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) Self Assessment 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.