It seems like all we hear these days in education is about assessment. When I hear that word I cringe. I immediately think of state standardized tests or end of semester/6 weeks/9 weeks testing. However, assessment is important to see how well students are learning and to some degree how effective the teacher is. Should a test at the end of a grading period or school year determine if the child learned what he/she needed to? NO! Some kids do not test well. Period. That's when formative assessment is needed! Formative assessment is an ongoing way of being sure your students are retaining the information you are presenting. Here is a quote I found to help explain formative assessment: "All those activities undertaken by teachers, and/or by students, which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged. "(Black and Wiliam 1998)
We need to know what our students are struggling with as well as what they have mastered. These assessment can be short, easy, and fun for the kids. Something as easy as a post-it note put on the wall as they are leaving the classroom like this teacher has done. Creating a stoplight flip book that kids can change as they work independently so the teacher knows if they need help or not. Here is one for sale, but they would be easy to make.
Teachers need to know how they plan to assess before they ever teach the first lesson. Have goals then plan your lessons. Explain to the kids how they will be assessed throughout the unit. Let them know there will be more than just one big multiple choice unit test when they are finished. Here are some websites and ideas that may be useful for formative assessment:
3-2-1 reading assessment
Think-Pair-Share
5 Ways to check for understanding
Unpacking Formative Assessment Video
Formative Assessment in a Primary Classroom
We need to know what our students are struggling with as well as what they have mastered. These assessment can be short, easy, and fun for the kids. Something as easy as a post-it note put on the wall as they are leaving the classroom like this teacher has done. Creating a stoplight flip book that kids can change as they work independently so the teacher knows if they need help or not. Here is one for sale, but they would be easy to make.
Teachers need to know how they plan to assess before they ever teach the first lesson. Have goals then plan your lessons. Explain to the kids how they will be assessed throughout the unit. Let them know there will be more than just one big multiple choice unit test when they are finished. Here are some websites and ideas that may be useful for formative assessment:
3-2-1 reading assessment
Think-Pair-Share
5 Ways to check for understanding
Unpacking Formative Assessment Video
Formative Assessment in a Primary Classroom
DI Lesson Planning
I created the "thinglink" above to link to some websites/diagrams for references to use while trying to plan for DI. Below is a blendspace I created to use when I teach my unit on the Water Cycle. The blendspace has links to a lot of the sites/ideas/diagrams I plan to use during the unit.
Below is the lesson plan I created for my unit on the Water Cycle.
di_lesson_planning_template.docx | |
File Size: | 24 kb |
File Type: | docx |