Formative Assessments February 8, 2011

Write the number where you feel you are on topic of formative assessment 1 I am clueless about formative assessment 2 I have heard about formative assessment 3 I am fairly familiar with formative assessments vs. summative assessments. 4 I understand and use formative assessments daily in my classroom to plan my instruction 5 I could run this workshop on formative assessment

Formative assessment is the process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing instruction to improve student achievement of student outcome.

Formative Assessments Effective descriptive feedback Instruction is adjusted as a result of the assessment Not a testing event but a process As teachers we address: Where am I now? Where am I going? How am I going to get there?

NOT A TEST NOT a product you can buy NOT new Not a list of strategies; it is a culture and mindset for your classroom Not summative assessment What it is NOT Not have to be graded

We already do: White Board “Show down” providing immediate assessment and opportunity to remediate Senteo for Smartboard

Questioning Techniques Improving our questioning techniques allows us to get richer answers that better enable teachers to assess depth of student understanding Convergent Questions Who sent Red Riding Hood to Grandma’s house? Where does the story take place? Who rescues Lil Red? Divergent Question Why would the wolf attack Grandma? What if Red hadn’t gone to Grandma’s? Should the wolf be punished? How would you change the wolf’s attitude?

Divergent questions are higher on Bloom’s taxonomy

In your grade level teams Choose a lesson or unit you will be teaching in the future Write 5 divergent questions.

Before a film, a story or field trip tell students you will ask one of them to be the main character(s). Each student writes 3 divergent questions that they would want to ask the character.

Cubing

Exit cards things I learned ….. 2 questions I still have 1 way what I learned is like my world or used in my world

Exit Card for novel study reading selection 3 things I learned from the book 2 questions I still have about the book 1 way the book is like my world (shows connection with literature)

Exit Card Writing After reading over my rough draft: 1 thing I really like about my first draft 2 resources I can use to help improve my draft 3 revisions I can make to improve my draft

Exit card Content area Front Before class write an understanding you have of vocabulary (concept) word. Back After class write the understanding you have of the vocabulary (concept) word.

Exit (Entrance) Card Math Give 1 problem to do at beginning of class Give a choice to differentiate levels

Focus skill- Exit Card Write for 5 minutes: How are colonial children like children today? OR Tell me what you learned about Colonial children today. Start each sentence with a letter from the word CHILD (to vary sentence starters) Include at least one compound sentence (Highlight that sentence) Highlight as many nouns (or verbs or helping verbs) as you can Include one simile (Highlight that simile)

Double Entry Journal (Basic) As you Read, please note: ………………………… Key phrases Important words Main ideas Puzzling passages Summaries Powerful passages Key parts Important graphics Etc. After you read, please explain ………………………… How to use ideas Why an idea is important Questions Meaning of key words, passages Predictions Reactions Comments on style Interpretation of graphics

Double Entry Journal (Advanced) NOTE Key passages Key vocabulary Organizing concepts Key principles Key patterns Links between text and graphics EXPLAIN Why ideas are important Author’s development of elements How parts and whole relate Assumptions of author Key question Another Voice Teacher Author Expert in field Character

Concept Attainment Step 1 – Choose ESSENTIAL CONCEPT Step 2 – Make a list of examples of this concept Step 3 – Make a list of non-examples of concept Step 4 – Students list guesses Step 5 – Add examples and non-examples as needed Step 6 – Students eliminate guesses until concept is discovered

Choose a concept you wish your students to understand in a future lesson or unit. Create examples and non-examples

Concept Mapping..... Water cycle Have students complete the graphic at the beginning of a unit or at the end of the class

Concept Mapping as formative assessment Branches of government Life cycle of a frog Life cycle of a butterfly Steps in division Order of operations

PBL Problem Based Learning Given a recipe double it

Graphic organizers as formative assessment Story Maps Pyramids

To improve student achievement, student needs to know where they are so train students to recognize where they are in learning process: Thumbs up/down Clear windshield few bugs Red and green cards Red, green, yellow cups

Formative assessment is a STEP toward developing future lessons and assignments formative assessment needs to be acted upon to make learning meaningful

This is a process for checking multiple homework assignments simultaneously in a classroom so that the teacher feels free to differentiate homework as evidenced by formative assessment Steps: 1. The teacher checks to make sure each student has completed assigned homework 2. Students who have not completed the assignment work in a designated area of the room to complete the assignment (teacher floats to provide guidance/feedback. 3. Students who completed the HW work in groups of 4 to check all 4 sets for agreement/disagreement 4. All students mark each answer for agreement/disagreement as well as explanations of why an answer is wrong and how to make it right 5. Students staple set of 4 together, turn in 6. Teacher spot checks, “grades” one per set.