In order to begin designing a unit that I would be teaching for my practicum, I began by looking at the state standards for seventh grade social studies.  These standards, which have gone through some changes over the past couple years, encompass a wide range of topics.  My cooperating teacher had already taken the state standards and broken them down into six week increments.  Because of how the timing worked out I would begin teaching one week into the second six week section, which covers Eastern Hemisphere Geography, Trade, Culture, Trade Routes and Cultural Centers. 

            I started to look at the state standards, and sketched out on a calendar what I believed there would be time to cover in 2 weeks as well as which parts made the most sense to cover first. I believed the elements I chose would be some they may already have some prior knowledge about because the class had just completed a unit on world religion. I also chose elements of the standards which could build onto their geographic knowledge of world religion and culture.  I believed they would answer these questions well and then would be able to take that knowledge and move onto trade and cultural centers.  As I created the test I included the state standard (please refer to the state standards under Curriculum Overview) number next to the question it covered, this helped ensure that I was staying on line with my objectives and big ideas.

            The goals I had for my students were as follows:

SWBAT: locate and name important trade routes in recent history.

SWBAT: explain in their own words what importing and exporting is.

SWBAT: locate and define what cultural centers are.

SWBAT: create a trade route between two cultural centers and define why it may or not be successful.

            Knowing that there are various learning styles of the students in my class, I designed the test so that there would be opportunities for as many students in the class to succeed as possible. 

            Question 1 on the pre-assessment was a question meant to find out whether or not they had a general grasp as to the definition of the word “trade.” I asked them to list three items they could trade and was not looking for any answer other than actual tradable items.

            Question 2 required that they draw a line from a listed name of a country to the region on the map that was pictures. Drawing on their previous knowledge of maps I didn’t expect that they would know all of the country locations; however I was expecting they would have a general idea of the region of the world.

            Question 3 is a short answer question and requires students to combine the information they know from the map and apply that information to recall what they might know about traded items and make guesses (educated or not) about why another region would trade those items.

            Question 4 is another short answer question and I was looking for a definition of a trade route, primarily, and if students knew the definition, then applying it to see if they understood the importance of them.

            Question 6 is a timeline. The state standards include that 7^th graders should understand how to create and use a time line. This question is designed to see if students understand how to evaluate different articles and how to put it on a timeline.

            Questions 7 through 11 are all short answer and definition questions.   By using short answer rather than multiple choice or fill in the blank I believe I’ve created an opportunity for students to explain in their own words what certain things mean. I had a number of ELL students in my class and I know that by giving specific language there can be a struggle to figure out all the language surrounding the question. Instead by giving the option for a short answer I may be able to see by what they write down whether or not they understand even if the way the answer is written isn’t necessarily “proper” English. I also prefer short answer because with a fill in the blank or multiple choice there is an opportunity to guess and that does not show true understanding.  This is also the reasoning by not using multiple choice or fill in the blank anywhere on the test.

            On the day I gave this pre-assessment to the class, I wanted to be sure that they understood that they may not know the answers to anything on the assessment and I simply wanted them to try. I asked them to skim through the entire assessment before answering any questions and then to go back and answer the questions they believed they knew and then try and answer the other questions after that.   I explained that this assessment or “survey” was meant to inform me about what they knew or didn’t know and that I didn’t want to waste their time and teach them something they already knew.   In order to give them incentive to put in a strong effort I called it a survey and encouraged them to try and answer as many questions as they could without the fear of failing and I told them they would receive a participation grade for making an effort.   Any students in the class who were ELL students or had instructions in their IEPs were given extra instruction and I read aloud the questions to them.

            The entire class put in a very good effort when taking the pre-assessment. I learned that they do have an inclination to want to succeed and have an interest in making an effort and knowing the information. When I handed the survey out they immediately began looking over it and raised their hands to ask questions and then began working.   They were so invested in wanting to complete it that when they ran out of time a number of them wrote on their survey or told me that they wanted more time.

            Looking at the scores on my students’ pre-assessments I discovered that most of the class only had a minimal idea of each of the concepts as well as the geography of the Eastern Hemisphere.