Identify the claim, evidence, and reasoning in a sample response.
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Professional learning · Evaluation and iteration
Evidence changes thinking.
A 45-minute workshop that helps secondary educators teach, assess, and scaffold claim-evidence-reasoning (CER) through a shared model, authentic practice, and classroom application.
01 · The learning need
Help teachers make evidence-based explanations easier to teach and assess.
I scoped the need around three classroom tasks: identifying the parts of a CER response, scoring student work consistently, and giving learners a scaffold they can use to connect evidence with reasoning. The workshop was designed for educators with different subject backgrounds and levels of teaching experience.
A short preassessment established a baseline before instruction. In this five-person pilot, the average starting score was 7.0 out of 10. The baseline informed the session, while the practice tasks let participants work directly with the teaching and assessment decisions the workshop was meant to support.
02 · Measurable objectives
Each objective had a matching performance check.
Score two anonymized student CER responses in agreement with expert ratings.
Create or revise a classroom-ready CER scaffold aligned to the workshop criteria.
03 · Design and development
Model it. Practice it. Use it.
I built the session around authentic examples, visible criteria, guided practice, and an opportunity to create something participants could adapt for class.
- 01
05 min
Establish a baseline
Welcome, consent reminder, and preassessment. - 02
08 min
Make the model visible
Explore an ice-melting phenomenon and a color-coded CER example. - 03
12 min
Practice scoring
Analyze two anonymized student responses, score independently, and calibrate with a six-point rubric. - 04
12 min
Apply it to teaching
Create or revise a scaffold for a participant’s own classroom context. - 05
05 min
Check learning
Complete the parallel postassessment. - 06
03 min
Reflect and close
Share reactions through a short survey and close the session.
Learning principles in the design
Adult-learning principles kept the work relevant to educators’ current practice and respected their prior experience. An experiential sequence moved from a concrete phenomenon to a model, scoring practice, feedback, and scaffold creation. The color coding, rubric, expert examples, and checklist made expectations visible and supported learners as they moved toward independent application.
04 · Implementation and evaluation
A small pilot produced useful evidence for the next design decision.
I facilitated the workshop in person on August 11, 2026. All five participants completed the planned activities and immediate evaluation measures.
Before
7.0 / 10
After
9.2 / 10
What the evidence supports
Four of five participants scored at least 9/10 on the postassessment. All five created a scaffold that met the workshop’s quality criterion. The overall reaction survey mean was 4.38/5, and participants valued the examples, rubric, and scaffold design activity.
What remains unknown
The aggregate scoring-practice mean was 4.6/6, but the participant-level differences from expert ratings were not retained, so the planned agreement criterion cannot be confirmed. Classroom transfer was not measured after the session. With five participants and no comparison group, results are preliminary and specific to this pilot.
05 · Revision decisions
Keep the core. Improve relevance, access, and follow-through.
Broaden the examples
Add discipline-specific examples and optional language supports, sentence frames, and differentiated scaffold models.
Simplify delivery
Streamline the digital interface and use a visible timer, timed checkpoints, and a timekeeper when possible.
Measure transfer
Keep participant-level calibration data, then collect a classroom-used scaffold and reflection two to four weeks later.
Evaluation data were coded and reported in aggregate. A future delivery should use institution-approved secure storage and a clear retention and deletion schedule.
Project takeaway
Evidence made the next revision clearer.
The pilot supported keeping the model, rubric practice, and scaffold-design activity. The next version should adapt examples and supports for more disciplines and collect follow-up evidence before making claims about sustained classroom use.
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