Formative Assessment Practices
We as educators must continually check for understanding and use formative assessments because students often won’t ask clarifying questions for a plethora of reasons, such as, they’re too shy, they have a fear of peers and appearing dumb or they may just have difficulty forming a question. Therefore, that leaves the "quick checks" and formative assessments to us, the educators. I would say that checking for understanding is one of my favorite parts of teaching because you get a chance to experience how students react when they don’t know something. Do they try to understand? Do they pretend they know because buddies in class are watching them? Will they be honest and admit that they are unsure? Can I tell if the content is sticking? There are several ways that I have learned to check for understanding through the year, from just watching facial expressions and body movements, to a simple thumbs up. Regardless of the formative assessment or checks for understanding in an educator’s arsenal when implemented effectively engages students with their learning and has been shown to help students learn. These techniques provide ongoing feedback to the student, arms them with resources for diving deeper into material and encourages questioning to further the learning process.
Examples of Formative Assessments
KWL Chart
KWL’s are a great way to check for understanding because they access the student’s prior knowledge and get them thinking about what’s to come. Several people have explained the KWL, however let me explain a version I have used. I either hand out a paper that is made for students, or I just have them create the chart themselves. I usually look at the standard and lesson and pick about 7-10 words that I put on the board as bullet points. I tell the students to look at the bullet points and write in the ‘K’ section five things that they know about any and all of the words on the board. Then, I have them write down 5-7 questions that they have about the bullet points, this could be something they don’t know or maybe something they heard and they’re wondering if it’s true. Next, I have them look up the questions that they have on google and I typically “cold call” or have them do a table share about what they found on the internet. Depending on what you are assessing with a KWL decides its use. I typically use the ‘L’ for the end of the lesson, but in this example its used as an interest approach.
click on the image to learn more on how to use KWL charts in your classroom
Venn Diagrams
Venn diagrams are another one of my go-to methods for checking for understanding because I think there is so much value in students being able to compare and contrast the content learned. Also analyzing is higher on Bloom’s cognitive skills for measuring students learning. Venn diagrams are so diverse and can be used to compare two, three, even four different items at once. They also double as a visual aid and assist in making students compartmentalize the information. It is said that 65% of students are visual learners, that’s more than half of the students in our classrooms.
click on the image to learn more on how to use Venn Diagrams in your classroom
Signaling
This is the age-old method of thumbs-up/thumbs-down visual aid for students to use for indication of their level of understanding. It is fast and effective, and students understand quickly to reciprocate when I put my thumb up and start moving my thumb from thumbs up, thumbs sideways to thumbs down. I really like this method since even the shy students will participate because others are usually not searching the classroom to see what each other are saying, they are focusing on their own thumb. This technique is usually just a quick check, not an official formative assessment to use for data purposes.
click on the image to learn more on how to use Signaling in your classroom
Journaling
Another solid way to check for understanding! There is just something about putting a pencil to paper and jotting your thoughts down. Usually, this is a strategy that is done with a prompt on the board by the educator and the students respond to the prompt in their notebook. This is another excellent way to tackle the shyness and fear of peers that the classroom can sometimes bring to our students. Journaling gives students the opportunity to discuss experiences, discover different sides of the situation, solve problems, dive into the understanding of relationships with each other and the world, reflect on personal goals, summarize ideas and revisit thoughts from previous journal entries.
click on the image to learn more on how to use Journaling in your classroom
Technology
I am a big advocate for utilizing the methods our students have grown up with. We are a technological society and our kids seem to not be able to live without their super upgraded tech pieces. Chrome books, smart phones, tablets and personal laptops that were only for the “super high achievers” when I was in college have now made their way even into the kindergarten classrooms. Shoot my tech advisor is my first-grade great nephew, he helps me with more of my technology issues than the MAC help desk. So, I say why fight it, things become extinct rather fast if they don’t become adaptable. Students really like to use Kahoot, Polleverywhere, Plickers, Socrative and the list keeps growing in the classroom setting. It’s what they are used to, its where they are comfortable and where students in today’s classroom thrive. Kahoots and Polleverwhere is something I use a lot and can develop quickly into a competitive atmosphere where kids get excited and motivated.
click on the image to learn more on how to use Technology in your classroom
Misconception Check
Give students a common misconception about a topic and call on them to explain why they agree or disagree with it. This can spark a useful classroom discussion. The teacher by guiding the conversation, enables the students to talk through the misconception with their peers and hopefully gain some clarity by the end of the discussion. For example, in Language Arts, many students confuse a prediction with an inference. A teacher could write on the board, “An inference and a prediction are really the same thing.” And ask students to think about it and volunteer why they agree or disagree. I like the idea of the misconception check. In today’s society where we fact check everything because the reliability of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram news is highly credible and reliable I can see students really getting into this checking for understanding activity. I am a huge protonate of classroom discussion because you never know when you will find an expert in the classroom that is very passionate and lead you to deeper conversations in an area.
click on the image to learn more on how to use Misconception Check in your classroom
Muddiest Point
The Muddiest Point Assessment has been utilized for decades. No matter how polished up some lessons may seem and how many times they have been effective in the past, classroom dynamics may require an educator to re-evaluate how they delivered a lesson. How can that lesson be improved even after careful considerations in planning. So why not ask your students? They are the reason we are here anyway and if the "mud" isn't sticking what is the point moving on. Using the muddiest point is done by creating a slip or having students utilize scratch paper to write down what was the least clear to them in a lesson. Have students identify which part of a lesson was least understood is a powerful exercise that requires students to rate their own learning and ponder what needs clarification. As a teacher you could have students pair and share to see if another student can clarify. If things are still muddy we can have students share if two or more students are still in the mud you can address the entire class to clear up the sticking point. If its just one student you can set up additional times before or after school to help the students level of understanding.
click on the image to learn more on how to use Muddiest Point in your classroom
Think Tank
Anytime we can get students together to allow for cooperation and teamwork is a huge asset in class. The Think Tank method of formative assessment allows for the exponential development of our students in group work as well as formatively assessing students understanding of standards and getting them up and moving. Educators will post numbers around the classroom and have students number off and send them to the corresponding numbers posted in the classroom. Students in a group will then have a set time to compete the problem posted at the station. For instance students may number 3 may go to the number 3 poster to find a question like using corn with a crude protein of 7.6% and distilled brewers grain with a crude protein of 22.3% balance a 1 ton feed ration for a market steer with an overall crude protein of 19%. You will be working on livestock feed ration balancing standards in Animal Science and all groups will be working on a similar problem and everyone should contribute. To ensure everyone is contributing have each student within groups use a different colored pen or marker. You can rotate groups around the room until each group has seen and had a chance to work through the problem. When students return to their initial problem take a few moments to share everyones results and have a question and answer portion to get everyone on the same page if mistakes were made.
click on the image to learn more on how to use Think Tank in your classroom
