Ø  Assessment. It has been said that if you don’t know where you are going, anywhere you end up is a vacation. 

•      Student pre-assessment should be before instruction for efficiencies sake because it might not be necessary to make the effort to teach what is already known.  So, assess what students already know with pre-tests both informally and/or formally.  Informally is more effective I believe because you not only review but reteach and teach those who did not have an understanding before.  A student may be familiar with these tests when assured certain questions will not be graded.  The questions or problems are to see what is needed for teaching.
•      A post assessment is the familiar end of Unit test.  This is a formal and summative assessment that shows what the student has learned to their capability and where instruction might be improved for future Unit lessons.  It is important in nature because it serves as an ending point where teaching can move forward and it also shows if and which students need to have differentiated instruction.