# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Rewordify.com | Understand what you read

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Rewordify.com helps you read more, understand better, learn new words, and teach more effectively.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Easily create beautiful interactive video lessons for your students you can integrate right into your LMS. Track students' progress with hassle-free analytics as you flip your classroom!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
TalkingPoints - Improving student outcomes through meaningful school-family partnerships.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
TalkingPoints - Improving student outcomes through meaningful school-family partnerships.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Voki | Speaking Characters For Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Voki is a fun tool that students can use for homework, classwork or projects. Customize their appearance and what they say, and share with others!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Amaze your students with smarter worksheets. Wizer.me is a platform where teachers build beautiful, engaging online worksheets!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Canva is a free-to-use online graphic design tool. Use it to create social media posts, presentations, posters, videos, logos and more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Boddle transforms K-6th education with engagement. Unlock your confidence to learn.

Create a free account as a:

Boddle transforms K-6th education with engagement. Unlock your confidence to learn.

Create free account as a:

Curriculum-aligned, Secure, and Fun

Curriculum aligned to standards such as CCSS, TEKS, Florida B.E.S.T., and many more!

KidSafe Certified and compliant with COPPA, FERPA, and SOPPA

Fun and engaging learning experiences available on web, iOS, and Android

What's the Word?

2nd Grade Teacher

We love Boddle in our 2nd grade classroom! We use it as part of the technology station during math. My students love customizing their Boddle and the games. I love being able to give assignments on our standards, or assign challenges or extra practice if needed, too! Boddle is so engaging and fun. We love it!
‍

Parent

The best part is that my son doesn't get frustrated. With other programs, he'd quit from being overwhelmed by questions he can't answer. That never happened with Boddle!

After School Director

The program is amazing and the students can't get enough of it! They look forward to Tuesdays and Thursdays which happen to be our math days.

Learn more

For Teachers

Time-saving tools, curriculum-aligned content, and the perfect balance of learning and fun for your students.

Learn More

For Parents

Healthy screen time that
helps your child
level up in math and ELA.

Learn More

Blog & Case Studies

A proven learning tool to help kids stay engaged and improve performance.

Visit Blog

We're experiencing slow loading times at the moment. Please hang tight while we work on scaling our systems.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Boddle Learning | 3D Math Game for K-6 Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Boost math engagement and close learning gaps with the most interactive 3D math game. Tackle learning loss and help your kids catch up and excel in K-6 math with Boddle's adaptive learning platform!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
design discussions
no-schedule meetings
professional development
collaborate with clients
sales and marketing

replace text-only discussions
interactive lectures
support UDL principles
no-schedule office hours
professional development

student presentations
conversational practice
professional development
rich assessment
safe and accountable

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Transforming media into collaborative spaces with video, voice, and text commenting.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educreations is a community where anyone can teach what they know and learn what they don't. Our software turns any iPad or web browser into a recordable, interactive whiteboard, making it easy for teachers and experts to create engaging video lessons and share them on the web.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Tiered Lesson
Definition/Synopsis:
Tiered lessons are lessons which have different tiers of activities based upon the knowledge base of the learner. Once a student's foundational skills level has been determined via pre-assessment, students are given tasks (geared toward mastery of the same objective or standard) requiring various levels of depth. For example, a Tier One (a student who might not be ready to solve, research, or strike out on his or her own) activity might be defining terminology and creating a visual reminder or the concept, while a Tier Two (a student who is at grade level and ready to begin working towards mastery) activity might be to use the terminology in order to problem solve for a real world problem, and a Tier Three (a student ready to go beyond and explore independently) activity might be to create and present a product based upon the research acquired while studying higher-level questions relating to the terminology and topic. All three students are working toward the same end goal: mastery of a specific goal, objective or standard. All three students might be at different levels of foundational skills and working on different activities to get there.

Research Articles:
What are tiered lessons and what does this mean for my classroom?
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/every-learner/6680
http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10513.aspx
http://www.nsta.org/publications/news/story.aspx?id=48723

How and where do I begin?
http://www.teachhub.com/differentiated-instruction-strategies-using-tiered-assignments

What does tiering look like?
http://www.bertiekingore.com/tieredinstruct.htm

How do I tier assessment?
https://challengebychoice.wordpress.com/tiered-instruction-and-assessment/

What are some practical tips for tiering?
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/8-lessons-learned-differentiating-instruction
http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/di/cresource/q2/p06/di_06_link_tiered_activities/

How to Plan a Tiered Activity:
http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/books/stricklandAT2009_planning_a_tiered_activity.pdf

Sample Assignments:
http://daniellmiddle.typepad.com/files/tiered20assignments.pdf
http://www.diffcentral.com/Lesson_Plans.html

Videos of Tiered Lessons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ob4eGz04G4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7XeouQSyaE

How Teachers Benefit from Tiering Lessons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcJWQXLvLZU

How Students Benefit from Tiered Lessons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rj1FA2yVlI

PowerPoint and Activity:
http://slideplayer.com/slide/8655017/

Cash, Richard M. Advancing Differentiation: Thinking and Learning for the 21st Century.
Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Pub., 2011. Print.

Tomlinson, Carol A., and Marcia B. Imbeau. Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2010. Print.

Winebrenner, Susan, Dina Brulles, and Susan Winebrenner. Teaching Gifted Kids in Today's
Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher Can Use. Minneapolis, MN: Free
Spirit, 2012. Print.

Technology:
Disclaimer: The nature of technology is that products are regularly being updated and changed. As a result, terms and conditions may change. To ensure that you will be in compliance for the age and requirements of your student body, please always review the terms of use, privacy policy, and communicate with parents according to the terms and conditions prior to beginning use.
Foundational Tools
Classroom management:

Google Classroom
Distributing documents, links, and information to the entire class or separate groups, with easy, organized student turn-in process and teacher feedback and grade return.

Blackboard

Operational Mechanics
Creating Rubrics:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tiered Lesson Definition/Synopsis: Tiered lessons are lessons which have different tiers of activities based upon the knowledge base of the learner. Once a student's foundational skills level has been determined via pre-assessment, students are given tasks (geared toward mastery of the same objective or standard) requiring various levels of depth.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8 Strategies Robert Marzano amp John Hattie Agree On

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled.

JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser.

Share your learning. Marzano Resources provides free tools, in print and online, to support you and your colleagues in learning and implementing new strategies. Download PDFs you can print, copy, fill out electronically, email, and share. Quickly access websites mentioned in our books. Explore tutorials and examples.

The New Art & Science of Teaching Series

Activities and Games

Classroom Strategies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
five key aspects of differentiated instruction

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Station Rotation: Differentiating Instruction to Reach All Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reteach and Enrich: How to Make Time for Every Student

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.entities[].name
Tips & Strategies for Effective Differentiation & Instruction

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By focusing tightly on instructional strategies and PD, educators at Cochrane Collegiate Academy saved their school from closure. In just three years, they have doubled student performance, and they continue to reach higher. For more videos, articles, and downloads from Edutopia's coverage of Cochrane Collegiate Academy, visit http://www.edutopia.org/stw-school-turnaround

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Research-Backed Strategies for Better Classroom Management

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Differentiated Instruction at Jeff High School

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Tiered Instruction in a Middle School Math Classroom - Lory Schieler

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Differentiated Instruction

By considering what students need to know, their interests, and how learning will be assessed, teachers can differentiate assignments.

Planning: Content, processes, and products

Learner access: Readiness, interests, and learning preferences

Environment

Differentiating for the needs of all learners is an important focus that many teachers across the world share. We want our students to have a year-plus growth in courses, whether they're struggling with core basics, are just at the appropriate skill level, or have understanding that exceeds the learning outcomes of the curriculum. These are the key elements to consider in differentiating instruction:

Much has been written to help teachers think about and provide differentiated experiences for learners that align and explain these elements. However, the question and challenge that I hear and observe from teachers most often is: how do we effectively plan intentional differentiation that we can implement and evaluate with the same confidence and understanding as traditional lessons? The answer that follows is based on a change in how to use the planning elements-content, processes, and products-for differentiation, which is finding traction in classrooms that are using this approach.

A Three-Pronged Approach to Planning for Differentiation

Part 1: Content. Content is what students need to know, understand, and do something with. When identifying these outcomes, we also shape the assessment(s) by how learners can demonstrate what they understand. Success comes from teachers accomplishing two steps for this task.

First, identify the specific skills and concepts that students must achieve. This is what gets measured and analyzed through a variety of assessments. Unpacking the skills and concepts enables teachers to track student learning progress for areas of additional support for learners with significant gaps and learners who are ready for complexity beyond the content expectations of the lesson. This understanding enables teachers, instructional coaches, and supervisors to be on the same page as to what students need to learn through intentional differentiation.

Second, collect data on what the students bring to the focused content. Sometimes, this step is viewed as finding strategies for planning differentiation. That is a mistake. Meeting learner needs means knowing what opportunities they bring to the lesson based on what they already know and what challenges exist, based on gaps in core areas of need. Examples of student data to collect prior to planning include life experiences and interests outside of school and academic skills. Using strategies like K-W-L charts or need to knows is one way to find out what learners already know about the topic. Their level of understanding of the content should be factored into the planning. No student feels engaged with a lesson or session that delivers content they have long since mastered. This stage of planning also helps to confirm gaps in knowledge.

Educators should collect information about students' interests and passions that may relate to, or give them background for, applications of the content. This data can lead to rich learning experiences, such as providing informational text to read and analyze from articles about sports or Minecraft if many students identify those as areas of interest.

Accomplishing these two steps helps to ensure that the educators feel well prepared about the specific curriculum expectations at a targeted level. It also ensures that teachers are fully aware of what students bring to the content in terms of opportunities and areas of challenge.

Part 2: Processes. Process is about the different ways that students make sense of the content. Students need frequent experiences of sense-making through a variety of different ways and opportunities. Teachers make this happen through lessons that are made up of a series of activities.

Differentiation through processes is applied in one or more of these activities that make up the lesson. Teachers might start with differentiating one activity. As confidence and experience grows, most lesson activities can be differentiated. The focus of intentional differentiation for process is based on students' content opportunities and challenges. It also incorporates at least one of the learner access elements: readiness, interests, and learning preferences.

Here are two examples.

English: Using details in writing through learning centers. Each center focuses on a different type of detail strategy: example, facts, and sensory detail. Each center includes two options and students choose one to complete.

Math: Understanding the parts and functions of fractions through think dots. Students are put into groups based on their readiness skill level to complete a tiered activity where they all must complete the focus skills. Each group collaborates to solve the six tasks in a random order of choice.

Part 3: Products. Products are the artifacts that students create to show what they know and do not know. These products vary in format both small and large, such as quizzes, reflections, discussions, multimedia, social media tools, and performance tasks.

Intentional differentiation is based on how to leverage what's known about students' content opportunities and challenges. Also, use at least one of the learner access elements: readiness, interests, and learning preferences. These experiences range from practice to learn to assessment checks on progress. There is much flexibility to provide learners with a range of opportunities and experiences to help them make connections and extend their learning while maintaining the content focus.

Driving Forward With Differentiation

Explore this approach for reflecting and planning for students' needs through differentiation. Using content, processes, and products as planning steps provides a clear and concise approach toward choosing strategies and activities based on learner needs that align with the lesson outcomes. This resource curation portal offers ideas to build into your plan, and this differentiation guide offers more insights and a differentiation planning criteria checklist to start your planning journey.

This structure not only empowers student learning but also gives educators common language for collaborative professional opportunities to discuss, implement, and build stronger experiences that meet the needs of all their learners.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Practical Guide to Planning for Intentional Differentiation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By considering what students need to know, their interests, and how learning will be assessed, teachers can differentiate assignments.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Gifted students-you may or may not spot them in your classroom. They may be highly visible, like the high achievers or straight- A students. But they may also be among those students who don't finish their work (it's never perfect enough), who zone out or act out in class (they're bored), or who test poorly because they overthink things ("Hmmm, this answer might be true in this case, but it might not be true in that case").

Some schools and districts have substantial resources to identify and support giftedness, wherever it shows up. Some offer pull-out programs. Others offer cluster grouping, in which gifted students are grouped in specific classes at each grade level.

Dina Brulles, director of gifted education in the Paradise Valley Unified School District in Phoenix, Ariz., believes gifted students need less grade-level work, faster-paced lessons, deeper and more advanced content, and opportunities to work with other gifted students. They also require a different kind of interaction with the teacher, who must be less of a "sage on the stage" and more of a "guide on the side."

M. René Islas, executive director of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), notes one persistent challenge to gifted education-a lack of uniformity in programming. A recent NAGC study found that 19 states don't monitor gifted programs at the local level, only seven require their districts to report on gifted student achievement, and fewer than half report on the race and ethnicity of their gifted students (minorities are significantly underrepresented in gifted programs, according to the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights).

But there are promising signals as well, explains Islas. The Every Student Succeeds Act requires states and districts to track the progress of their highest-achieving students and allows schools to use Title I funds to identify and support gifted students. Plus, the law opens up the possibility for schools to use computer-adaptive assessments to recognize student mastery of content above grade level.

Then there are the challenges and opportunities at the school level. With the following strategies, teachers can tend to the complex needs of their high-ability students in the heterogeneous classroom.

"Gifted students don't need to do 25 problems in math when they can do the five most difficult first to demonstrate mastery," says Brulles. She offers this opportunity to all students, not just those identified as gifted. Students who successfully complete the five problems are excused from that night's homework. If classwork is involved, the teacher simply needs to have a few extension activities on hand-tasks that carry the concept to the next level-for students to work on quietly while others complete the regular assignment.

"Most Difficult First" is one manageable way for teachers to compact the curriculum for their high-ability students. With compacting, students get to "throw away" the part of the curriculum that they already know, while receiving full credit for those competencies. This frees up students to work on more challenging content.

Let's say a teacher is teaching two-digit multiplication. He might do some direct instruction for 10 minutes, then offer students the end-of-chapter test, saying, "If you get 90 percent or higher, you won't have to do the homework or practice work. You'll have different work to do." According to Brulles, some gifted students will take this option, whereas others may decide, "I don't know this; I need the practice work." Again, as in Most Difficult First, this strategy requires having extension work for students who test out of the material.

Susan Flores, a 2nd grade teacher in Paradise Valley, meets a range of student abilities by using the standard as her baseline. "My desk serves as a staging area. I have several piles of activities there that take a concept up or down."

For example, when the class is working on the distributive property in math, those "piles" might include differentiated worksheets, word problems, and task cards. Depending on how students grasp the concept, Flores can either reteach, offer practice, or enrich.

Flores also uses "choice boards." In math, she might offer nine ways that students can demonstrate learning of multiplication. "Students can [use] one of their iPad apps or create a game. They jump in where they want to jump in," she notes.

All students in Flores's class can choose whether they want to take their learning to the next level. "I don't say, 'Because you're gifted, you get choice, and because you're not gifted, you don't.'" Optional challenge work is available to anyone who wants to try it.

Janice Mak, a gifted cluster teacher and 7th and 8th grade STEM teacher in Paradise Valley, gives students a menu of options in her computer science class. After stu-dents learn the basics of programming-perhaps through an online course from Stanford University or work with Google CS First clubs-they work in teams to create a robot. Students choose the level of complexity, from designing dogs that bark to building miniature disco rooms in which a record plays and lights flash.

Students can also tailor a project to their interests. In a module on architecture, some students designed a playground for Egyptian students using Legos, Build with Chrome, or Minecraft. One student opted instead to recreate the White House using Minecraft.

The Ignite presentation format offers another way for Mak to differentiate work on the basis of student interest. The presenter has exactly 5 minutes and 20 slides, which auto-advance every 15 seconds, to discuss a topic of interest (aligned to the unit). This activity allows students to share their passion with their peers, be it nanotechnology and its role in medicine, the physics of roller coasters, or the latest advances in virtual reality.

According to education expert Jenny Grant Rankin, knowing a student's emotional intensities-what Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski called "overexcitabilities"-is also key to teaching gifted students. Dabrowski identified five areas of sensitivity that are strongly related to giftedness: psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, and emotional.

Overexcitabilities will often appear as quirks, such as compulsive talking or organizing, heightened sensitivity to smells or tastes, insatiable curiosity, or daydreaming. Knowing a student's overexcitabilities can help teachers shape engaging-and personalized-learning experiences. An imaginational student will benefit from an assignment that he's free to complete in a unique way. An intellectual student will prefer to investigate why certain areas of the world struggle with starvation rather than simply listing those areas. Although we tend to see overexcitabilities negatively, they are often accompanied by great creativity, imagination, and drive.

According to NAGC, research shows that enabling gifted students to work together in groups boosts their academic achievement and benefits other students in the classroom, as well. When gifted students work together, they challenge themselves in unexpected ways. They bounce ideas off one another and take a peer's idea to a new place. They also learn that as smart as they are, they, too, must exert effort with challenging content-and that they'll sometimes fail along the way.

That said, gifted kids need to work both in and out of their group. "As adults, we have to be able to work with everyone," explains Flores, "and gifted students might not learn this if they're always separated out." Teachers can provide multiple opportunities for heterogeneous groupings through Think-Pair-Shares, Clock Buddies, and Season Teams.

This approach relies on planning lessons or units at different tiers of difficulty. But does this require teachers to add to their already full plates?

"I don't see it as doing one more thing; I see it as being more strategic," explains Mak. Teachers have to plan for their lessons, so why not develop deep and complex activities for high-ability students at the same time? This one way of planning-providing work at the entry, advanced, and extension levels or at varying Depth of Knowledge Levels-offers a multiplicity of ways to learn. It may take more time in the planning stage, but it is ultimately more efficient because bored students aren't acting out or zoning out in class-they've got challenging work to do-and struggling students are getting support. Once teachers create these tiered resources, they can use them again and again.

Author Carol Ann Tomlinson advocates teaching up -"a practice of first planning a lesson that's challenging for high-end learners and then differentiating for other learners by providing supports that enable them to access that more sophisticated learning opportunity." It replaces "the more common practice of planning for mid-range performers, then extending that lesson for advanced students and watering it down for others." This approach, Tomlinson says, challenges advanced learners more than trying to pump up a "middling" idea-and serves other students better as well.

All students have the right to learn something new every day, whether they are in regular classrooms or in special education, language acquisition, or gifted programs. And every student will benefit from being pulled up to go beyond the curriculum at times.

But as Tomlinson points out, "Learning should be joyful or at least satisfying, rather than just hard."

Is this challenging for educators? Sure. But according to Flores, "Any good teacher can do these things well. It's just good teaching."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Six Strategies for Challenging Gifted Learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Find practical ways to tend to the complex needs of your high-ability students-without taking the joy out of learning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Serving Gifted Students in General Ed Classrooms

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
While gifted students might excel in certain areas, we must differentiate their learning to address other academic areas along with their social and emotional needs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Eight Steps to Curriculum Compacting | The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (1990-2013)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Step One Select relevant learning objectives in a subject area or grade level The first step in the compacting process is choosing curricular content and le…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A few years ago, I came across "10 assessments you can perform in 90 seconds" by TeachThought and really enjoyed the formative assessment strategies they outlined. Using formative assessment strategies in class during instruction-or "simple assessments," as they call them-is easy and provides the instant feedback teachers need to identify which learners need more help and adjust their instruction and lesson plans accordingly. Visit the blog above to get more detail on the following techniques:

1. New Clothes

2. Dos and Don'ts

3. Three Common Misunderstandings

4. Yes/No Chart

5. Three Questions

6. Explain What Matters

7. Big Picture

8. Venn Diagram

9. Draw It

10. Self-Directed Response

Combining these 10 with 10 others we've blogged about in the past gives teachers 20 great formative assessment strategies for checking on student learning. Be sure to click through to learn more about these formative assessment strategies.

Want more? Here are seven more strategies you can use to elicit evidence of student learning.

1. Entrance Tickets. We've blogged about and explained the Exit Ticket, so why not have an Entrance Ticket? Here, the teacher asks a question at the start of a lesson, and students write their responses on index cards or strips of paper. Answers are used to assess initial understanding of something to be discussed in that day's lesson or as a short summary of understanding of the previous day's lesson. The teacher designs the lesson around the fact that information on student learning will be coming in at the start of the lesson and can be used to improve the teaching and learning in that lesson. Be sure to write the question so it is easily interpreted and analyzed, allows time for you and/or the students to analyze the responses, and leaves space for you to adjust the lesson, if needed.

2. Keep the Question Going. With this formative assessment strategy, you'll ask one student a question and then ask another student if that answer seems reasonable or correct. Then, ask a third student for an explanation of why there is an agreement or not. This helps keep all the students engaged because they must be prepared to either agree or disagree with the answers given and provide explanations.

3. 30-Second Share. With this strategy, students take a turn to report something learned in a lesson for up to 30 seconds each. Connections to the learning targets or success criteria are what you'll be looking for in the language used by the student. Make this a routine at the end of a lesson so all students have the opportunity to participate, share insights, and clarify what was learned.

4. Parking Lot. This is an underused strategy for students and one that can surface questions before learning, as well as during and after. This tool also offers an anonymous place for questions that may be directly related to the content or tangential to the current topic and provide insight into student thinking. Simply save a spot on your whiteboard to write down ideas or questions that aren't completely relevant in the moment but should be revisited later.

5. One-Minute Paper. This might be considered a type of exit ticket as it is typically done near the end of the day. Ask your students, either individually or with a partner, to respond in writing to a single prompt. Typical prompts include:

Most important learning from the day and why

Most surprising concept and why

Most confusing topic and why

Something I think might appear on a test or quiz and why

3-2-1. At the end of the learning, this strategy provides students a way to summarize or even question what they just learned. Three prompts are provided for students to respond to:

3 things you didn't know before

2 things that surprised you about the topic

1 thing you want to start doing with what you've learned

Assessment Reflection. This strategy is a post-assessment reflection completed individually first and then shared in a small group. After an assessment, the teacher provides a list of questions so learners can reflect on their assessment experience. During group discussion, ideas are collected as new information to support students to better prepare for and engage in future assessments. Consider the following or similar questions. You might also use strategies such as Plus, Minus, Interesting, or Plus/Delta.

How engaged were you with this assessment? Why?

What did you feel most confident about? Why?

What did you do that led to your success or confidence?

What was the most difficult part of this assessment? Why?

What would you do differently next time?

What was the most confusing? Why?

What do you know about the topic that the assessment didn't allow you to show?

Dig in

All 27 of these formative assessment strategies are simple to administer and free or inexpensive to use. They'll provide you with the evidence of student learning you need to make lesson plan adjustments and keep learning on target and moving forward. They'll also give your students valuable information so they can adjust their learning tactics and know where to focus their energies.

If you're not quite sure where to get started, the following discussion questions can help.

Questions for teachers

How do you use formative assessment data to inform instructional decisions?

How can formative assessment strategies foster a learning environment of collaboration and engagement?

How do formative assessment strategies elicit evidence of student learning?

What is one strategy you could try tomorrow and why?

How do you use formative assessment data to drive school-wide instructional academic decisions?

How can you model formative assessment strategies in staff meetings, PLCs, and meetings with teachers?

What are three formative assessment strategies you could bring to your teachers and staff? Why do you feel these would be most effective at your school?

Get more formative assessment tips and tricks in our e-book "Making it work: How formative assessment can supercharge your practice."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
27 Easy Formative Assessment Strategies for Gathering Evidence of Student Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
All 27 of these formative assessment strategies are simple to administer and free or inexpensive to use. They provide the teacher with the evidence of student learning needed to make lesson plan adjustments and keep learning on target and moving forward.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Formative assessment-discovering what students know while they're still in the process of learning it-can be tricky. Designing just the right assessment can feel high stakes-for teachers, not students-because we're using it to figure out what comes next. Are we ready to move on? Do our students need a different path into the concepts? Or, more likely, which students are ready to move on and which need a different path?

When it comes to figuring out what our students really know, we have to look at more than one kind of information. A single data point-no matter how well designed the quiz, presentation, or problem behind it-isn't enough information to help us plan the next step in our instruction.

Add to that the fact that different learning tasks are best measured in different ways, and we can see why we need a variety of formative assessment tools we can deploy quickly, seamlessly, and in a low-stakes way-all while not creating an unmanageable workload. That's why it's important to keep it simple: Formative assessments generally just need to be checked, not graded, as the point is to get a basic read on the progress of individuals, or the class as a whole.

7 Approaches to Formative Assessment

1. Entry and exit slips: Those marginal minutes at the beginning and end of class can provide some great opportunities to find out what kids remember. Start the class off with a quick question about the previous day's work while students are getting settled-you can ask differentiated questions written out on chart paper or projected on the board, for example.

A quick way to see the big picture if you use paper exit tickets is to sort the papers into three piles: Students got the point; they sort of got it; and they didn't get it. The size of the stacks is your clue about what to do next.

No matter the tool, the key to keeping students engaged in the process of just-walked-in or almost-out-the-door formative assessment is the questions. Ask students to write for one minute on the most meaningful thing they learned. You can try prompts like:

What are three things you learned, two things you're still curious about, and one thing you don't understand?

How would you have done things differently today, if you had the choice?

What I found interesting about this work was...

Right now I'm feeling...

Today was hard because...

Or skip the words completely and have students draw or circle emojis to represent their assessment of their understanding.

2. Low-stakes quizzes and polls: If you want to find out whether your students really know as much as you think they know, polls and quizzes created with Socrative or Quizlet or in-class games and tools like Quizalize, Kahoot, FlipQuiz, Gimkit, Plickers, and Flippity can help you get a better sense of how much they really understand. (Grading quizzes but assigning low point values is a great way to make sure students really try: The quizzes matter, but an individual low score can't kill a student's grade.) Kids in many classes are always logged in to these tools, so formative assessments can be done very quickly. Teachers can see each kid's response, and determine both individually and in aggregate how students are doing.

Because you can design the questions yourself, you determine the level of complexity. Ask questions at the bottom of Bloom's taxonomy and you'll get insight into what facts, vocabulary terms, or processes kids remember. Ask more complicated questions ("What advice do you think Katniss Everdeen would offer Scout Finch if the two of them were talking at the end of chapter 3?"), and you'll get more sophisticated insights.

3. Dipsticks: So-called alternative formative assessments are meant to be as easy and quick as checking the oil in your car, so they're sometimes referred to as dipsticks. These can be things like asking students to:

write a letter explaining a key idea to a friend,

draw a sketch to visually represent new knowledge, or

do a think, pair, share exercise with a partner.

Your own observations of students at work in class can provide valuable data as well, but they can be tricky to keep track of. Taking quick notes on a tablet or smartphone, or using a copy of your roster, is one approach. A focused observation form is more formal and can help you narrow your note-taking focus as you watch students work.

4. Interview assessments: If you want to dig a little deeper into students' understanding of content, try discussion-based assessment methods. Casual chats with students in the classroom can help them feel at ease even as you get a sense of what they know, and you may find that five-minute interview assessments work really well. Five minutes per student would take quite a bit of time, but you don't have to talk to every student about every project or lesson.

You can also shift some of this work to students using a peer-feedback process called TAG feedback (Tell your peer something they did well, Ask a thoughtful question, Give a positive suggestion). When you have students share the feedback they have for a peer, you gain insight into both students' learning.

For more introverted students-or for more private assessments-use Flipgrid, Explain Everything, or Seesaw to have students record their answers to prompts and demonstrate what they can do.

5. Methods that incorporate art: Consider using visual art or photography or videography as an assessment tool. Whether students draw, create a collage, or sculpt, you may find that the assessment helps them synthesize their learning. Or think beyond the visual and have kids act out their understanding of the content. They can create a dance to model cell mitosis or act out stories like Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" to explore the subtext.

6. Misconceptions and errors: Sometimes it's helpful to see if students understand why something is incorrect or why a concept is hard. Ask students to explain the " muddiest point" in the lesson-the place where things got confusing or particularly difficult or where they still lack clarity. Or do a misconception check: Present students with a common misunderstanding and ask them to apply previous knowledge to correct the mistake, or ask them to decide if a statement contains any mistakes at all, and then discuss their answers.

You can use sticky notes to get a quick insight into what areas your kids think they need to work on. Ask them to pick their own trouble spot from three or four areas where you think the class as a whole needs work, and write those areas in separate columns on a whiteboard. Have you students answer on a sticky note and then put the note in the correct column-you can see the results at a glance.

Several self-assessments let the teacher see what every kid thinks very quickly. For example, you can use colored stacking cups that allow kids to flag that they're all set (green cup), working through some confusion (yellow), or really confused and in need of help (red).

Similar strategies involve using participation cards for discussions (each student has three cards-"I agree," "I disagree," and "I don't know how to respond") and thumbs-up responses (instead of raising a hand, students hold a fist at their belly and put their thumb up when they're ready to contribute). Students can instead use six hand gestures to silently signal that they agree, disagree, have something to add, and more. All of these strategies give teachers an unobtrusive way to see what students are thinking.

No matter which tools you select, make time to do your own reflection to ensure that you're only assessing the content and not getting lost in the assessment fog. If a tool is too complicated, is not reliable or accessible, or takes up a disproportionate amount of time, it's OK to put it aside and try something different.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
7 Smart, Fast Ways to Do Formative Assessment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Within these methods you'll find close to 40 tools and tricks for finding out what your students know while they're still learning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Academic Success for All Students: A Multi-Tiered Approach