Low-stakes quizzes and polls: If you want to find out whether your students really know as much as you think they know, polls and quizzes created with Socrative or Quizlet or in-class games and tools like Quizalize, Kahoot, FlipQuiz, Gimkit, Plickers, and Flippity can help you get a better sense of how much they really understand. The one minute paper is a chance for students to write everything they know about the content studied within one minute. Students have to write down 3 things they learned about the content, 2 things they find interesting, and 1 question they still have. We’ve put things in order to help you find what you’re looking for. Back in the day, I even told my students they had to create ‘x’ amount of recall questions, ‘x’ amount of critical thinking questions (where I then modeled what critical thinking questions looked like), and ‘x’ amount of short answer/essay questions. 7 Smart, Fast Ways to Do Formative Assessment 1. Annotated Illustration is a visualization of learning and works really well for your visual learners. Brain Dumps A three minute pause gives students a chance to stop and reflect on what they’ve just been introduced to. Ask them to hold up … Ask them to pick their own trouble spot from three or four areas where you think the class as a whole needs work, and write those areas in separate columns on a whiteboard. I love this one because it gives you a chance to really see if students understand it by teaching and coaching each other. For elementary school students, it might be emoji faces and the student has to circle the one that best matches their confidence on the subject. Ask students to explain the “muddiest point” in the lesson—the place where things got confusing or particularly difficult or where they still lack clarity. If you have read any of my posts, you know that I am in love with Kagan strategies. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! A few are better for either younger or more sophisticated learners. How else are you supposed to know where your students are versus where they need to be? Stoplight. “Rally Coach” is when students pair up together and the teacher gives them questions to answer. Students can instead use six hand gestures to silently signal that they agree, disagree, have something to add, and more. A focused observation form is more formal and can help you narrow your note-taking focus as you watch students work. Formative assessment—discovering what students know while they’re still in the process of learning it—can be tricky. Add questions to … Students went through the tasks that they found to be enjoyable and show their mastery. Entry and exit slips: Those marginal minutes at the beginning and end of class can provide some great opportunities... 2. Misconceptions and errors: Sometimes it’s helpful to see if students understand why something is incorrect or why a concept is hard. Add to that the fact that different learning tasks are best measured in different ways, and we can see why we need a variety of formative assessment tools we can deploy quickly, seamlessly, and in a low-stakes way—all while not creating an unmanageable workload. Because you can design the questions yourself, you determine the level of complexity. One is geared toward middle/high school age and the other is geared towards elementary. Designate each corner in your classroom as a response to a question. 7. However, “I learned that in Ancient Rome the citizens used to wash their clothes in pee to remove stains” is fantastic…and disgusting. No matter which tools you select, make time to do your own reflection to ensure that you’re only assessing the content and not getting lost in the assessment fog. Disclaimer: This site contains affiliate links to products. Students stand up and walk around the room with their hands in the air like they are about to give a high-five to someone. That’s why it’s important to keep it simple: Formative assessments generally just need to be checked, not graded, as the point is to get a basic read on the progress of individuals, or the class as a whole. Once there, the teacher can either have the students discuss reasons among one another or call individuals to explain themselves. Taking quick notes on a tablet or smartphone, or using a copy of your roster, is one approach. The size of the stacks is your clue about what to do next. You can also shift some of this work to students using a peer-feedback process called TAG feedback (Tell your peer something they did well, Ask a thoughtful question, Give a positive suggestion). Once relationships are created, instructional strategies can be catered to fit and challenge the students. The tasks can be performance based, recall, analyzing, compare/contrast, really anything you want. You decide on what type of questions you want students to create and then have them go to town. Ask students to write for one minute on the most meaningful thing they learned. First, we'll define the characteristics of effective formative assessment. This blog will be a place for educators to expand their relationship building toolbox and learn strategies to incorporate in their classroom with relationship building in mind. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. If you would be interested in getting a resource about Ancient Rome, with a 3-2-1 chart provided, for free, click here. No matter the tool, the key to keeping students engaged in the process of just-walked-in or almost-out-the-door formative assessment is the questions. The teachers gives the students a question, or prompt, and they have to move themselves to the corner that they most feel. Kids in many classes are always logged in to these tools, so formative assessments can be done very quickly.