Assignment 3A

For assignment 3A I chose to use my nephew and 3 of his friends that are all freshman in high school. At first I hesitated on using them, but I figured it would be a good way to test my pre-assessment on a group of students that do not necessarily have the knowledge that other older students or adults have about government. So with my nephews help (thanks Connor) I arranged to send them an email that included the 5 minute free write that is part of my pre-assessment.

In my email I explained to all four students not to research or worry about spelling, but rather just jot down what they know about the following question- “What do you know about the roles of the government, political parties and citizens political involvement?” I realized that they might intimidated by the question so I clarified by saying- write a few things that you know about our federal government, a few things about the Democrats and Republican parties and how regular folks are involved in government.

When I first read their responses I was somewhat shocked by how much they knew about government. Then I took in consideration, how each one was an A student. In their short write up, they gave great detail about each of the topics I had asked about. Giving me brief explanations on what foundations our democracy is founded on. What common beliefs that the Republican and Democratic parties hold. Also on how regular citizens can get involved in government.

The debate in my mind now is if I should of had a more in depth question or that the question was fine, it was just given to four gifted students. If I was to retest this pre-assessment, I would probably give the question to a more diverse group of students and or adults so that I could get a better read on my pre-assessment.  Either way I now have a better understanding of the importance of pre-assessment  and how testing it and adjusting it accordingly is the key to making it successful.