standard 5 - Implementation of Instructional Unit
You will implement all lesson activities, correlating formative assessments and the summative
post-assessment. Choose one of the lesson activities to video record a 5-10 minute segment,
review, and reflect on your teaching. Have your cooperating teacher/mentor review the recording
and provide feedback, if possible.

Use an online video platform such as Loom, YouTube, or Vimeo to upload your completed video.
Be sure that others can access and view your linked video prior to submitting.

Video Recording Link: N/A

Summary of Unit Implementation: My school was not prepared for this online switch at all, so even
now we are scrambling to figure things out. We cannot reach all the students, hardly anyone is turning in
work. However, every Monday I send out an email for the week’s assignment with any resources they
may need. I am available every day for email communication with parents and students to answer any
questions of provide any help that I can. That is how I implement the units.

Summary of Student Learning: Based on the pre-assessments, the students really did not have a good
grasp on letter formatting. So, I made the PowerPoint a detailed overview of every aspect for them, with
an example, highlighted parts, etc. So as long as they are looking at the PowerPoint and basing their letter
off of it, they will have learned the 5 parts of a letter, and how to successfully use them.

Reflection of Video Recording: I was not able to create a video for this lesson; but overall, I feel it could
have been a great lesson had it taken place in the classroom. This online format is hard for the students,
and I only received 11 submissions for this assignment, so my data is going to be off in terms of
correlation to the pre-assessment. I was really looking forward to teaching this lesson, I have had it
planned for a while now, but the letters that I did receive were very cute and made me smile.

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