Understanding Formative Assessments and Plans for use in the Classroom

Thinking about what it means to be a teacher we often note the end goal of having students learning and applying new knowledge. What can be easily overlooked is if and how teachers know in real time what the true level of student understanding is. Summative assessments will give data on student understanding but only at a point when it is too late for the teacher to make changes to instruction to increase and enhance student understanding. Formative assessments on the other hand can give teachers data on student understanding early enough to be used to help guide the plan for instruction. This week I created three formative assessments and received teacher and peer feedback on them. Through these exercises I have learned the importance of conducting formative assessments, some different types of assessments and strategies for conducting them, and how to immediately use the data from the assessments.

This has been a total launch into a new area of learning for me as I prepare to become a teacher, and the feedback I received on my three plans for formative assessments was an essential part of this learning process for me. The main point in my strategy for using formative assessments sounds a bit like a Nike advertisement, “Just Do It”. As much as the data from formative assessments is crucial information for teachers and is used to inform choices and strategies for lessons ahead, the assessments need to be kept simple enough to be conducted quickly, regularly, early and often.

My plan for monitoring formative assessments in the moment includes using a clipboard with a weekly sheet. I will make Do Nows and Exit Tickets very regular, almost daily, assessments that my students come to expect to participate in most days. Having a data tracking sheet ready for the week will help me to collect data quickly when I am walking around the classroom and assessing students over their shoulders as they complete their Do Nows. It will also give me a place to enter my students’ results from their Exit Tickets. Having this data all in one place will make it easy for me to compare data from Preview Do Nows (diagnostic) and Exit Tickets both daily and day upon day Exit Tickets compared to Review Do Nows.  Quick check-in assessments using hand signals and whiteboards will be used additionally throughout lessons.

My plan also includes regular use of Think-Pair-Share assessments. Think-Pair-Shares help students practice active listening, require collaboration and respect, and keep everyone engaged and ready to share their partners responses with the group if called on.

I will communicate with students as much as possible around assessments. Students will need me to be clear about which questions in Do Nows are review questions and which questions are preview questions to avoid any unnecessary anxiety for example. And check-in assessments and Think-Pair-Shares will be conducted with clear and specific instructions and explanations. I will actively narrate the process during the assessments, be clear with instructions for early finishers and share the data from assessments with the students. I initially thought that sharing the data might be embarrassing for some students or anxiety provoking but more importantly I now believe it will encourage a growth mindset. In this regard I also think it is important to allow students plenty of opportunities for self-assessment.

The peer review element in designing formative assessments for me has highlighted the importance of making changes to assessments where necessary and this is also in line with being flexible in the moment. I appreciated the feedback from my teacher and peers and used their suggestions and prompting to reimagine parts of my strategies. These prompts also helped me to imagine the “what next” part of conducting formative assessments as well as the “what if” (for example, what if only two of your students got the answer right) and be prepared to pivot at those points. My instructor gave me a great strategy to answer these questions for myself by creating a flow chart. Creating a flow chart will not only help me think of more possible “what if” scenarios but it will highlight what I need to be prepared with for the “what next” that follows.