Formative Assessment

• a process (not any particular test)
• used by both teachers and students
• during instruction
• which provides assessment-based feedback to teachers and students
• may need to adjust teaching and learning
• to improve student achievement

Formative Assessments should take place approximately every 8 minutes during instruction.

The idea of this activity is to allow students to share ideas about a topic in a fun and engaging way, without fear of ridicule, because no one knows who's paper they are reading. Teachers and students are able to gather good information about the knowledge of the group.

Instructions:

1. Have students write the answer to a prompt on paper
2. Make a paper airplane with the paper
3. Toss the airplane across the room.
4. Continue to toss the airplanes until "STOP"
5. Take turns reading the responses

Modifications:

• wad paper into ball and toss
• fold paper and pass several times

Caveats:

• Overuse of this activity will result in it being ineffective
• Remind students to honor anonymity
• Remind students to respect other student's thoughts or ideas

Fist to Five is a great strategy for teachers to monitor student understanding. It encourages self-awareness for all and reluctant students are more willing to provide honest feedback of their learning. FTF should be used at any point during the lesson cycle.

Instructions:

Teacher asks students to hold up hands to show FTF.

• closed fist = "I have no idea"
• 1 finger = "I barely understand"
• 2 fingers = "I understand parts, but I need a lot of help"
• 3 fingers = "I understand most of it, but I'm not sure I can explain it well"
• 4 fingers = "I understand pretty well and can sufficiently explain it to others"
• 5 fingers = "I completely understand and can easily explain it"

Modifications:

• 3 finger strategy - 1-Huh??, 2-um, ok, 3-I got it!
• Thumbs up strategy - up, sideways or down

Caveats:

• When matching students for peer tutoring, make sure the student's perception of their learning fits reality, as they may teach or reinforce misconceptions to others.

Traffic Light Cups promote self-assessment by increasing student awareness and also gives the teacher a good visual of how his/her students are feeling during their activity.

Instructions:

Place stackable party cups in the center of a group's table or workstation to represent the following:

• Red: Students are stuck and cannot proceed without help
  
• Yellow: Students would like help, but can continue
  
• Green: Students understand and are good to go

Modifications:

Can also be used for

• Individual tasks
  
• Timed tasks - RED-"I'm behind" YELLOW-"I need a little more time GREEN-"I'm right on time!"
  

Caveats:

• When first using this strategy, frequently remind students to change their cup to meet their learning needs.

Corners is a good way to visually identify groups of students with similar ideas. It first allows them to be grouped with students who have similar thinking. They are able to discuss and clarify their thoughts with their own group, then explain their group's thinking with students from another group and finally are allowed to "change their mind" and move to another group based on the reasoning presented.

Instructions:

1. Teachers have corners of the room labeled with possible answers to a selected response question. (Can be 2 corners, 3 corners or 4 corners)
2. The teacher poses the selected response question to the class
3. Students will individually think through their response, commit to their decision and write down an explanation.
4. Students will then go to the corner that matches their response.
5. Teachers will give up to 5 minutes for students to discuss and clarify their thoughts with their corner group.
6. After the group clarification, groups can debate other groups in order to support their arguments.
7. If a student decides that the reasoning of another group makes more sense, they may give up their original idea for a new one and move to another corner.

Modifications:

• If there are more than 4 responses, a teacher can designate other areas of the room for other groups.
• If there less than 4 responses, leave some corners empty.

Caveats:

• Students should feel comfortable expressing their own thoughts without feeling influenced by others, while at the same time being open to other's ideas.

The graduated line activity starts off very similar to Corners and is a good way to visually identify groups of students with similar ideas. However, it allows them to move along a graduated line to show how strongly they believe in one corner over another without stating it emphatically.

Instructions:

1. Teachers have 2 corners of the room labeled with possible answers to a selected response question.
2. The teacher poses the question to the class.
3. Students will individually think through their response, commit to their decision and write down an explanation.
4. Students will then go to the corner that matches their response.
5. If students do not feel strongly about either one of the choices and feel their answer lies somewhere in between, they will stand in the spot that best demonstrates their "temperature".
6. Teachers will give up to 5 minutes for students to discuss and clarify their thoughts with their classmates.
7. If a student decides that the reasoning of another group or individual makes more sense, they may move along the line to another spot in order to better display their answer.
   

Modifications:

• If time is an issue, the teacher can omit the written portion of #3. However, it is not recommended to do this every time.

Caveats:

• Students should feel comfortable expressing their own thoughts without feeling influenced by others, while at the same time being open to other's ideas.

We did not model this in our training, but we thought you might want details of the strategy so you can think of how you can adapt it for your students.

Carouseling allows students to work together as a team, express their thoughts and see how other classmates think as well.

Instructions:

1. Teachers have poster paper with a problem, question or vocabulary word on each hanging around the room.
2. Each group has a different color marker. (This allows the teacher to see how each group responded.)
3. Each group moves to a poster. (Only one poster per group)
4. Groups are given 2-5 minutes at their designated poster to discusses their thoughts on the question posed, commit to an answer and write it on the poster paper with their colored marker.
5. When the teacher cues the groups with music or another method, each group moves to the next poster.
6. Groups are given 2-5 minutes to ponder the question, discuss their thoughts on the question posed, and see if the previous group had the same answer. If they completely agree with the previous group's response, they will place a check by that answer. If they disagree (even partially) with the previous group's response, they will mark out the part they would like to change and "correct" it. This will be in a different colored marker, so it will be easy to see who changed what.
7. This process continues until all of the groups move through all of the posters.
8. A short discussion of each poster should follow with the entire class.

Modifications:

• This can be used with vocabulary, math problems, sentence structure, etc. The sky is the limit!
• Cues for movement can include movement, rainmakers, bells, claps, etc.
• If a teacher has more groups than questions to pose, he/she can create the same series of posters on another wall in order to make the groups smaller and easier to manage.

Caveats:

• It is important for teachers to guide students in disagreeing, or piggybacking with dignity. In other words, if a group changes another group's answer, they should do it in a respectful manner.

Also called the "miracle pause," Wait Time is usually only about 3-5 seconds and is crucial for complex thinking of all students in the classroom. It can actually be up to 8 seconds for some. The average teacher uses the "rapid fire" technique and waits less than 1 second between a posed question and the response. This is great for the 1 or 2 students who easily reload and "fire back," but it is not adequate for the student who is still processing the question. Not having enough Wait Time ends up leaving those students feeling lost and defeated. It takes as little as 3 seconds to be able to "slow down in order to speed up."

Wait Time 1 - the pause between the question asked and the first response. This is 3 seconds or more. Please note that we have students who may take up to 8 seconds to process.

Wait Time 2 - the interval between the first response and the teacher's reaction. This is another 3 seconds or more. The idea is to give time for other students to process the question and response, then "piggyback" off of their classmate's answer. It is a good idea to continue Wait Time 2 several times.

Why allow for Wait Time?

1. It gives all students a chance to process the question.
2. More participation.
3. Creates a more cohesive classroom group.
4. More discussion and critical thinking.
5. Promotes a greater confidence of individuals.
6. Fewer IDKs
7. Longer and more detailed responses.
8. Students are more engaged.
9. Less disciplinary problems.
10. Greater conceptual thinking results in greater academic success!

Wait Time helps teachers by:

1. Keeping the focus going.
2. Teacher gives more thoughtful feedback.
3. Teacher is able to "listen" more because they are not thinking about their next question.
4. Teacher is able to ask fewer questions, while covering the content and increasing the cognitive level.
5. Teacher expects more from previously nonparticipating students.

Caveats:

• 3-5 seconds may seem like an eternity, but it is important to keep it up.
  
• Over time, students will get used the silence and their role with regard to it.
  
• Watch out for those students who try to out-wait Wait Time. Don't give up on them!
  
• Silence is sometimes awkward for students and teachers. Try not to interject comments, like "Think about it," as these sorts of comments only distract students.

Keeley, P. (2008). Science Formative Assessment. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Keeley, P., & Tobey, C. R. (2011). Mathematics Formative Assessment. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Popham, W. J. (2008). Transformative Assessment. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

http://youtu.be/kPf0nQFfv50

We hope the above information was helpful to you!

Website: huffmanisd.net
Location: 24302 FM 2100, Huffman, TX, United States
Phone: 281-324-1871