Prerequisite Skills and Re-teaching Content By Abel L. Villarreal

Prerequisite Skills Defined Prerequisite skills are defined as skills or abilities previously learned/acquired that are important to present and future concepts, themes, or ideas.

Re-teaching Defined Re-teaching is defined as repeating instruction of a previously taught concept, idea, or lesson but using a different information delivery vehicle to communicate the same key ideas students didn’t get the first time.

Re-teaching and Pawn Shops Re-teaching a lesson is like going to a pawn shop for a loan: both are legitimate and expensive enterprises. Re-teaching a lesson should be a last resort not a first option.

Keeping Lessons Re-teach Free Like a healthy body, your lessons need to have all the right elements and get plenty of exercise. Follow the regimen below: Do NOT make assumptions about previous learning. Analyze available student data. Analyze reading level of required materials. Pretest students. Rewrite lesson and assignment.

Just Because… Students have passed a course, grade, or level directly before your course does NOT mean they have mastered key skills within that course, grade, or level. Do NOT lesson plan, teach, or create teacher tests on assumptions. Add key prerequisite skills practice to every lesson until you are absolutely sure the prerequisite skills have been mastered.

Analyzing Student Data Take the time to know your students BEFORE they enter class. Review available data (TAKS scores, report cards, etc.) Look for patterns, trends, “holes.”

Activity 1 Form groups of 3 to 5 people. Review the data sheet (next slide) and highlight any “holes” that need to be addressed along with 8th grade math curriculum. As a group, agree on a strategy that would address each math deficiency.

Real Data, Real Students

Analyzing Reading Levels Does the reading level of the textbook and related materials closely match your students (±1 grade level)? Do the course materials “scaffold” upward in content, practice exercises, and expectation?

Pretest at the Start Pretest students at the beginning of the school year. A pretest should be short, easy to grade, and comprehensive. Pretest results should be easy to interpret. A pretest should count as a bonus grade.

Pretest for UT Jumpstart

Jumpstart Pretest Key

Rewrite Lessons to Fit Your Students Among the most time consuming teacher tasks is rewriting a lesson, which involves restructuring the lesson content and reorganizing the homework format to fit your students. I use a 3- tiered system that starts simple and knowledge based (Bloom) and moves quickly to analysis and synthesis TAKS type exercises.

What the Textbook Says

What A Teacher Might Say

Where Do I Begin to Learn How to Rewrite Lessons? This skill takes lots of practice. Before you set off in your own “lesson rewriting” quest,  emulate lesson writing from teachers you trust.  edit website materials that are teacher/student friendly and make them your own (  Borrow and use materials from teachers you trust.

Activity 2 Explore the websites below for possible sources of lessons you can use Select one (1) lesson, PowerPoint, activity, etc. from these websites and download it. Then make document changes to make the lesson your own.