For this lesson, we'll use the Inquiry Chart, or I-Chart, from James Hoffman (1992, 1997).

This strategy is used to activate learners' prior knowledge and to generate focused and interesting questions for further research. Instructors may provide the questions or assist students in generating their own. These methods are suitable for individual or group work. The Inquiry Chart provides a method for recording bibliographic information about sources consulted throughout the research. Once completed, the I-Chart may be used as a tool for writing.

You can read a step-by-step guide to using Inquiry Charts from the Wisconsin Education Association Council web site.

Use the I-chart organizer [PDF: 1 page / 284k] in your FOR-PD Literacy Log. There is no "right" I-chart. You can change this one to suit you, if you'd like. Feel free to customize any you create. Other components that might be useful include a space to summarize findings and/or a space to record new questions generated by research. Go ahead and add either or both of those to the chart, if you'd like.

Here's a brief description of how you will use this one.

• Notice, there are guiding questions across each column. If you have students use this strategy for individual research, you can leave those blank, allowing students to generate their own questions. Not surprisingly, the topic for this I-chart is Assessment.
• The first row is labeled, "What do I already know?" Go ahead and fill in that section now. Jot down some assessment terms you know in the first box below the question. Do the same for the other questions.
• As you go through this lesson in the FOR-PD course, keep track of these questions.

When you find an answer, note the answer, along with the place you found it.

• The completed I-chart lets you see, at a glance, where you need more reading or research.

After you have completed the strategy organizer, select one of the guiding questions. Use this guiding question to complete the reflection log.

Once you have completed the handwritten literacy log, click the Quiz link on the left side of this page and submit your literacy log for Lesson 13.

Save your completed handwritten literacy log for this lesson..

The following classroom examples can be used when modeling this strategy for your students. 

Elementary Example

Secondary Example

There are many assessment resources for teachers on the Internet. Take a quick look at these.

• BigChalk has a comprehensive collection of Assessment links.
• Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators is home to a nice collection of links for Assessment and Rubric Information. She includes information about rubrics, portfolios, report cards and progress reports. For more information on any of these, be sure to read some of the articles she has identified. Kathy Schrock is a former media specialist, turned technologist from Massachusetts. She maintains this excellent site, home to over 2,000 quality links in easy-to-use categories. Look for the red ribbon indicating a site has won the Schrockguide Award.
• TechLearning online magazine published an assessment article in November, 2002. Be sure to visit some of the sites described in the article.

• What role does formal and informal assessment play in your instruction?
• How do you plan with the end in mind?
• What progress monitoring means do you use?
• How do you informally assess student growth?
• What evidence do you collect to help you determine student learning gains?
• How do you use FCAT data?