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This is a quick formal assessment where children are asked to put their hands in the air with either a thumb up or thumb down gesture, as pictured. This works great when asking students any yes or no question and can be used as a quick check for understanding. For example, a teacher could say to her class, “If you are done with the notes and ready for me to move on please give me a thumb up. If you need a few more minutes give me a thumb down.”

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This is a great way to keep your students moving while learning. They will have fun while you are able to assess their understanding. This method works best with multiple choice questions. Each corner of the room would represent a letter, A through D. Students would then be presented with a question and four choices. Students when given the “magic word,” then go to the corner they believe represents the correct answer. This would also be a great review game.

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his is the perfect assessment to use when you need to quickly assess your students’ level of understanding.  This is how it works. First, the teacher asks the students a question. Then, the students respond by showing their level of understanding, represented by the number of fingers they hold up. If a student holds up a balled fist, one, or two fingers, they are unsure on the subject and need more time to be spent on it. If they hold up three or four fingers, then they are on their way to fully understanding and may simply need more practice. Students who completely understand and have mastered the subject would hold up five fingers. This activity would have to be explained and likely practiced for it to work. However, it is well worth the effort because with a glance around the classroom you will be able to assess your students’ level of understanding, allowing you to adapt your instruction accordingly. I personally prefer this strategy to the thumbs up thumbs down strategy when assessing understanding. This strategy gives the students a range of answers to use.

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This is a strategy that is great for all ages and allows a teacher to integrate art into a lesson. It works by challenging the students to use a drawing to express what they have learned on a particular topic. After assessing the drawings, allow students to share and explain their drawing.  This will not only allow a teacher to assess the students for understanding, but it will also allow students to explain to each other what they have learned. This helps students who fully grasp a concept to remember it and gives students who may not have understood the concept the first time, another angle to look at it from.

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This is a great, culturally relevant way to assess older students.  The students must create an analogy between something they are familiar with and the new information they learn.  When asked to create an analogy for frequency in relation to sound, students may come up with an analogy like, “if a sound wave has a high frequency it is like a bumpy road.” Having the students to explain their analogies will help the teacher to gauge the depth of their understanding.

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This is a strategy that’s great for older students. It allows students a chance to use technology. Students must create a twitter account, which most will already have.  Next, the teacher will present them with a topic or question to respond to. For example, a teacher might say, “ tweet an example of how light reflects and make sure to use #lightreflects.” The #lightreflects is so that the teacher will be able to find all of his/her students’ responses. The students will then, respond to the teacher by tweeting with #lightreflects and their example. To use this strategy, every student must have a computer, tablet, or phone.

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Using one-on-one conferences, allows a teacher to assess students’ understanding. This method is often used in conjunction with the subjects of reading and writing. With this strategy, the teacher meets with each student in the class or a teacher can only meet with the students that need to be assessed on a particular topic. To do this, a teacher must choose the target questions before meeting with the student. Next, designate a time that you will meet with the student. Then, during the conference take notes so that later, you can look back at them.

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Exit cards are a great formative assessment because they allow students to dump that proverbial basket on their heads. This assessment assesses what the students understand and have learned about a topic. At the end of class, ask the students a question or tell them to write something in particular on their exit card. The exit card can be a simple a notecard. For example, a teacher could ask the students to draw and label a plant cell, if that is what they have just finished learning and collect the finished cards as children walk out the classroom. This strategy could be used to create groups for the next day, based on the students’ responses.

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Another great culturally relevant, formative assessment strategy here! Have the students come up with examples and non-examples of a concept being studied. This strategy provides teachers with information about the depth of their students’ understanding of a subject. For example, during a unit on sound, a teacher could ask the students to provide him/her with examples of high pitch sounds. Have students explain their reasons for classifying each example as an example and the same for the non-example.

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A great way to assess students, that allows for the student to openly respond. If there are shy students in a teacher’s class this assessment is perfect. Double-entry journals have two columns. On the left side, students write keywords, ideas, or quotations. In the right column, they give their responses to these concepts. With this strategy, students are able to include questions. When the teacher reads the students’ responses, the teacher will be able to assess the students’ knowledge and understanding of the subject taught. For example, when studying sound provide students with the phrases “pitch vs. volume,” “amplitude” and “waves.” Students then write these phrases in the left column of their journal and respond to them in the right column.