Classroom Interactions in Science and Math # 08: Formative Assessment

Getting ready for Teach #1 Buy about 6 mini-DV tapes –Videotape of your teaching is worth 5 points –Required to reflect on interactive decisions Bring activities to our class Thursday –Include materials, e.g., potatoes Submit plans to mentor teachers by Friday –NOT for feedback Plan today in class

Formative Assessment Designed to provide the immediate, contextualized feedback useful for helping teacher and student during the learning process.

Effects of Formative Assessment on Learning High quality formative assessment has powerful impact on student learning… When teachers use it, students gain roughly 1/2 of a standard deviation on standardized tests. That’s huge, larger than the effects of most known educational interventions!

Incorporate formative assessment into your teaching… Find out student’s prior knowledge Conduct instructional conversations with students about their thinking & understanding Make criteria for engagement and success explicit Provide feedback –Informally in dialogue –Identify strengths as well as weaknesses –Focus on quality not quantity –Provide guidance for improvement

Planning Lesson plan as heuristic –Especially for new teachers Activities & tasks -- do them yourself, predict student responses! –Include task(s) for extended engagement in content –Materials –Standards Lesson segments –Several segments –Be sure to include Direct Teach segment for this assignment What do you want students to take away?

Reassurance Planning vs. Interactive decision making –Reality: Most teachers do not write detailed plans –Interaction decisions: unscripted, frequent Give yourself permission to take time to make decisions while teaching –Not a performance