Before School Begins  Determine if any students will be served under an IEP  Look at Standardized Test Scores from Previous year Determine Major areas of skill deficits  Look at School Records or Speak w/ Counselor if concerned about comments made by previous teacher(s)

Before Instruction  Determine if student have content knowledge/skills to handle new material School Records ○ Previous Assessments ○ Prior Learning Inventory (Ex.) Discussion w/ students (all grades) KWL (all grades) Student Self-Inventory (must be able to read) Observation of student during early skill exposure (all grades) Small Paper Pencil Assessment : 10 items or less (grade 4 and up only!)

Before Instruction  Do you have students who are farther behind than others?  What are the implications of individual differences among students?

Informal Assessment  A formative type of assessment  Widely used each & every day in every type of classroom setting  Very adaptable & efficient  Can be planned & developed quickly  Can be used to Monitor, Gauge, & Follow-up

Informal Assessment

 Teacher Observation Watching &/or listening to students as they perform some activity or judging material they have produced (Airasian, 2000) Primary tool for assessing learning & instruction ○ Often underutilized (Johnson & Johnson, 2002)

Informal Assessment  Characteristics of Observation (Oosterhof 1999 & 2000) Many events in the classroom are observed either simultaneously or in very quick succession Classroom observations often become focused on one event Teachers should depend on observations of students Realize that most events that go on in the classroom go unnoticed 

Informal Assessment  Characteristics of Observation Observations are quickly forgotten & distorted when recalled Observations often require inferences, which may be erroneous

Informal Assessment  Observation provides data pertaining to the: Quality of student performance Processes & procedures students use to complete assignments Processes & procedures teachers use in providing instruction

Informal Assessment  Side note on Listening Levels of Listening ○ Ignoring other people ○ Pretending ○ Selective ○ Attentive listening  Non-verbal Communication  93% of what is communicated in a message is non-verbal in nature and is often more important than what is said (Mehrabin 1981

Informal Assessment  Body Language Body language creates and informs you of emotional and physical reactions to the world. Can be very different depending on the culture, race, SES, & age of the students Ekman & Friesen (1969) developed the definitions for the 5 categories of body language

Informal Assessment  Body Language Emblem o 1 or 2 word verbal command Illustrator o Increase clarity Affect Display o Show emotion through position Regulator o Indication of initiation, length and termination of verbal message Adapter o Attitude, anxiety, or level of confidence

Informal Assessment  Facial Expression The face can be used to supplement verbal communication. In addition, the face can be used to complement verbal communication Facial gestures communicate information on their own The face can serve as a regulatory function to modulate the pace of a verbal exchange by providing turn taking cues.

Informal Assessment  Facial Expression Facial gestures communicate information on their own ○ Ex: Facial shrug to express “I don’t know” to a posed question The face can serve as a regulatory function to modulate the pace of a verbal exchange by providing turn taking cues.

Oral Questioning  A very commonplace classroom activity.  Typically informal, unplanned and spontaneous  Can be planned and move students in a clear-cut direction before, during, & after instruction. Allows for questions that reach multiple cognitive levels (more next week)

Lower and Higher Order Questions  Lower level questions are those at the remembering, understanding and lower level application levels of the taxonomy.  Usually questions at the lower levels are appropriate for: ○ Evaluating students’ preparation and comprehension ○ Diagnosing students’ strengths and weaknesses ○ Reviewing and/or summarizing content

Lower and Higher Order Questions  Higher level questions are those requiring complex application, analysis, evaluation or creation skills.  Questions at higher levels of the taxonomy are usually most appropriate for: ○ Encouraging students to think more deeply and critically ○ Problem solving ○ Encouraging discussions ○ Stimulating students to seek information on their own

Questions for Remembering  What happened after...?  How many...?  What is...?  Who was it that...? Questions for Understanding Can you write a brief outline...? What do you think could have happened next...? Who do you think...? What was the main idea...? (Pohl, 2000)

Questions for Applying  Do you know of another instance where…?  Can you group by characteristics such as…?  Which factors would you change if…?  What questions would you ask of…?  From the information given, can you develop a set of instructions about…? Why did...changes occur? Can you explain what must have happened when...? What are some or the problems of...? Can you distinguish between...? What were some of the motives behind..? Question for Analyzing

Questions for Evaluating  How effective are...?  What are the consequences..?  What influence will....have on our lives?  What are the pros and cons of....? Questions for Creating Why don't you devise your own way to...? What would happen if...? How many ways can you...? Can you create new and unusual uses for...? Can you develop a proposal which would...? (Pohl, 2000)

Oral Questioning  Guidelines Develop questions from instructional objectives ○ Provides examples of student understanding ○ Planned questions lead to better spontaneous/follow-up questions Provide a clear problem for students to address ○ Be clear in what you are asking… better responses and less student confusion, thus more participation

Oral Questioning  Guidelines Allow sufficient time for students to respond ○ Allow for wait time…i.e. time to think and respond with a thought out idea Avoid embarrassing students ○ Restate answers when possible to add clarification ○ Use a genuine, “Not quite, but thank you for trying” response to answers that are off the mark.

Oral Questioning  Guidelines Exhibit caution when reacting to student responses ○ Be cautious of both verbal and non-verbal response ○ Watch tone of voice and volume of response ○ If student response is controversial, re-direct discussion Do not make a scene if at all possible Speak clearly and slowly and look directly at student Terms like “inappropriate language” also work well

Oral Questioning  Guidelines Keep clear records if oral questions will be used for grade determination Use a quality grading system that is made known to all students ○ √+ above expectations ○ √ meets expectations ○ √- below expectations ○ X would not respond ○ A absent

Oral Questioning Records