Formative Assessments
February 8, 2011
Write the number where you feel you are on topic of formative assessment
1 I am clueless about formative assessment2 I have heard about formative assessment 3 I am fairly familiar with formative
assessments vs. summative assessments. 4 I understand and use formative assessments
daily in my classroom to plan my instruction 5 I could run this workshop on formative
assessment
Formative assessment is the process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides
feedback to adjust ongoing instruction to improve student
achievement of student outcome
.
Formative Assessments
•Effective descriptive feedback
•Instruction is adjusted as a result of the assessment•Not a testing event but a process As teachers we address:
Where am I now? Where am I going?
How am I going to get there?
•NOT A TEST
•NOT a product you can buy
•NOT new
•Not a list of strategies; it is a culture and mindset for your classroom
•Not summative assessment
What it is NOT
•Not have to be graded
We already do:
•White Board “Show down” providing immediate assessment and opportunity to remediate
•Senteo for Smartboard
Questioning TechniquesImproving our questioning techniques allows us to get richer answers that better enable teachers to assess depth of student understanding
Convergent Questions
Who sent Red Riding Hood to Grandma’s house? Where does the story take place? Who rescues Lil Red?
Divergent QuestionWhy would the wolf attack Grandma?What if Red hadn’t gone to Grandma’s?Should the wolf be punished?How would you change the wolf’s attitude?
Divergent questions are higher on Bloom’s taxonomy
In your grade level teams •Choose a lesson or unit you will be
teaching in the future•Write 5 divergent questions.
Before a film, a story or field trip tell students you will ask one of them to be the main character(s). Each student writes 3 divergent questions that they would want to ask the character.
Cubing
Exit cards 321
• 3 things I learned …..• 2 questions I still have • 1 way what I learned is like
my world or used in my world
Exit Card for novel study reading selection
• 3 things I learned from the book• 2 questions I still have about the
book • 1 way the book is like my world
(shows connection with literature)
Exit CardWriting 1 2 3
After reading over my rough draft:
• 1 thing I really like about my first draft
• 2 resources I can use to help improve my draft
• 3 revisions I can make to improve my draft
Exit card Content area
FrontBefore class write an understanding you have of vocabulary (concept) word.
BackAfter class write the understanding you have of the vocabulary (concept) word.
Exit (Entrance) Card Math
Give 1 problem to do at beginning of class
Give a choice to differentiate levels
Focus skill- Exit Card Write for 5 minutes: How are colonial children like children today? ORTell me what you learned about Colonial children today. •Start each sentence with a letter from the word CHILD (to vary sentence starters) •Include at least one compound sentence (Highlight that sentence) •Highlight as many nouns (or verbs or helping verbs) as you canInclude one simile (Highlight that simile)
Double Entry Journal(Basic)
• As you Read, please note:
…………………………• Key phrases • Important words• Main ideas• Puzzling passages • Summaries • Powerful passages • Key parts • Important graphics • Etc.
•After you read, please explain …………………………•How to use ideas •Why an idea is important •Questions •Meaning of key words, passages •Predictions •Reactions •Comments on style Interpretation of graphics
Double Entry Journal(Advanced)
NOTE• Key passages• Key vocabulary • Organizing concepts • Key principles • Key patterns • Links between text
and graphics
EXPLAIN •Why ideas are important •Author’s development of elements •How parts and whole relate •Assumptions of author •Key question
Another Voice •Teacher •Author •Expert in field •Character
Concept Attainment
• Step 1 – Choose ESSENTIAL CONCEPT • Step 2 – Make a list of examples of this
concept• Step 3 – Make a list of non-examples of
concept • Step 4 – Students list guesses • Step 5 – Add examples and non-examples as
needed • Step 6 – Students eliminate guesses until
concept is discovered
Choose a concept you wish your students to understand in a future lesson or unit.
Create examples and non-examples
Concept MappingWater cycle
Have students complete the graphic at the beginning of a unit or at the end of the class
Concept Mappingas formative assessment
• Branches of government• Life cycle of a frog • Life cycle of a butterfly • Steps in division • Order of operations
PBLProblem Based Learning
Given a recipe double it
Graphic organizers as formative assessment
•Story Maps •Pyramids
To improve student achievement, student needs to know where they are so train students to recognize where they are in learning process:
•Thumbs up/down•Clear windshield few bugs•Red and green cards •Red, green, yellow cups
Formative assessment is a STEP toward developing future lessons
and assignmentsformative assessment needs to be
acted upon to make learning meaningful
This is a process for checking multiple homework assignments simultaneously in a classroom so that the teacher feels free to
differentiate homework as evidenced by formative assessment
Steps: 1. The teacher checks to make sure each student has completed assigned
homework 2. Students who have not completed the assignment work in a designated
area of the room to complete the assignment (teacher floats to provide guidance/feedback.
3. Students who completed the HW work in groups of 4 to check all 4 sets
for agreement/disagreement 4. All students mark each answer for agreement/disagreement as well as
explanations of why an answer is wrong and how to make it right 5. Students staple set of 4 together, turn in 6. Teacher spot checks, “grades” one per set.