Our sessions for the Common Core Café are back! I am excited to present our first one today and to have two amazing “teacher” facilitators on board!
David Keys, Montebello High School, and Angelica Paz, La Merced Intermediate, are the two expert teachers that will assist in facilitating today’s session on formative assessment.
What is formative assessment?
Teachers use a variety of assessments in K-12 classrooms today—summative, formative, criterion referenced, benchmark, diagnostic, screening, and norm referenced. Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students during instruction. It is different from other kinds of assessment because it doesn’t occur at the end of the learning process. Instead, it is integrated into instruction and takes place as ideas and concepts are developing within a lesson or unit. As such, it provides important feedback for both teachers and students.
Teachers obtain information that helps them know how to adjust instruction to advance student learning.
Students have opportunities to gauge their own learning, ask questions, and improve their understanding.
Formative assessment presumes that students can themselves take action to improve their learning. Via formative assessment, teachers act as guides to help students acquire knowledge and develop skills. This focus on “learning how to learn” is especially significant as we move further into the 21st century because it helps learners become resilient and adaptable in a world of challenges and opportunities.
Three
examples of how we use formative assessments to check for understanding are
listed below. I have also collected some additional resources that may help you
deliver these.
1. Elementary:
 |
| My student facilitating a math problem solving strategy. He is discussing his thinking process and explaining several ways to solve the problem. |
2. Intermediate
Teaching Science Terms and Concepts Using TPR
3. High School
Gallery Walk, Graphic Organizers, and White Board Peer Editing
What is TPR?
Total
Physical Response (TPR) was developed by James Asher (1982)
Learning
another language through actions: The complete teachers’ guidebook. The method
was designed primarily for students in the early stages of language acquisition.
Since commands can be made comprehensible to students with very limited language,
Asher used commands as the basis for TPR. The teacher or a more proficient student
gives a command, demonstrates the command, and then students respond physically
to the command. Because students are actively involved and not expected to repeat
the command, anxiety is low, and student focus is on comprehension rather than production.
Hence, they demonstrate comprehension before their speaking skills emerge.
Features of TPR
In a nutshell, here are the most
salient features of the TPR:
- The coordination of speech and action facilitates language learning.
- Grammar is taught inductively.
- Meaning is more important than form.
- Speaking is delayed until comprehension skills are established.
- Effective language learning takes place in low stress environment.
- The role of the teacher is central. S/he chooses the appropriate commands to introduce vocabulary and structure.
- The learner is a listener and a performer responding to commands individually or collectively.
- Learning is maximized in a stress free environment.
TPR Activities
Activities
in the TPR method rely on action based drills in the imperative form. In fact
the imperative drills are introduced to elicit physical/motor activity on the
part of the learners. The use of dialogs is delayed. Typical classroom
activities include:
- Command drills
- Role-plays on everyday situations (at the restaurant, at the movies …)
- Slide presentations to provide a visual center for teacher’s narration, which is followed by commands or questions
- Reading and writing can also be introduced to further consolidate grammar and vocabulary and as follow ups
25 Quick Formative Assessments Guide by Scholastic: A PDF Document
Formative Tools for Teachers : Tools for teachers to incorporate successful formative assessment practices in their classroom.
NCTM: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) article “Five ‘Key Strategies’ for Effective Formative Assessment.”
Practice Tests | Link
Practice tests for English language arts and mathematics can be found at the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium website.
Practice tests for English language arts and mathematics can be found at the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium website.
MARS Tasks | Link
MARS (Mathematics Assessment Resource Service) is a project of UC Berkeley, Michigan State, and the Shell Centre in Nottingham England. The tasks and their associated rubrics provide a platform for professional development in schools transitioning to the Common Core Standards. The tasks can be used to promote discussion about student work and provide real performance data.
MARS (Mathematics Assessment Resource Service) is a project of UC Berkeley, Michigan State, and the Shell Centre in Nottingham England. The tasks and their associated rubrics provide a platform for professional development in schools transitioning to the Common Core Standards. The tasks can be used to promote discussion about student work and provide real performance data.
Data Tools | Illuminate Education | Intel-Assess
Some California school districts are adopting specific data tools to implement formative assessment relative to the Common Core State Standards. Two companies providing these tools are Illuminate Education and Intel-Assess. Districts are using resources from these companies to guide formative assessment and their work in professional learning communities.
Some California school districts are adopting specific data tools to implement formative assessment relative to the Common Core State Standards. Two companies providing these tools are Illuminate Education and Intel-Assess. Districts are using resources from these companies to guide formative assessment and their work in professional learning communities.
Forest
Lake Elementary School (FLES) uses technology to differentiate student learning
by initially assessing students with a program called MAP on English and math
skills.
How a
resource-strapped elementary school became a top-performing school with a
homegrown, easy-to-implement differentiated instruction program.
Examples of Formative Assessment and MORE Resources:
Here are a few examples
that may be used in the classroom during the formative assessment process to
collect evidence of student learning.
Observations
Anecdotal
Notes:
These are short notes written during a lesson as students work in groups or
individually, or after the lesson is complete. The teacher should reflect
on a specific aspect of the learning (sorts geometric shapes correctly) and
make notes on the student's progress toward mastery of that learning
target. The teacher can create a form to organize these notes so that
they can easily be used for adjusting instruction based on student needs.
Anecdotal Notebook: The teacher
may wish to keep a notebook of the individual observation forms or a notebook
divided into sections for the individual students. With this method, all
of the observations on an individual student are together and can furnish a
picture of student learning over time.
Anecdotal
Note Cards: The teacher
can create a file folder with 5" x 7" note cards for each
student. See Observation
Folder. This folder is handy for middle and high school teachers
because it provides a convenient way to record observations on students in a
variety of classes.
Labels or Sticky Notes: Teachers can
carry a clipboard with a sheet of labels or a pad of sticky notes and make
observations as they circulate throughout the classroom. After the class,
the labels or sticky notes can be placed in the observation notebook in the appropriate
student's section.
Links:
Observing
Students
Methods for
Documenting Student Progress
http://newteachersupport.suite101.com/article.cfm/methods_for_documenting_student_progress
http://newteachersupport.suite101.com/article.cfm/methods_for_documenting_student_progress
Exit/Admit Slips
Exit
Slips are written responses to questions the teacher poses at the end of a
lesson or a class to assess student understanding of key concepts. They
should take no more than 5 minutes to complete and are taken up as students
leave the classroom. The teacher can quickly determine which students
have it, which ones need a little help, and which ones are going to require much
more instruction on the concept. By assessing the responses on the Exit
Slips the teacher can better adjust the instruction in order to accommodate
students' needs for the next class.
Links on Exit/Admit Slips:
Readingrockets:
Exit Slips
AdLit.org:
Exit Slips
Writing
Across the Curriculum: Entry/Exit Slips
Exit
Slips: Effective Bell-Ringer Activities
Admit
Slips and Exit Slips
Learning/Response Logs
Learning
Logs are used for students' reflections on the material they are
learning. This type of journal is in common use among scientists and
engineers. In the log, students record the process they go through in
learning something new, and any questions they may need to have
clarified. This allows students to make connections to what they have
learned, set goals, and reflect upon their learning process. The act of writing
about thinking helps students become deeper thinkers and better writers.
Teachers and students can use Learning Logs during the formative assessment
process, as students record what they are learning and the questions they still
have, and teachers monitor student progress toward mastery of the learning
targets in their log entries and adjust instruction to meet student
needs. By reading student logs and delivering descriptive feedback on
what the student is doing well and suggestions for improvement, the teacher can
make the Learning Log a powerful tool for learning.
Response
Logs are a good way to examine student thinking. They are
most often connected with response to literature, but they may be used in any
content area. They offer students a place to respond personally, to ask
questions, to predict, to reflect, to collect vocabulary and to compose their
thoughts about text. Teachers may use Response Logs as formative
assessment during the learning process.
Websites on Learning Logs and Response
Logs:
Learning (B)logs: Time to Give Students
a Voice
Learning Logs Online: Examples
and Photos of Learning Logs
http://www.learninglogs.co.uk/
eLearning
http://elearning.plymouth.k12.in.us/learning--response-logs.html
eLearning
http://elearning.plymouth.k12.in.us/learning--response-logs.html
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