Hello Everyone,
For one of my graduate classes this semester, I compiled a list of ten formative assessment methods. These can be used with any grade level in any content area, although I have commented on their effectiveness in the library media center. I hope they are useful to you.
Formative Assessment Method #1: S-O-S Summary
Directions:
- Provide students with a Statement-Opinion-Support Summary sheet (See below).
- Write a statement on the board for students to copy that can be argued.
- Give students five minutes to agree or disagree with the statement and support their options with evidence.
- Collect the sheets to assess student understanding adjust instruction as needed.
Comments: This formative assessment allows students to practice argumentative writing, that is the support of personal opinion with evidence, in less than five minutes without having to write in complete sentences or craft a perfect paragraph. Data is collected by submission of student work on the sheet, in which the teacher is looking for the meaning of the statement, agreement or disagreement, and supportive evidence of that opinion. Several variations abound as to what the 3 things, 2 things, and 1 thing are and can be adapted to different content areas. This would be useful in its present form in the library media center when working with students on supporting opinions.
Reference
Dodge, J. (2009). 25 quick formative assessments for a differentiated classroom [PDF]. Scholastic: New York, NY. Retrieved from http://store.scholastic.com/content/stores/media/products/samples/21/9780545087421.pdf
Formative Assessment Method #2: 3-2-1
Directions: Give students a 3-2-1 sheet with space to work or have them write on paper:
- Three things they learned.
- Two interesting things.
- One question they still have (Edutopia, n.d., p. 1)
Comments: This formative assessment allows students to summarize a lesson’s content by providing three things they learned, to connect to the content by providing two things they found personally interesting, and to wonder about the content by providing one question they still have. Data is collected from the “one question” section, which gives the teacher items that need addressing during the next class time. This is useful would be the library media center when guiding students through the research process.
Reference
Edutopia. (n.d.). 53 ways to check for understanding [PDF]. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/blogs/edutopia-finley-53ways-check-for-understanding.pdf
Formative Assessment Method #3: PollEverywhere
Directions:
- The teacher creates a free account to ask questions of a class.
- Students text their responses to the unique question code.
- Answers appear anonymously as soon as they are sent.
Comments: I used this website in a brainstorming activity in one of my undergraduate classes with my peers. It only works of participants have access to a mobile device with text messaging capability. The anonymity encourages openness and honesty in responses. Kathy Dryer (2014) states that Mentimeter is a comparable web program which does not limit the number of users like PollEverywhere does (para. 4). Data is collected through a report by PollEverywhere of submitted answers with statistics as possible. This would be useful in the library media center for several tasks, such as multiple-choice questions on library skills and summarizing in a few words the theme or main idea of a text.
Reference
Dryer, K. (2014, January 21). 33 digital tools for advancing formative assessment in the classroom [Blog post]. Teach. Learn. Grow. Retrieved from https://www.nwea.org/blog/2014/33-digital-tools-advancing-formative-assessment-classroom/
Formative Assessment Method #4: Muddiest Point
Directions: Ask students to answer “What was the muddiest point?” on paper.
Comments: My undergraduate English language arts methods professor would ask us to Tweet her the day’s muddiest point, a way for us to say what we were still confused about regarding the topic under discussion. I did not find it extremely effective, since the professor never used the tweets formatively to adjust instruction. Data is collected by the teacher evaluating the “muddiest points” to determine what needs more attention during the next class. This would useful in the library media center for various topics, such as searching on the OPAC, using an online database, or determining secondary characters. K. Lambert (2012), at OCPS Curriculum Services, states that a variation of this assessment could be “clearest point” (p. 3), in which students would state what they understand the best about the topic.
Reference
Lambert, K. (2014). Tools for formative assessment–Techniques to check for understanding–Processing activities [PDF]. Retrieved from http://www.levy.k12.fl.us/instruction/Instructional_Tools/60FormativeAssessment.pdf
Formative Assessment Method #5: Somebody Wanted But So
Directions: After reading a fiction piece, students write sentence using the form “Somebody Wanted But So” to summarize the story’s plot.
Comments: This formative assessment allows students to identify a story’s character(s), main event(s), problem, and solution “with structured story grammar…orally, pictorially, or in writing” (Lambert, 2012, p. 5).
Reference
Lambert, K. (2014). Tools for formative assessment–Techniques to check for understanding–Processing activities [PDF]. Retrieved from http://www.levy.k12.fl.us/instruction/Instructional_Tools/60FormativeAssessment.pdf
Formative Assessment Method #6: Analogy Prompt
Directions: Present students with an analogy prompt: “the concept being covered is like ____ because ____” (Briggs, 2014, para. 19).
Comments: This formative assessment allows students to get creative and make a concept personal through connections and similarities. Data is collected through exit slips or sticky-notes that the teacher can evaluate and perhaps mention a few anonymously the next class time. This would be useful in the library media center to help students contextualize library organization for themselves by saying what the fiction/nonfiction/everybody section is like and why.
Reference
Briggs, S. (2014, May 4). 20 simple assessment strategies you can use every day [Blog post]. Te@chthought. Retrieved from http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/20-simple-assessment-strategies-can-use-every-day/
Formative Assessment Method #7: Laundry Day
Directions: During a chapter or unit review session, students work in groups based on their choices of four detergents:
- Tide – “students select this detergent if they are believe the tidal wave of information might drown them” and would benefit from “a comprehensive review” (Erkens, 2007, p. 4);
- Gain – “students select this detergent if they understand the basics of the concepts taught, but seem to be missing some of the nuances or finer details” and would benefit from deeper investigation (Erkens, p. 4);
- Bold – “students select this detergent if they are fairly confident they will pass the unit exam, but still have a few niggling questions” and would benefit from creative engagement with the content (Erkens, p. 4);
- Cheer – “students select this detergent if they are certain they will be successful on the exam” and often elect to help those in the Tide group (Erkens, p. 4).
Comments: This formative assessment allows students to self-assess their expected performance on an upcoming summative assessment and choose the group which will benefit them the most and help them prepare in-class for the exam. It will be effective in classrooms where students will not be stigmatized for their group choice and not pressured to be with their friends in a different group. A knowledge that “fair is not always equal” and “everyone learns differently” is vital to this formative assessment succeeding. Data is collected through observation of student group choice and documented for future reference, so some students who have mastered the content do not choose to participate in the Tide group or a Tide student choose to participate in the Bold group out of stigmatization. This would be useful in the library media center when students are working on mastering a library- or inquiry-related process, such as evaluating resources or compiling bibliographies.
Reference
Erkens, C. (2007). Leading change in assessment practices [PDF]. Solution Tree. Retrieved from http://fai.tie.wikispaces.net/file/view/1a_WY+State+Conf+HOs.pdf
Formative Assessment Method #8: 12 Word Summary
Directions: Students are asked to summarize a passage of text or a “chunk of instruction” in twelve words or less (“Formative (Informal) Assessment Strategies,” p. 1).
Comments: This formative assessment forces students to briefly summarize a passage or instruction on a topic and carefully choose meaningful words. Data is collected by the teacher reading students’ summaries. This would be useful in the library media center when working with informational texts.
Reference
Formative (Informal) Assessment Strategies [PDF]. Retrieved from http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/cms/lib07/MA01906464/Centricity/Domain/44/Formative_Informal.pdf
Formative Assessment Method #9: Quick Class Check
Directions
- Distribute whiteboards, plastic plates, index cards, or sheets of paper on which students can write.
- Pose a question or problem to the class.
- Everyone answers individually.
- Each student holds up his or her answer to the teacher.
Comments: I used this formative assessment during a second grade lesson on three-digit subtraction during one of my Student Teaching placements. Students solved problems I placed on the Smartboard on their individual whiteboards; I was able to assess each student’s work and provide feedback quickly. It allows students to have slight anonymity among their peers, since the teacher should be the only other person seeing their board. Data is collected by the teacher seeing all the responses at once, possibly check marking “who/how many got the answer,” with “discussion[s] to elaborate” following as needed (“Formative (Informal) Assessment Strategies,” p. 1). This would be useful in the library media center for various tasks, such as assessing students’ knowledge of resource location.
Reference
Formative (Informal) Assessment Strategies [PDF]. Retrieved from http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/cms/lib07/MA01906464/Centricity/Domain/44/Formative_Informal.pdf
Formative Assessment Method #10: Give One/Get One
Directions:
- Students are given papers and asked to list 3-5 ideas about the learning.
- Students draw a line after their last idea to separate his/her ideas from classmate’s lists.
- Students get up and interact with one classmate at a time, exchanging papers, reading their partners’ lists, and asking questions about new or confusing ideas.
(“Formative (Informal) Assessment Strategies,” p. 1)
Comments: This activity can act as a formative assessment for two different skills, while offering students an opportunity to interact with their peers and move about the room. First, it can be a formative assessment of brainstorming, since students are writing 3-5 ideas related to the topic. Secondly, it could be used to assess students’ ability to ask and answer questions, since partners are questioning each other’s lists and could respond to the questions in writing. Data is collected through teacher evaluation of the “Give One/Get One” sheets; this would be useful in the library media center for various tasks, such as when students are generating interview questions, listing subtopics for research about a main topic, or compiling summer reading lists.
Reference
Formative (Informal) Assessment Strategies [PDF]. Retrieved from http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/cms/lib07/MA01906464/Centricity/Domain/44/Formative_Informal.pdf
Enthusiastically,
Ms. Tyler
