Assessment Driven Instruction

1. Shared Reading

• How does this activity engage students who are at different levels of literacy development?
  This activity is beneficial for many reading levels because students that can already read fluently will learn how to read with the correct inflection, the students that need the teachers help will read along with her, and the students that feel they can't read will listen and learn.

• During her explicit phonics lesson, how does Ms. Perez support students' problem-solving skills?
  She encourages the students to think about how to figure out what the word says. She says, “ I know what you're thinking” and “I love how you're trying”. She validates their thinking process.

• Based on what you saw in the video, what are the different ways that shared reading can be used to promote literacy?
  
  Ms. Perez uses poems that she knows the students will like, so they are interested in reading and discussing it. The poems have high frequency and rhyming words.

2. Guided Reading

• Why does she think it's important for students to verbalize their strategies?
  
  She wants the students to hear it for themselves so that they will internalize it and remember the strategy for another occasion. Also, by saying the strategy out loud it's beneficial to other students who didn't know how to read the word either.
• What else do you notice about how she helps students build meaning in text?
  
  She stops in the middle of the story and asks questions about the story to check for understanding.

3. Differentiated Instruction

• How does Ms. Perez organize her classroom to support a wide range of learners?
  
  She knows where every student is holding and therefore can provide each student with what they need. Students that are advanced aren't bored reading the same books as lower level readers; they are given work appropriate for their level.

• How are reading and writing connected in classroom activities?
  
  She uses the topic that they are reading about for writing assignments. The children can better internalize what they have read when they write about it.

4. Assessment
   

• How does Ms. Perez use ongoing individual assessment to guide her instruction?
  
  She has the students working on different activities based on their level of skills.
• How can the class profile be used to help group students and differentiate instruction?
  
  Students that are on the same level can work together and when students are above or below average, she can work accordingly. She knows what to teach and how to teach it based on the assessment.

• How can ongoing assessment be integrated into your own classroom practice?
  
  I am not currently teaching, but I would imagine that by performing ongoing assessment, I would have a clear idea of where my students were holding and I would be able to teach accordingly.