Formative Assessment

10 Assessments You Can Perform in 90 Seconds 10 Assessments You Can Perform In 90 Seconds by TeachThought Staff Good assessment is frequent assessment. Any assessment is designed to provide a snapshot of student understand—the more snapshots, the more complete the full picture of knowledge. On its best day, an assessment will be 100% effective, telling you exactly what a student understands. This makes a strong argument for frequent assessment, as it can be too easy to over-react and “remediate” students who may be banging against the limits of the assessment’s design rather than their own understanding. It is a huge burden (for both teachers and students) to design, write, complete, grade, and absorb the data into an instructional design sequence on a consistent basis. Simple Assessments The word “simple” here is misleading. Then, due to their brevity, they’re simple to grade–in fact, you can grade them as exit slips–which makes taking the data and informing instruction (the whole point of assessment) a much simpler process as well.

Assessment, Evaluation, and Curriculum Redesign What is curriculum redesign? This workshop is intended to help you rethink, and perhaps redesign, how you plan your classes. The first step is to determine what you want your students to learn, says our content expert Heidi Hayes Jacobs 1. This workshop is based on the idea that if you begin your curriculum planning by thinking clearly about the form of assessments you intend to use, you will be able to design more effective classes. Assessment provides a way to measure students' demonstration of learning. Evaluation is the process through which teachers judge the quality of work -- their own or their students'. Assessment expert Grant Wiggins 2 differentiates between assessment and evaluation in this way: "When teachers ASSESS student performance, they're not placing value or judgement on it -- that's EVALUATING or grading.

15 Good Tools for Quickly Gathering Feedback from Students Polls, chat tools, and interactive quizzes provide good ways to hear from all of the students in a classroom. These kind of tools allow shy students to ask questions and share comments. For your more outspoken students who want to comment on everything, a feedback mechanism provides a good outlet for them too. Here's a run-down of some of the best tools for gathering feedback from students in real-time. Newer tools:Tozzl is a chat platform that allows you to quickly create private, password-protected message boards as well as public boards. To get started visit Tozzl and select "create a new Tozzl." Dotstorming is a neat tool that combines a bit of Padlet with a polling tool. Twitter isn't new, but its native polling tool is new this year. Quizalize is a free quiz game platform. Old reliables:81 Dash is a nice backchannel platform that provides a place for teachers to create chat rooms to use with students to host conversations and share files.

Four Ideal Student Assessments (0 Users) As a Principal in the Board, my role is to develop understanding of each of these points, and put them into action. As such, we have been working at our school to systematically do so. Previously I posted ideas from our work on student engagement as much of our work this year has been focussed in this area. It is impossible however to focus on one point, in exclusion of the others. On the surface, an assessment rich learning environment seems simple enough. “Assessment that works in the interests of children will enhance their ability to see and understand their learning for themselves, to judge it for themselves, and to act on their judgments.” - Mary Jane Drummond We must know what we want to assess, and have a tool-bag of assessment tools ready to use. Adapted by the Calgary Board of Education When it comes to assessment there is no one size fits all but there are assessment tools that are better than others. 1. 2. 3. 4. My challenge to teachers: Related Articles:

Fantastic Comprehensive List of Assessment Tools for Teachers About ETR Community EdTechReview (ETR) is a community of and for everyone involved in education technology to connect and collaborate both online and offline to discover, learn, utilize and share about the best ways technology can improve learning, teaching, and leading in the 21st century. EdTechReview spreads awareness on education technology and its role in 21st century education through best research and practices of using technology in education, and by facilitating events, training, professional development, and consultation in its adoption and implementation.

Digital Differentiation This is part of a Digital Differentiation model, my way i of weaving a web of flexible tools together for teaching and learning. To keep the model relevant, frequent updates are required, as new tools and trends emerge. To access the most current resources, please click on the tab at the top of this blog: Digital Differentiation - Current Updating Ten months ago I published a Digital Differentiation model on this blog. Technology is a tool that can be used to help teachers facilitate learning experiences that address the diverse learning needs of all students and help them develop 21st Century Skills, an idea supported by the Common Core. At it's most basic level, digital tools can be used to help students find, understand and use information. The goal is to design student-driven learning experiences that are fueled by standards-based Essential Questions and facilitated by digital tools to provide students with flexible learning paths. 3 Components: Essential Questions Flexible Learning Paths

Reflecting on reflection This is hardly wasting time. It is this kind of sitting that allows the mind to wander, to wonder and to speculate. Sven Birkert calls this process "resonance" in The Gutenberg Elegies: Resonance—there is no wisdom without it. Incubation We are looking for something. Making our way toward inspiration and illumination - the "Aha!" This incubation process usually thrives on reverie and musing - mood states within which the subconscious works its best magic. Reverie Reverie is the dream state during which incubation, percolation and fermentation may take place. daydream, daydreaming, trance, musing; inattention, inattentiveness, woolgathering, preoccupation, absorption, abstraction, lack of concentration Reflecting on a Painting, a Poem, a Photograph or an Essay When we ask students to look past the surface to consider deeper meanings and possibilities, we are asking them to reflect with due deliberation. Here are some examples that require such thought: Order the print version by clicking below.

10 Assessments You Can Perform In 90 Seconds 10 Assessments You Can Perform In 90 Seconds by TeachThought Staff Good assessment is frequent assessment. Any assessment is designed to provide a snapshot of student understand—the more snapshots, the more complete the full picture of knowledge. On its best day, an assessment will be 100% effective, telling you exactly what a student understands. This makes a strong argument for frequent assessment, as it can be too easy to over-react and “remediate” students who may be banging against the limits of the assessment’s design rather than their own understanding. It is a huge burden (for both teachers and students) to design, write, complete, grade, and absorb the data into an instructional design sequence on a consistent basis. Simple Assessments The word ‘simple’ here is misleading. Then, due to their brevity, they’re simple to grade–in fact, you can grade them as exit slips–which makes taking the data and informing instruction (the whole point of assessment) a much simpler process as well.

List of Resources Sharing Strategies on Learning Assessment About ETR Community EdTechReview (ETR) is a community of and for everyone involved in education technology to connect and collaborate both online and offline to discover, learn, utilize and share about the best ways technology can improve learning, teaching, and leading in the 21st century. EdTechReview spreads awareness on education technology and its role in 21st century education through best research and practices of using technology in education, and by facilitating events, training, professional development, and consultation in its adoption and implementation.

Dipsticks: Efficient Ways to Check for Understanding What strategy can double student learning gains? According to 250 empirical studies, the answer is formative assessment, defined by Bill Younglove as “the frequent, interactive checking of student progress and understanding in order to identify learning needs and adjust teaching appropriately.” Unlike summative assessment, which evaluates student learning according to a benchmark, formative assessment monitors student understanding so that kids are always aware of their academic strengths and learning gaps. It also helps teachers improve the effectiveness of their instruction. “When the cook tastes the soup,” writes Robert E. Alternative formative assessment (AFA) strategies can be as simple (and important) as checking the oil in your car—hence the name “dipsticks.” You can find another 53 ways to check for understanding toward the end of this post and as a downloadable document. Observation: A Key Practice in Alternative Formative Assessment New to Alternative Formative Assessment?