Formative Assessments What are They & How to Use Them

by Jenny Glaser

A formative assessment or assignment is a tool teachers use to give feedback to students and/or guide their instruction.

It is not included in a student grade, nor should it be used to judge a teacher’s performance. Both of these would be considered summative assessments.

What is a Formative Assessment?

Example of Formative vs. Summative

● These are quick 3-5 minute daily strategies that can be used at any time during instruction to check for understanding.

● These strategies also send a message to students- be the best learner you can be because you may be asked to demonstrate your learning during class.

Using Formative Assessments

● It is critical that the teacher assess students on a daily basis (move around the room & listen to what students are saying when they talk with partners, collect & read their summaries, etc.).

● Everyday we, teachers, must ask: “Did the students learn the essential understandings from the lesson?”

Using Formative Assessments

● By using the assessments, the teacher must use the information to alter instruction and provide feedback.

● Formative assessments are also a great way to add closure to your lessons as well as using them to check for understanding.

Using Formative Assessments

● These strategies are not mine, they have been created and used by many.

● You can search and find more online.

● I compiled this list for you to have as a quick reference with a plethora of ideas for your lesson plans.

● Some of these assessments will work better for some subjects than others.

Using Formative Assessments

#1. Have paper readily available so students don’t waste time getting it out.

#2. Keep a box which contains a dice, a deck of playing cards, pens, index cards, or anything else you may need.

Tips for Formative Assessments

Examples of Formative Assessments

Have students write a postcard as a historical figure to another historical figure discussing and describing a historical event.

Postcard

To check understanding, ask kids to write three different summaries:One- in 10-15 wordsOne- 30-50 wordsOne- 75-100 words

The different lengths require different attention to details. Compare/Contrast with peers/look at teacher model (via document camera).

3x Summarization

You have one minute to think about how you might summarize today’s lesson.

Two names will then be drawn and those two people will stand and each give a thirty second summary of the key points of the lesson.

Draw Two Names

Skim over pages ______________ in your textbook that you have already read.

You will have two minutes to skim.

You now have thirty seconds to tell your partner some key ideas from the book. Then your partner does the same.

Chapter Skim

Pretend that ___________ had never happened or ___________ had never been born. How would things be different?

Discuss this with your partner.

It Never Happened

List 3 things that a fellow student might misunderstand about the topic.

3 Things

You have three minutes to write everything you learned today. Don’t worry about the organization- just write for three minutes about what you learned.

Three Minute Writing

Have students compare and contrast a topic using a Venn Diagram.

Venn Diagram

Read a page of a story not allowing students to see the illustration. Have each student create a visualization (illustration) for that page.

Visualize (Be the Illustrator)

● It is helpful to see “maps” in your mind’s eye.

● Try to picture the following (continent, country, state) ____________ in your mind.

● Now draw a picture of it. The picture won’t be perfect, but should give a general idea of the geographical region.

Mental Geo Maps

Create a newspaper headline that may have been written for the topic we are studying. Capture the main idea of the event.

Newspaper Headline

Draw a thought bubble and write in the thoughts of _______________. Be sure include key historical thoughts (history), or events from the story (ELA).

Thought Bubble

Each student, or groups of students, has a mini-whiteboard. As they work through problems, they can share them either with you as a class, or you can walk around the classroom and see their work.

Mini-whiteboards

You and your partner each get a mini-white board and stand back-to-back.

The teacher asks a question and you each answer on the board.

When the teacher says “turn around” you show each other your answers and discuss.

Back-to-Back Boards

Check to make sure your students are able to transfer a concept from one domain to another. This could take a variety of forms. For example, can they identify the climax in a short story., a novel, a movie, and an advertisement?

Check for Transfer

Have students draw what they understand, instead of writing it.

Doodle It

You hand out a short quiz or a few simple questions or problems, and students give them to you as they leave your class. You can even ask something similar to chart below.

Exit Slip

3 Things I learned today...

2 Things I found interesting...

1 Question I still have...

“Comments/questions/suggestions about the lesson?” Students who normally would not participate in class will participate virtually. Plus you earn tech points. :)

Google Forms

Give each student a student response system (or clicker) or use a service like Socrative teacher, Poll Anywhere, or Google Docs and ask questions during class, and have students respond individually or in groups to the questions. Plus you earn tech points. :)

Clickers/Poll Anywhere

Have students do their writing in Google Docs. Either you observe their writing, or a peer does, and gives live feedback while they are writing. Feedback should not be “oops you made a mistake”, but “oh that’s interesting, what make you add that?”

Use Google Docs

Write today’s learning outcome (or target).

Below make a face (see below) that shows how your are doing so far with the learning outcome.

Learning Outcome

Metacognition allows for the students to process what they did in class and why it was done. At the end of class, have student complete a table similar to the one below. Collect and provide feedback.

Metacognition

What did we do? Why did we do it? What did I learn today?

How can I apply it? What questions do I still have about it?

Switch notes with your partner

Look at your partner’s notes and enhance his/her notes by underlining key terms/ideas, drawing symbols for key ideas, adding in any important notes that are missing, asking questions about key ideas.

Note-Taking Specialist

Your trio should create a rap or a song that includes three main ideas from the lesson.

If you’d like to use the melody of a common song, you may.

Perform your rap/song for another trio.

Trio Rap

Students create short videos or screencasts where they explain their reasoning. you can then watch what they create and see what they are able to explain, what they omit, and what they may not understand. Plus, you get tech points. :)

Create a Video

Have students discuss with each other how they would accomplish a particular task, explain a specific idea, or talk about some knowledge they have gained. Your job as the teacher is to walk around the room and listen in on the student conversations.

Talk to Each Other

Have students work in stations, and rotate through the stations. In small groups, supervise an activity (or a discussion) and assess students in the small groups, and provide everyone in the group with feedback relevant to the discussion.

Rotate Groups

Groups work on different sections of a text and become experts on the section. Then restructure the groups so each new group has a member that read a different section of the text. Each expert will share their work with the rest of the students.

Jigsaw Groups

After the students have finished a writing assignment, let them evaluate themselves using the same matrix you do. Discuss their self evaluation.

Self-Assessment

Students have a 3 ring binder or composition book where they keep all their writing, informal and final drafts. The teacher periodically reviews select writing and has a discussion of strengths and weaknesses. For other subjects, you could place rules, procedures, notes, examples, foldables, etc.

Interactive Notebooks or Journals