Formative Assessment favourites

So many of the thought (and research) leaders in education are challenging us to consider what students are supposed to be learning, rather than what they will do. For example, both John Hattie and Dylan Wiliam challenge us with this idea, demanding that teachers be clear about their learning intentions and what we want students to know and do as a result of their learning experiences.

Too often teachers are thinking about how they will fill the time in class, rather than what students should be learning and how we will know that they have learned it. Designing learning with the goal in mind, is a crucial element of effective teaching.

Formative assessment, or assessment for learning as it commonly known, involves feedback for learners that helps them learn more effectively. More than 250 studies have suggested significant gains in learning outcomes when assessment for learning is incorporated into classroom routines.

Given Teacher Solutions’ strong bias toward student voice, it is probably not surprising the value we place on formative assessment through self and peer assessment. Let’s explore these a little:

Dylan Wiliam describes self assessment as the process of activating students as observers of their own learning. In other posts I have written about the importance of setting goals, reviewing regularly and being actively engage int he learning. Some self assessment strategies:

Traffic Lights

Students highlight the key ideas or skills in a lesson, unit of work or in their learning goal indicating green = ‘got it’, orange = ‘getting there’ and red = ‘not there yet, need some assistance’. I’ve been in a classroom where coloured posit notes were used in this way. Recyclable and easily changed, students may well have been more willing to use the red (pink posit) to signal their need for help, because it could be replaced by an orange and later a green post-it note, ensuring perfectionists were willing to ask for help.

Progress markers

Providing every student with a laminated card, green on one side and red on the other, enables students to signal their need/willingness to have feedback or support with the red side or their intention to work independently with the green side. In another classroom I have seen red (confused/need help), orange (getting there but need more time) and green (got it, ready to move on or help others) party cups, inverted on desks. The three cups sat together, the most relevant on the top/on display.

Coded marking trays

When there is work that requires teacher checking, students can be encouraged to put their books / materials in one of 2 marking trays, “Got it” or “Not quite got it”. This commits the learner to a decision about their degree of confidence with the material.

Progress feedback

Use a Google presentation, one slide per student, to have students provide feedback about their learning, content, concept, skill or learning skills (e.g. self management).

Use of Rubrics or Marking Grids

Students reflect on their performance against outcome/expectation rubrics or marking grids, before, during and after working on a task. Ideally students would contribute to creating these rubrics, sharing their ideas about the quality of the product, process, thinking and self management exhibited during the task. (Can also be a peer assessment strategy)

Response video

Use iMovie or an in-device video tool to capture in one minute or less, the key learning during a task, unit of work, research project etc. Highlight process and product learning.

Exit Slips

There are many great ideas for capturing feedback from students, about their own, and the teacher’s, effectiveness, competence and progress in any given time period, as they leave the room. Slips might ask:

• Today I learned … Tomorrow I need …
• The most important thing I learned is … I will use this by …
• My engagement level was … Tomorrow I will …

Exit slips might be a piece of paper, laminated boards that can be cleaned and reused, iPad data collections or Google sheet, doc or presentation on-line collections.

An important aspect of self assessment is the increases in repertoire, awareness and responsiveness to feedback over time. I am fascinated by how often teachers overlook the obvious source of feedback, the student him/herself. Simply asking what went well and what might be improved, and really listening to the responses, will make a big difference for students and their learning.

Wiliam describes peer assessment as the process of activating students as teachers for each other. Not surprisingly, the more one helps others to learn a skill or concept, the more comprehensively one understands it themselves. Supporting students to be effective commentators on others’ learning has an immediate spin off on their own learning. Some peer assessment strategies:

Help Board

Students record the support they need from peers with their name and classmates write their name by the question and offer support. These requests may be about tech skill needs, content/concept clarification or skill practice requests. A laminated 3 column chart worked well in one classroom — requestor’s name, challenge and the support provider. Once the issue was resolved, the students erased their entry on the chart.

Two stars and a wish

Teaching students to look for two positives (stars or wins) and one thing that might be improved in each others’ work is a useful addition to the classroom toolkit. I’ve been in classrooms where students are so familiar with this process that they independently choose to provide feedback by this formula.

Question stems

The teacher, or students and teacher collaboratively, develop a range of prompts to guide the response to peers’ work. An example:

I noticed that you were successful with … (Highlights)

l need help to understand … (Confusions, inconsistencies)

Looking at your work I learned …. (Value added)

(Can also be a self assessment strategy)

3, 2, 1

Looking at another student’s or groups’ task, respond with: Three things you found out, Two interesting things and One question you still have.

Performance feedback

Students as individuals, groups or whole class, act as an audience for the performances (learning presentations of other individuals or groups of students). Coaching students to effectively support their peers to

Digital tools available to help:

• Padlet or Lino are useful ways to have students post reflections on their own, the groups or the whole classes’ progress.
• Coggle, iThoughts or Conceptboard are examples of mind mapping tools that students can access as feedback tools.
• Voicethread enables students to voice over an image, improving the specific nature of feedback in relation to particular aspects of student work (own or peers).
• Poll Everywhere or Polldaddy are quiz tools that may assist in formative assessment processes.

Check out my Pinterest page for more ideas: https://www.pinterest.com/teachrsolutions/

To connect with me:

Register your email at https://www.studentvoice.space — my research blog.

Follow me on FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/teachersolutions/ or my Student Voice group on https://www.facebook.com/groups/talkaboutstudentvoice/.