Pre Tests and Post Tests

 Why should I use Pre-tests with my class? You should use Pre-tests because it is a great way to assess the prior knowledge of your students. This prior knowledge will help you, as the teacher, decide what to focus on the most when teaching a topic that students have been exposed to. Some examples of pre tests are:

• KWL Charts 
• Questionnaires 
• The Post Test 

Those are my 3 favorite ways to give pre tests. I like the KWL charts because it gives students the ability to track their own learning because they fill the chart out as the unit goes along. I like the questionaries because the students get a sense of what they will be learning within the upcoming weeks. Lastly, I like the Post test..because it gives students a sense of what they will be learning, but I like that it also focuses on specific points that will be covered within the unit. 

Before my fieldwork experience at Bishop Dunn Memorial School in at the 5th grade class. We created a test to give to them. My groups 3 questions were: 

5. What was Jamestown famous for? 

6. The origin of jamestown comes from...

     a. the colonist's king 

     b. Virginia's ordinary person

     c. one of the explorers 

     d. after the river

7. What was the name of the Native American Tribe who helped with the survival of Jamestown?

     a. Inca

     b. Powhatan

     c. Iroquois

     d. Mayan

Post tests are great for assessing your students as well as yourself as a teacher. It tells you what the students have learned, as well as where you may need to focus your instruction on for the next unit or the next year. I think teachers need to make it clear to students that the assessments they are given in and out of class are not just to test the students knowledge and does not always measure their intelligence. When my group created the post test, we created similar, but more challenging questions because the students had shown us that they are very intelligent and are able to retain the information that we are given to them. 

I also believe that teachers need to find other ways than just unit tests for post or summative assessment. In my last blog post I discussed different ways of assessing students and the benefits of them. But to recap, summative assessment , or post tests can be unit tests, final portfolios, or any other sort of project, presentation, or assignment that will prove to you and the student what they have learned.