Preassessments may be formal or informal. They help a teacher know the status of a group or an individual's ability to complete a task. Many forms are used.

1. Notes made after casual observations.

2. Statements such as "Raise your hand if you know ." "Show us how to ."

3. Brief written essays.

4. Brief objective tests.

5. Sentences to complete such as "Tell what you know about ."

6. Having the students draw a picture related to the topic.

7. Responses given to a computer exercise.

8. Holding up a symbol such as a happy or sad face to show feelings about a topic.

9. Responding to a sheet of informational questions by marking yes, no, or I don't know. Note - (The IDK or "I don't know" often keeps children from guessing or marking a forced choice. They need to be assured that it is fine to say "IDK " or "I've never heard of this before," because this is the beginning of a unit and learners are not expected to know all about a topic.)

10. Responding to descriptions of possible previous experiences with "yes," "no," "IDK," or "IDR" (I don't remember). Examples might be as follows:

I have used a .

I have tried .

I have traveled by .

I have visited .

I have lived in .

The IDR response covers those situations where a student knows he/she had the experience when quite young but may not remember much about it.