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DIGITAL FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT - CVUSD Summer Academy

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DIGITAL FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT - CVUSD Summer Academy

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Digital Formative Assessment: Summer Academy

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Digital Formative Assessment Google Classroom Code: d6z2yec Click here to take my poll!

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Sesame Street: Bruno Mars: Don't Give Up

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Classroom Dojo:  Growth Mindset Cartoons

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Classroom Dojo:  Growth Mindset Cartoons

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Classroom Dojo created 5 Growth Mindset Videos for kids. Here is 1/5. Search Youtube for the others.

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Growth Mindset (1 of 5) | Social Emotional Learning for kids

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Teach Carol Dweck's Growth Mindset to your kiddos

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Sesame Street: Janelle Monae - Power of Yet

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Anti-Defamation League - Curriculum Resources

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Anti-Defamation League - Curriculum Resources

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Our K-12 curricula provide an understanding of diverse perspectives, strengthen critical thinking skills, challenge the development of emerging biases and build skills and motivation to take action against injustice.

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No Tears for Tiers: Common Core Vocabulary Tiers

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No Tears for Tiers: Common Core Vocabulary Tiers

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The Common Core State Standards place an importance on academic vocabulary. In addition to developing an advanced vocabulary, the CCSS calls for increasing the amount of nonfiction and informational text in classrooms. We know that vocabulary knowledge influences fluency, comprehension, and student achievement. And, vocabulary plays an even more important role in understanding nonfiction and informational text. It has been estimated that 80% of comprehension in nonfiction is dependent upon understanding the vocabulary.

In Appendix A of the Standards, the Tiered Vocabulary framework by Isabel Beck is summarized. To many educators, the idea of tiered vocabulary is rather new. In this post, I'll define Tiered Vocabulary and lay out a simple framework for thinking about the tiers, including examples for each tier, and provide implications for instruction.

Tiered Vocabulary: Definitions and Examples

Definition: Tiered Vocabulary is an organizational framework for categorizing words and suggests implications for instruction. (The three-tier framework was developed by Isabel Beck and Margaret McKeown.)
Tier 1: Common, Known Words

Examples: big, small, house, table, family

Tier I words are basic, everyday words that are a part of most children's vocabulary. These are words used every day in conversation, and most of them are learned by hearing family, peers, and teachers use them when speaking. These words are especially important for English language learners who may not be familiar with them.
Tier 2: High-Frequency Words (aka Cross-Curricular Vocabulary)
Examples: justify, explain, expand, predict, summarize, maintain

Tier 2 words include frequently occurring words that appear in various contexts and topics and play an important role in verbal functioning across a variety of content areas. These are general academic words and have high utility across a wide range of topics and contexts.
Tier 3: Low-Frequency, Domain-Specific words
Another way to think of Tier 2 vocabulary is as cross-curricular terms. For example, the term "justify" and "predict" frequently appear in Science, Social Studies, and English texts.

Examples: isotope, tectonic plates, carcinogens, mitosis, lithosphere
Understanding tiered vocabulary has practical applications for the Common Core and classroom instruction. Listed below are several instructional implications.
Tier 3 words are domain specific vocabulary. Words in this category are low frequency, specialized words that appear in specific fields or content areas. We anticipate that students will be unfamiliar with Tier 3 words. Beck suggests teaching these words as the need arises for comprehension in specific content areas.

1. Content Vocabulary Lists

First, as teachers work through content units to create key vocabulary lists, understanding the three tiers can help separate the "should-know words (Tier 3)" from the "must-knows (Tier 2)" and the "already-known words (Tier 1)." Too frequently, vocabulary lists are unnecessarily long. That leads to just-in-time cramming and promptly forgetting the words following the quiz or test.

2. Focus for Instruction

There isn't enough time in the day for teachers to teach all words with the same amount of emphasis. Multiple exposures and practice are key characteristics of effective vocabulary instruction.

Tier 2 words are important for students to master and understand deeply. Why? Because academic words such as justify, expand, maximum, and barren are found in many content area texts such as social studies, Science, Mathematics, English, and History texts. Understanding these terms greatly increases comprehension of academic texts.
3. Districtwide K-12 Core Vocabulary Lists
Creating a streamlined list of words helps teachers focus their instructional efforts and use strategies that help students master these terms. There are many evidenced-based vocabulary strategies. One of my favorites is Marzano's 6-Step Vocabulary Process which includes multiple exposures, linguistic and nonlinguistic definitions, and games to reinforce word learning.

Many districts we work with create K-12 vocabulary lists. While including other terms, these K-12 core vocabulary lists often focus on the broad-based Tier 2 words. Not only are these terms important for reading and comprehending in a cross-curricular sense, Tier 2 terms also frequently appear on standardized assessments.

4. Digital Tools to Support Word Learning

In today's 21st century classrooms, digital tools must coexist alongside more traditional tools to help students increase their word learning and master academic terms. Online tools, compared to their more traditional counterparts, provide a broader array of information about words and word meanings. In addition, some tools allow teachers to easily customize words so that students can practice, review, and play games with content or unit-specific words.

I've reviewed 21 digital tools that may help you plan and organize vocabulary activities. Students, too, can benefit by using online reference tools and various apps for practicing and reviewing terms.

Tiered vocabulary doesn't have to be complicated.

To start, review key terms from one unit and sorting them into Tier 2 and Tier 3 words which make up academic vocabulary.
Put simply, creating tiered vocabulary lists and effective vocabulary instruction support student learning, achievement, and the Common Core State Standards.
Then, you need to think about how you will teach some of those words, particularly Tier 2 vocabulary. Check out 5 Simple Steps to Effective Vocabulary Instruction - you'll get a few solid ideas and strategies there.

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No Tears for Tiers: Common Core Tiered Vocabulary Made Simple l Dr. Kimberly's Literacy Blog

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The Common Core State Standards place an importance on academic vocabulary. In addition to developing an advanced vocabulary, the CCSS calls for increasing the amount of nonfiction and informational text in classrooms. We know that vocabulary knowledge influences fluency, comprehension, and student achievement. And, vocabulary plays an even more important role in understanding nonfiction and ...

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Larry Bell's 12 Powerful Words - Vocabulary List : Vocabulary.com

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Whether you're a student, an educator, or a lifelong learner, Vocabulary.com can put you on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.

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Resources for Educators

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Glazed, Powdered, Chocolate, creme or jelly filled, maybe even the infamous Krispy Kreme Burger--- there is a donut that perfectly correlates to your personality, but which one?

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World-renowned coach (Feed Forward)

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Avoid Letting Your Radar Distract You

One of women's great strengths is their ability to notice a lot of things at once. in today's hyper-abundant world, a well-developed radar can be a powerful asset at work. Are you using yours?

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Avoid Letting Your Radar Distract You One of women's great strengths is their ability to notice a lot of things at once. in today's hyper-abundant world, a well-developed radar can be a powerful asset at work. Are you using yours?

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Pinterest:  Depth and Complexity Structures

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Pinterest:  Depth and Complexity Structures

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Find and save recipes, parenting hacks, style inspiration and other ideas to try.

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Our network brings experience and connections to a wide range of resources that can help learning organizations reach their goals Steve Regur Ed.D. is a founder and current CEO of the Educators Cooperative, a leader in innovative K-12 education solutions. Dr. Steve Regur Ed.D. graduated from the USC Rossier School

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CVUSD Student discusses how well she met SC

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CVUSD Student discusses how well she met SC

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Why are so many of our teachers and schools so successful? John Hattie at TEDxNorrkoping

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Thinking Routine: I used to think, now I think. . .

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Thinking Routine: I used to think, now I think. . .

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Harvard Graduate School of Education: Making Thinking Visible

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Harvard Graduate School of Education: Making Thinking Visible

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Similarly, we want students to be reflective, to ask themselves, "How do I know if I'm on the right track?" or "What could I do next?" Instead of coming immediately to the teacher, we want students to experiment on their own. Many of us wonder why students constantly do the opposite instead. I've got news for you. It's our fault. We, as educators, are often responsible for learned helplessness, and we have a responsibility to change it! How can we empower our students to be self-directed learners?

Curate and Create Learning Resources

If we want to have students seek out other information from sources other than the teacher, then we must make sure those resources are available. Many teachers using the flipped classroom approach already have created or found these kinds of resources. However, think broadly about the word resource. People are resources, texts are resources, and community organizations are resources -- to name just a few categories. We have to be comfortable not always knowing the answer, and instead suggesting we find the answer together through the vast amount of learning resources that we have at our disposal. Try curating these resources before, during, and after a unit. Work with students as well to create a culture where the answers are everywhere.

Questions "For" (Not "About") Learning

What do I mean by this? Instead of using questions to check for understanding and getting the right answer, we can use questions to probe students' thinking and push them to think about their learning. Questions can serve as powerful redirection tools that promote metacognition. Instead of responding with "Yes" or "No," ask a student, "Why do you think that?" If you notice an error or gap in learning, try using questions that push the student to think:

What else could you try?

Have you experimented with another idea?

Why do you think this is true?

Questions are powerful tools for helping students own the process of learning.

Stop Giving Answers

Often, when a student fails or makes mistakes, we want to fly in like a superhero and give the answer. "This is what you need to do." We come to save the day, and pat ourselves on the back for being a great teacher. In fact, we may have done that student a disservice. This doesn't come from a bad place, or suggest that we're bad at teaching. On the contrary, we care for our students, so we want to help them whenever we can. Ask yourself this: By helping that student, will he or she own the learning, or are you doing the learning for him or her? This means that sometimes we need to get out of the way. If students are working in teams, for example, and are arguing (safely) about what to do next, we need to let them solve the problem on their own and then check in. "I heard an argument. Did you guys figure it out? Great work at problem solving!" Of course, if students are floundering, and failure is not productive, by all means step in. But also feel free to allow yourself wait time before you do so!

Allow for Failure

I firmly believe that failure is a powerful learning tool, but we have to make sure that we create a culture where it is OK to fail forward. Do you grade everything? If so, you may not be communicating that it's OK to fail. Do you allow for multiple drafts and revisions and demand high-quality products? If so, you are communicating to students that they have multiple tries to learn and, more importantly, that they can be creative and experiment. In addition, we should be there to support students when they do fail, and to help get them back on the right track.

We need to take responsibility for empowering our students, and to scaffold the process of self-direction. Self-direction doesn't happen overnight, especially, when many of our students, based on specific structures of schooling, are trained to be helpless. Although we can take steps as individual educators to avoid learned helplessness, we need to reexamine the systems of schooling, from curriculum to assessment and instruction, to allow for empowerment rather than always getting the right answer.

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Avoiding "Learned Helplessness" | Edutopia

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Similarly, we want students to be reflective, to ask themselves, "How do I know if I'm on the right track?" or "What could I do next?" Instead of coming immediately to the teacher, we want students to experiment on their own. Many of us wonder why students constantly do the opposite instead.

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We might all agree that reflection is a powerful tool but how can we help students to reflect in the classroom. Of course reflection should be a component that builds onto knowledge they have acquired throughout the lesson. So why is reflection so important?
Benefits of Reflection

Significance: It allows students to see the importance of their own learning process.

Process Recognition: Students can identify what they did well, what they failed at, what they need to change.

Solutions/Strategies: Provides students an opportunities to come up with solutions and strategies to improve on their learning.

Motivation: Reflection provides students with motivation to learn and enjoy the process of learning. This motivation comes from them reflecting on their thoughts, feelings and emotions.

Analysis: The most important benefit of reflection in the classroom is for students to be able to know *why* they needed to learn these concepts, theories, and ideas.

LEARNING WON'T BE CONTENT DRIVEN: It's important for students to know "how" to learn and how to continue to be learners. Memorizing content will not help students become critical thinkers.Critical thinking stems from pausing, reflecting, and knowing "how" and "why" learning should be happening at that moment.

Levels of Scaffolding to Help Students Reflect
When we practice reflection in my classroom I try a process of scaffolding to help students understand the learning process. This provides an opportunity for iteration for myself as well as the students. The scaffolding of students reflection allows students to see the learning process holistically.
Level One: The Student Before Learning
The student comes with his/her prior knowledge, preference, assumptions, bias, feelings about a topic/subject. At this level, we should work closely with students to understand all of these complex feelings. As teachers, this knowledge for us would help us understand the pathway the student uses throughout their learning process. In other words, we will empathize more with them knowing these feelings, thoughts and ideas. For students, it will allow them to speak/write openly about their feelings, thoughts and ideas. This provides a basis for their reflection of their learning.
Level Two: The Student While Learning
The questions here provide an opportunity to scaffold reflections about the teacher's pedagogical style to teach that particular lesson. Students will provide their thoughts and ideas on "how" they're learning, which informs "how" we're teaching. Here is where the teacher becomes once again the learner and tries to navigate, change, iterate teaching techniques and strategies to best help the students.

For the student, this level of reflection allows them become familiar with how they learn, what they're comfortable with, and what they would change in the process of their learning.
Level Three: The Student After Learning
Here is where this level of reflection is able to guide the student to "analyze" what they learned and "why" it was important to learn. Reflecting on the significance of what they learned is vital in helping students see the relevance in our lessons.

Relevance=motivation
Level Tour: The Student Going Forward
For this level of reflection, students will synthesize their learning. They will be able to take what they learned and apply it elsewhere. Here is where they take the prior reflection on the relevance of the lesson and try to make sense of it to be applied in different scenarios. While most of these levels help students to think critically, level four students will be applying strong critical thinking skills to their reflections as they will be reflecting on their learning process as a whole.

What To Do With These Reflections?

Use them to provide feedback for students

Use them for peer feedback

Use them to understand and inform teaching strategies and pedagogy in the classroom (student evaluating teacher)

Blogging

Digital portfolios

Class discussions

Online discussions, community posts, chats as a class

Here is a sample of questions based on the 4 levels mentioned above.

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Scaffolding Student Reflections + Sample Questions | Edutopia

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We might all agree that reflection is a powerful tool but how can we help students to reflect in the classroom. Of course reflection should be a component that builds onto knowledge they have acquired throughout the lesson. So why is reflection so important?

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Edutopia: Deeper Learning in the Classroom

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Edutopia: Deeper Learning in the Classroom

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After reading an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence, students form a circle to engage in conversation about liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The inquiry circle begins with two questions posed by the teacher:

What is more important, liberty or the pursuit of happiness?

Are liberty and the pursuit of happiness inalienable rights?

To begin, some students argue that liberty and the pursuit of happiness are only open to the people who follow rules within a society. Others argue that while they agree to the rule of law, the argument might have exceptions. One student asks, "Is it morally right to take away freedoms for all crimes committed?" Another student responds, "Yes, what if a crime is committed to save someone's life?"

This leads to a conversation about the nature of happiness. Students argue that happiness lacks a universal definition. One student shares, "Collecting baseball cards makes me happy, but not everyone likes this hobby." They also question that laws might limit the pursuit of happiness for some. A girl explains, "My family and I like to go to the beach on the weekends, but we would be happier if we could bring our dog."

While the conversation was rich and rooted in deeper learning and understanding, the inquiry-based discussion did not end within the classroom. At the request of the students and with the facilitation of the teacher, the discussion extended into a Twitter chat that spanned several days.

Deeper student learning can evolve over time facilitated by an educator who is skilled in the art of thinking within a carefully crafted environment. I believe this can occur in all classrooms. To achieve deeper student learning, I suggest beginning with five cultural transitions.

1. Engage in Inquiry-Based Professional Development

The development of formal thinking and logical reasoning skills is necessary to achieving deeper learning. Educators should first immerse themselves in professional development focused on building inquiry skills, possibly within the field of philosophy. Learning to think deeply is a prerequisite to planning lessons with flexibility and creativity, both of which are critical aspects to achieving deeper student learning.

Prior to students becoming skilled at inquiry-based discussions, teachers must verbally model thinking skills for students by thinking aloud and making unlikely connections. Deeper learning necessitates deeper teaching.

2. Formulate a Classroom Community of Inquiry

Establishing a community of inquiry involves students learning to respect the ideas of others and share their thoughts freely. They should not be afraid of making mistakes. Begin by creating a "community ball," or inside-out yarn ball, as a tool to facilitate respectful conversation. Students should form a circle and share information about themselves while wrapping yarn around a cardboard rectangle. After the last student shares information about him- or herself while wrapping the cardboard form, tie one side of the yarn loop and cut the opposite side. Each strand is representative of the group's stories, serving as a representation of each individual's importance to the group. Educators must teach students to listen to the ideas of others, giving adequate time to hear their thoughts and internalize the information. The community ball helps to facilitate time for inquiry, reflection, and respect for the speaker during classroom discussions.

3. Start Simply and Exercise the Brain Daily

Learning how to think is similar to an artist perfecting his or her craft -- it evolves over time with adequate practice. Deep learning cannot be seen as a special classroom activity, but rather as a replacement to surface-level instruction. As an introduction to thinking and inquiry skills, I recommend the use of children's picture books or reproductions of visual art. The simple lessons and morals within children's stories and interpretations of art allow for discussions that are focused on building thinking skills. Beginning with a complex text would be counterintuitive to the learning goal, which should be primarily aimed at developing a thinking community. Over time, students will build the necessary skills to analyze more complex documents, text, and academic vocabulary, raising performance with the Common Core ELA standards.

4. Make Learning Relevant

Have students retell or reimagine learning content with a modern-day twist. Make learning relevant, meaningful, and tied to the generational characteristics of your students. When reviewing a historical document, have students rewrite the document with current jargon, allowing for a deeper understanding of its meaning. This also develops creative ways of thinking about the information, so that they can make connections and think outside of the box.

5. Integrate Technological Resources

While human beings have communicated through stories, symbols, writing, and discussions throughout history, these modes of communication are far from the only options available to the modern-day educator. Teachers have access to exciting technological options that can be used to promote deeper learning. Twitter chats, blogs, or group text messaging can extend deep and enriching discussions by allowing for a period of reflection. The newly-learned concepts can be more deeply understood by analyzing, comparing, and contrasting the information over time. Technological tools provide an opportunity for extended thinking.

Establishing a culture of inquiry is a necessary prerequisite to achieving deeper student learning. The art of thinking flourishes within an emotionally, intellectually and physically safe learning environment that is carefully constructed by the classroom teacher. The development of philosophical dispositions must be fostered within both students and educators, because deep thinking is supported by deep teaching.

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Preparing a Classroom Culture for Deeper Learning | Edutopia

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After reading an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence, students form a circle to engage in conversation about liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The inquiry circle begins with two questions posed by the teacher: What is more important, liberty or the pursuit of happiness? Are liberty and the pursuit of happiness inalienable rights?

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Edutopia: Strategies for Strengthening the Brain's Executive Function

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Edutopia: Strategies for Strengthening the Brain's Executive Function

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Earlier in Donna's career as a teacher and school psychologist, she assessed, diagnosed, and helped to create interventions for children and youth who had difficulty with their executive functioning. Today as teacher educators, we are pleased that our graduates are increasing students' cognitive, metacognitive, and executive functioning in classrooms around the world (as just one example, Texas teacher Diane Dahl blogs on teaching metacognition).

What Are Executive Functions?

Through explicit instruction and modeling, students can come to recognize the importance of taking charge of their executive functioning in their academic endeavors and later in their careers.

Executive functions can be defined as the awareness and directive capacities of the mind. By wielding these skills and abilities, students decide where to focus their attention and which tasks to undertake. As a general rule of thumb, when students of any age have difficulty completing developmentally appropriate academic tasks on their own, executive functioning may be at the root of the problem.

In the human brain, executive functions are primarily regulated by the prefrontal regions (just behind the forehead) of the frontal lobes. Neuroscientists and psychologists have made significant gains in understanding the brain's executive functioning over the past several decades.

An appropriate metaphor that often helps students and educators alike understand the role of executive functioning in thinking and behavior is to imagine an orchestra conductor. The conductor chooses what work the orchestra will perform, decides how to interpret that work, sets the tempo for the performance, and directs each section of musicians to contribute at the appropriate time. In the same way, executive functioning allows us to:

1. Activate awareness

2. Self-regulate by cueing, directing, and coordinating the various cognitive skills necessary for moment-to-moment functioning

3. Establish goals and make long-term plans

4. Maintain a self-image of being in charge of our learning and actions

Students can and should be taught to develop their executive functioning as a path to self-directed learning and self-determined living.

Making Connections

We have found that educators today are more interested than ever in teaching students to wield powerful learning and thinking tools. In other blog posts and articles we have written with Edutopia and elsewhere, we have shared popular, practical strategies for increasing students' executive functioning by teaching them how and when to employ cognitive assets, metacognition, working memory, and selective attention. All of these learning tools come together under the umbrella of executive functioning.

Incorporating instruction on executive functions into content lessons emphasizes that:

1. Students are in charge of their learning.

2. Honing their use of these skills and abilities will improve their performance in school and beyond.

Teaching students that they are the "conductors of their own brains" conveys the need to master a wide range of thinking and learning tools for use across core academic subjects, in their personal lives, and later in their college years and careers. Success in the 21st century demands self-directed learners and independent, creative thinkers.

Classroom Strategies to Support Executive Functioning

From elementary through high school and into adulthood, students will benefit from these opportunities to understand and develop their executive functioning:

1. Introduce the concept of executive functions and refer to these learning tools explicitly and often.

Define executive functioning, and lead discussions on how being aware of their thinking and taking control of their learning can help students achieve success in school and other aspects of their lives. A key message is that using executive functions often and effectively doesn't just happen -- we all have to work toward developing these abilities. Apply metaphors of executive functioning (the brain's conductor or air traffic controller, for example), and invite students to share examples of how they can use executive functioning in their lessons and activities outside of school. How do adults use executive functioning in their jobs? How do the actions of characters in stories demonstrate executive functioning?

2. Provide student-centered opportunities to put executive functioning to work.

Include students in setting learning goals for lessons, and let them choose their own books for independent reading and subjects for classroom projects. Giving students choices enhances motivation by giving them a chance to think about subjects that interest them, and also underscores that they are in charge of their learning.

3. Be the "prefrontal cortex" for your class.

Articulate and model effective thinking practices. For example, clearly state your intent for a learning activity and demonstrate the steps of planning, carrying out, and assessing the outcomes of the activity. Identify up front any thorny problems and tough spots in new lesson content, and talk through possible strategies for identifying and overcoming any learning difficulties that arise. Use cues to remind students when activating their executive functions might be useful.

4. Catch students using executive functions effectively.

Congratulate students who recognize and correct mistakes to emphasize that mistakes are prime learning opportunities. Recognize not just the finished product, but also the hard work and the steps of planning and execution that students accomplished in completing a big project. Especially celebrate the successes of students who've struggled with taking charge of their learning in the past.

5. Clearly state classroom rules that support positive and productive learning interactions.

A well-organized environment with predictable rules allows students to more easily focus on the learning tasks at hand.

How do you approach teaching and encouraging students to develop their executive functioning in your classroom?

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Strategies for Strengthening the Brain's Executive Functions

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Earlier in Donna's career as a teacher and school psychologist, she assessed, diagnosed, and helped to create interventions for children and youth who had difficulty with their executive functioning. Today as teacher educators, we are pleased that our graduates are increasing students' cognitive, metacognitive, and executive functioning in classrooms around the world (as just one example, Texas teacher Diane Dahl blogs on teaching metacognition).

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How do children gain a deeper understanding of how they think, feel, and act so that they can improve their learning and develop meaningful relationships? Since antiquity, philosophers have been intrigued with how human beings develop self-awareness -- the ability to examine and understand who we are relative to the world around us. Today, research not only shows that self-awareness evolves during childhood, but also that its development is linked to metacognitive processes of the brain.

Making Sense of Life Experiences

Most teachers know that if students reflect on how they learn, they become better learners. For example, some students may think and process information best in a quiet library, while others may focus better surrounded by familiar noise or music. Learning strategies that work for math may be different from those applied in the study of a foreign language. For some, it takes more time to understand biology than chemistry. With greater awareness of how they acquire knowledge, students learn to regulate their behavior to optimize learning. They begin to see how their strengths and weaknesses affect how they perform. The ability to think about one's thinking is what neuroscientists call metacognition. As students' metacognitive abilities increase, research suggests they also achieve at higher levels.

Metacognition plays an important role in all learning and life experiences. Beyond academic learning, when students gain awareness of their own mental states, they begin to answer important questions:

How do I live a happy life?

How do I become a respected human being?

How do I feel good about myself?

Through these reflections, they also begin to understand other people's perspectives.

At a recent international workshop, philosophers and neuroscientists gathered to discuss self-awareness and how it is linked to metacognition. Scientists believe that self-awareness, associated with the paralimbic network of the brain, serves as a "tool for monitoring and controlling our behavior and adjusting our beliefs of the world, not only within ourselves, but, importantly, between individuals." This higher-order thinking strategy actually changes the structure of the brain, making it more flexible and open to even greater learning.

Self-awareness is part of The Compass Advantage™ (a model designed for engaging families, schools, and communities in the principles of positive youth development) because it plays a critical role in how students make sense of life experiences. Linked by research to each of the other Compass abilities, particularly empathy, curiosity, and sociability, self-awareness is one of the 8 Pathways to Every Student's Success.

Self-awareness plays a critical role in improved learning because it helps students become more efficient at focusing on what they still need to learn. The ability to think about one's thinking increases with age. Research shows that most growth of metacognitive ability happens between ages 12 and 15 (PDF, 199KB). When teachers cultivate students' abilities to reflect on, monitor, and evaluate their learning strategies, young people become more self-reliant, flexible, and productive. Students improve their capacity to weigh choices and evaluate options, particularly when answers are not obvious. When students have difficulty understanding, they rely on reflective strategies to recognize their difficulties and attempt to rectify them. Improving metacognitive strategies related to students' schoolwork also provides young people with tools to reflect and grow in their emotional and social lives.

7 Strategies That Improve Metacognition

1. Teach students how their brains are wired for growth.

The beliefs that students adopt about learning and their own brains will affect their performance. Research shows that when students develop a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset, they are more likely to engage in reflective thinking about how they learn and grow. Teaching kids about the science of metacognition can be an empowering tool, helping students to understand how they can literally grow their own brains.

2. Give students practice recognizing what they don't understand.

The act of being confused and identifying one's lack of understanding is an important part of developing self-awareness. Take time at the end of a challenging class to ask, "What was most confusing about the material we explored today?" This not only jumpstarts metacognitive processing, but also creates a classroom culture that acknowledges confusion as an integral part of learning.

3. Provide opportunities to reflect on coursework.

Higher-order thinking skills are fostered as students learn to recognize their own cognitive growth. Questions that help this process might include:

Before this course, I thought earthquakes were caused by _______. Now I understand them to be the result of _______.

How has my thinking about greenhouse gases changed since taking this course?

4. Have students keep learning journals.

One way to help students monitor their own thinking is through the use of personal learning journals. Assign weekly questions that help students reflect on how rather than what they learned. Questions might include:

What was easiest for me to learn this week? Why?

What was most challenging for me to learn? Why?

What study strategies worked well as I prepared for my exam?

What strategies for exam preparation didn't work well? What will I do differently next time?

What study habits worked best for me? How?

What study habit will I try or improve upon next week?

Encourage creative expression through whatever journal formats work best for learners, including mind maps, blogs, wikis, diaries, lists, e-tools, etc.

5. Use a "wrapper" to increase students' monitoring skills.

A "wrapper" is a short intervention that surrounds an existing activity and integrates a metacognitive practice. Before a lecture, for example, give a few tips about active listening. Following the lecture, ask students to write down three key ideas from the lecture. Afterward, share what you believe to be the three key ideas and ask students to self-check how closely theirs matched your intended goals. When used often, this activity not only increases learning, but also improves metacognitive monitoring skills.

6. Consider essay vs. multiple-choice exams.

Research shows that students use lower-level thinking skills to prepare for multiple-choice exams, and higher-level metacognitive skills to prepare for essay exams. While it is less time consuming to grade multiple-choice questions, even the addition of several short essay questions can improve the way students reflect on their learning to prepare for test taking.

7. Facilitate reflexive thinking.

Reflexivity is the metacognitive process of becoming aware of our biases -- prejudices that get in the way of healthy development. Teachers can create a classroom culture for deeper learning and reflexivity by encouraging dialogue that challenges human and societal biases. When students engage in conversations or write essays on biases and moral dilemmas related to politics, wealth, racism, poverty, justice, liberty, etc., they learn to "think about their own thinking." They begin to challenge their own biases and become more flexible and adaptive thinkers.

What other ways do you help students reflect on their thinking in your classroom?

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Metacognition: Nurturing Self-Awareness in the Classroom | Edutopia

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How do children gain a deeper understanding of how they think, feel, and act so that they can improve their learning and develop meaningful relationships? Since antiquity, philosophers have been intrigued with how human beings develop self-awareness -- the ability to examine and understand who we are relative to the world around us.

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In a post not too long ago, I highlighted three reasons to prioritize formative assessment in the classroom. Formative assessment may be a buzz word in education these days, but it's more than that; it will bring together all of the things you as a teacher do to help transform all students into learners who are active participants in their own education. While many teachers incorporate formative assessment practices into their instruction, educational leaders are still faced with a challenge: how to make formative assessment a lasting habit that's part of the school or district culture.

The organizations that support their teachers' consistent use of formative assessment across grade levels and subject areas experience more than just increased student engagement. They also see greater teacher engagement and collaboration, which results in an enhanced instructional environment for all students. But how do they get there?

So what are some specific things leaders can do to support teachers in integrating formative assessment into their daily routines? What does it take? What does it look like? Dylan Wiliam developed a list of five key process components to promote and support the development of classroom formative assessment. We've modified that list and added to it. Here are six keys to formative assessment success in the classroom:

Choice. Ensure teachers have some autonomy in deciding which formative assessment practices and strategies to try implementing or how exactly to approach the learning. By providing choice, we can better respond to different teacher readiness levels.

Flexibility. Encourage teachers to make modifications to the strategies to make them their own so that they're as applicable and relevant as possible to their environment and for their students.

Small Steps. Learning is incremental and it takes time to change practice. To make lasting change, support teachers with the time, resources, and coaching they need as they transfer new learning into their daily routines.

Responsiveness. The information we collect is nothing until we act on it. Support teachers in not just eliciting evidence of learning, but then also making responsive adjustments to their instruction based on that data. It is also important for the teacher to teach students to be responsive in using their own data.

Collegial support. Provide teachers with both a space to collaborate with peers around formative assessment practices and the time to meet. This gives teachers opportunities to develop personal action plans, report back to a peer group about the result of implementing those plans, and reflect and receive feedback from colleagues who are addressing similar challenges.

Supportive answerability. Teachers, like any professionals, need to be held responsible for results AND they must be provided with the time and resources to accomplish meaningful change.

For school and district leaders, the combination of these six keys helps clarify who owns the learning (teachers) and who's responsible for the learning environment (leaders). For more information on ways to integrate formative assessment in the classroom you can check out our blog posts on the subject, or download the eBook - How to Make Formative Assessment a Habit: Beyond the Classroom Practices.

Kathy Dyer is a Sr. Professional Development Specialist for NWEA, designing and developing learning opportunities for partners and internal staff. Formerly a Professional Development Consultant for NWEA, she coached teachers and school leadership and provided professional development focused on assessment, data, and leadership. In a career that includes 20 years in the education field, she has also served as a district achievement coordinator, principal, and classroom teacher. She received her Masters in Educational Leadership from the University of Colorado Denver. Follow her on Twitter at @kdyer13.

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6 steps to #formativeassessment success in the classroom

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In a post not too long ago, I highlighted three reasons to prioritize formative assessment in the classroom. Formative assessment may be a buzz word in education these days, but it's more than that; it will bring together all of the things you as a teacher do to help transform all students into learners who are active participants in their own education.

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ELA Literacy Standards in the Technical Subjects 

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ELA Literacy Standards in the Technical Subjects 

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Grades 6-8

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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.2
Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.3
Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.4
Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6-8 texts and topics.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.5
Analyze the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections contribute to the whole and to an understanding of the topic.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.6
Analyze the author's purpose in providing an explanation, describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment in a text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.7
Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.9
Compare and contrast the information gained from experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same topic.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.10
By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

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English Language Arts Standards " Science & Technical Subjects " Grade 6-8

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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.2 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.3 Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.

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Examples of Learning Intentions & Success Criteria

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Examples of Learning Intentions & Success Criteria

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Are you a teacher and surprised by some of the evidence found in the Visible Learning research? Wouldn't it be great to discuss your questions directly with Professor Hattie? In 2016, Corwin, a partner of John Hattie's professional development program Visible Learning Plus, has organized an online Q&A. (Corwin has also published Visible Learning for Literacy, the latest addition to John Hattie's VL series). Here are the questions that teachers and school leaders submitted to Professor John Hattie. We provide an excerpt of each answer as a quick take-away. But you should definitely take the time to listen to the full answers. And read the the books.

1. Why does inquiry-based learning only have an effect size of 0.31 when it is an approach to learning that seems to engage students and teachers so readily in the process of learning?
-Question submitted by a school improvement resource team leader from Canada
Professor John Hattie: "It turns out that if you are learning surface-level information, the content, as contrasted with deep learning which is the relationships between the content, then problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning is pretty useless. But if you don't teach the surface and the content, you've got nothing to inquire about. [...] The reason it comes out very low on the chart is because most teachers introduce it far too early."

2. Why are we striving for an "assessment-capable learner" and not a "self-regulated learner"?
-Question submitted by a Principal from Southern California
Professor John Hattie: "If we teach the students how to evaluate their own learning, that's what the key of formative assessment is. And of course, if you're going to teach the students that, the teachers have to know it to teach the students that. So you get this double virtuous circle without all that language that goes with formative vs. summative."

3. What are the three most important things I can do in my classes to improve learning?
-Question submitted by a Teacher leader from Texas
Professor John Hattie: "Know thy impact!" Having an understanding...

what impact means,

about the magnitude, how big the impact you want,

about the equity question, whether all kids get that impact."

4. What methods have been successfully used to effect a paradigm shift at the campus and district level?
-Question submitted by a Curriculum instructional specialist from Texas
Professor John Hattie: "It's about how we think about what we do. Do we have a mind frame that we actually can collectively make a difference to these kids?"

5. Is there a correlation between calculating effect size and percentile rating? If so, how do you compare scores and effect size?
-Question by Ainsley Rose, Corwin Author and Certified Visible Learning Plus Trainer
Professor John Hattie: "Yes, there is a way to do it. Unfortunately, you have to use something that is not easy and not obvious. But I'd express a lot of caution. Percentiles have some major problems. The whole point of percentiles is to compare students to other students. And yes, there is a place for that, I suppose, but what I'm much more interested in with the effect size notion is the learning for each individual student, and when you look at the averages of the effect size, you've in sense got a comparison."

6. What is the effect size for the cultural competence of the teacher?
-Question submitted by an education consultant from Seattle, WA
Professor John Hattie: "Teachers, they do understand what kids bring to the classroom. Certainly the effect size of that is extremely high. [... ] It's how the kids think: Are these kids prepared to take challenges? Are they prepared to be risk takers? Do they study learning because they want to perform well in front of their peers. Or do they do it because they want to reinvest in learning and really want to master what they do. These are critical dimensions to make connections with these kids, to help them on this learning journey."

7. How can we prioritize which influences to focus on during the school year?
-Question submitted by a Principal from Michigan
Professor John Hattie: "Having a collective understanding of the actual problems we need to work on is critical. But at all times, we need to be very careful not to make changes to things that are really working. So that's where the prioritization starts. Then, what I'd love schools and districts to do is to map that with what are the high-probability effects from the research side of things [...] and from that then we do our interventions."

8. How does communicating the learning target impact student learning?
-Question submitted by an Instructional coach from Arizona
Professor John Hattie: "You need learning intentions and success criteria. It's those two things that go together. It is giving the kids a sense of what is the purpose of what we are learning here today. [...] Like think of kids playing video games. They know what it means to be successful: Get to the next level. And they're prepared to invest an incredible number of hours to get to that next level. And they get very many cues and understandings of what that next level is."

9. Why does ability grouping or tracking have a negative effect size?
-Question submitted by a Supervisor of math and science from New Jersey
Professor John Hattie: "It has a very close to zero effect size. And in many ways that means it doesn't matter whether you track or you don't track. [...] But the biggest problem with tracking - by a million miles - is the equity issue. For instance if you look at this country here. There is a higher probability for African Americans and Hispanics being in the lower track groups. How can you possibly defend that apartheid in that schools?!"

10. What RTI models did you investigate? What critical attributes were included in the models that you looked at?
-Question submitted by an Assessment coordinator from Iowa
Professor John Hattie: "I'm not weighted to one particular way of implementing the RTI model. What I like about the RTI model again it comes back to how we think. The RTI is always looking at the Response - To - Intervention. And then making adaptations and changes in light of that. And that's exactly what the Visible Learning notions are."

11. How does recess, art and music impact student achievement?
-Question submitted by a Principal from Michigan
Professor John Hattie: "Many years ago when I was a real teacher I was a music teacher. And so this question is very passionate to me. The answer is it's very very small but I wished it was zero. Because understanding music is worthwhile in itself. Why do we have to justify a subject just because it relates to a narrow excellence of teaching maths, literacy and numeracy? [...] Recess, art and music are worthwhile things! Kids need to have multiple ways of learning. I think the most important outcome of our schooling is kids who want to reinvest in learning. Not reinvest in a narrow excellence. There are multiple ways to be excellent in schools."

Video source: www.corwin.com/visiblelearning

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11 Questions to Professor John Hattie, asked by teachers (VIDEO)

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Are you a teacher and surprised by some of the evidence found in the Visible Learning research? Wouldn't it be great to discuss your questions directly with Professor Hattie? In 2016, Corwin, a partner of John Hattie's professional development program Visible Learning Plus, has organized...Read more ›

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John Hattie- Visible Learning for Teachers

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Agenda 1. Why are we here? 2. What can we expect to do? 3. Video- John Hattie 4. Let's read 5. Let's talk- protocol- focus on a word, phrase , and sentence that is meaningful to you in the conclusion. 6. What's next? Why are we here?

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Check out numbers 3 & 4

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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As the number of blog posts we've written on formative assessment continues to grow, I thought it would be a good idea to create a blog that could serve as a general resource - sort of a go-to blog on everything formative assessment.

If you're not familiar with formative assessment, or assessment for learning, the first thing you should do is understand what it is and, perhaps even more importantly, what it is not. Formative assessment is defined as planned classroom practice to elicit evidence of learning minute-to-minute, day-by-day in the classroom; along with non-summative assessments that occur while content is still being taught. Both of these can inform teachers of what students know or do not know, and help students understand what it is they are ready to learn next, so teachers can adjust their instruction accordingly for each of their students.

Here are a few blog posts that break down formative assessment further:

+ What is Formative Assessment?
+ Formative Assessment: The Minute-to-Minute, Day-by-Day Kind
+ Formative Assessment vs. Summative Assessment Results: Timing Matters

With a good understanding of what formative assessment is it's important to break it down in succinct strategies that can help as you begin to determine the best way to implement it in a classroom setting. Here are some blog posts that get into more strategic detail of formative assessment:

+ Dylan Wiliam & The 5 Formative Assessment Strategies to Improve Student Learning
+ Dylan Wiliam and Putting Formative Assessment to Work
+ Dylan Wiliam: Unpacking Formative Assessment
+ Improving Student Performance Requires Varied Teaching Strategies and Techniques

Now it comes time to use some formative assessment strategies and techniques in a classroom environment, so here are some ideas to get you started:

+ The Popsicle™ Stick
+ The Exit Ticket
+ The Whiteboard
+ + Think-Pair-Share
+ Two Stars and a Wish
+ Carrousel Brainstorming
+ + + Basketball Discussions
+ Student Centered Learning Strategies - Two Ideas for Providing Feedback

With the Common Core State Standards being rolled out across the country, formative assessment dovetails nicely with the need for deeper learning and higher-order thinking. Here are some ways that formative assessment can play a strong role in successful implementation of the Common Core:

+ Mapping Formative Assessment Strategies to the Common Core State Standards - Part One
+ Mapping Formative Assessment Strategies to the Common Core State Standards - Part Two
+ Mapping Formative Assessment Strategies to the Common Core State Standards - Part Three
+ Formative Assessment: Higher-Order Questions and Increased Wait Time Increase Student Engagement
+ Encouraging Collaborative Learning for Improving Student Performance
+ Going Beyond Q and A: Formative Assessment and Other Ideas for 100 Percent Student Participation

With all this information on formative assessment under your belt, there are digital tools and apps that can make implementation inexpensive, interactive and easy. Here are some of those tools and apps:

+ Digital Technology Tools for Implementing Formative Assessment - Post One
+ Digital Technology Tools for Implementing Formative Assessment - Post Two
+ Digital Technology Tools for Implementing Formative Assessment - Post Three

Formative assessment is a proven strategy for engaging students, eliciting evidence of student learning, and moving students forward to meet their learning targets and personal goals. Hopefully these blog posts will help you implement these minute-to-minute techniques in your school or classroom. Tell us what you think and share some formative assessment resources you've found online by adding a comment below.

Kathy Dyer is a Sr. Professional Development Specialist for NWEA, designing and developing learning opportunities for partners and internal staff. Formerly a Professional Development Consultant for NWEA, she coached teachers and school leadership and provided professional development focused on assessment, data, and leadership. In a career that includes 20 years in the education field, she has also served as a district achievement coordinator, principal, and classroom teacher. She received her Masters in Educational Leadership from the University of Colorado Denver. Follow her on Twitter at @kdyer13.

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Formative Assessment - What it Is, Why you Should Use It, and How to Make it Happen

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As the number of blog posts we've written on formative assessment continues to grow, I thought it would be a good idea to create a blog that could serve as a general resource - sort of a go-to blog on everything formative assessment.

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Best Practices in Utilizing Technology in the Classroom

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Best Practices in Utilizing Technology in the Classroom

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Quick Read:  What is Formative Assessment?

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Quick Read:  What is Formative Assessment?

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We've blogged, and will continue to blog, about formative assessment strategies, so perhaps we should back up a bit and share how we define formative assessment. The term is used a lot across education, along with interim/benchmark assessments and summative assessments, and I think it's fair to say that different groups - parents and district administrators to name two - would each have a different definition to formative assessment.

Here's how we define these assessment types:

Formative Assessment - planned classroom practice to elicit evidence of learning minute to minute, day by day in the classroom; along with non-summative assessments that occur while content is still being taught. Both of these can inform teachers of what students know or do not know, help students understand what it is they are ready to learn next, so teachers can adjust their instruction accordingly for each of their students.

Interim/Benchmark Assessments - tests administered at different intervals throughout the year to evaluate student knowledge and skills relative to a specific set of academic goals. Results are used to inform instruction and decision making at the classroom, school and district level, and can be used to measure student growth over time.

Summative Assessments - state or district-wide standardized tests that measure grade-level proficiency, and end-of-year subject or course exams.

As we continue to blog about formative assessment strategies, it is with these definitions in mind that we will reference these various assessments.

Kelly Goodrich is Vice President of Policy & Advocacy for NWEA, advocating the use of multiple measures for all students and leading productive partnerships in both national and international arenas, including collaborations with CCSSO, AACTE, and OECD. She drives NWEA's national agenda to foster assessment literacy for teachers and all education stakeholders, raise the voice of students in education policy, and promote the importance of research-based education practices. Prior to joining NWEA, Kelly held several executive roles in the K12 education space, including Vice President of Marketing at Pearson Digital Learning; Vice President of Online Assessment at Harcourt Assessment; and Vice President of Professional Services for Pearson Assessment.

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We've blogged, and will continue to blog, about formative assessment strategies, so perhaps we should back up a bit and share how we define formative assessment. The term is used a lot across education, along with interim/benchmark assessments and summative assessments, and I think it's fair to say that different groups - parents and district administrators to name two - would each have a different definition to formative assessment.

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Prezi: Informal and Formative Assessment Strategies

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Prezi: Informal and Formative Assessment Strategies

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Formative & Summative Assessment Strategies MUSTEPP

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Informal and Formative Assessment Strategies

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Formative & Summative Assessment Strategies MUSTEPP 7 November 2015 Sara Barraclough Ian Nolte What Are Formative Assessments? At the school we just observed, how did assessment connect to their overall teaching philosophy? What do some formative assessments look like? Types of formative assessment. Make a list.

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Making instructional adjustments to move learning forward

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Edutopia: 5 Fantastic, Fast Formative Assessment Tools

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Edutopia: 5 Fantastic, Fast Formative Assessment Tools

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Edutopia: 33 Digital Tools for Formative Assessment

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Edutopia: 33 Digital Tools for Formative Assessment

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There is no shortage of strategies, techniques, and tools available to teachers (and students) who use formative instructional practice in their classrooms. We've compiled an extensive list of 65 digital tools, apps, and platforms that can help teachers use formative assessment to elicit evidence of student learning.

These tools and apps for formative assessment success give teachers (and students) many options and opportunities for classroom success. To get the most out of formative instructional strategies, check out our NWEA® formative practices workshops. You'll gain a better understanding of the role formative practice plays within your instruction and about the four foundational practices to use in the classroom.

And, share your tools, ideas, and thoughts with us, so we can keep this list growing and current! You can tweet me directly @kdyer13.

AnswerGarden - A tool for online brainstorming or polling, educators can use this real-time tool to see student feedback on questions.

Animoto - Gives students the ability to make a short, 30-second share video of what they learned in a given lesson.

Answer Pad - A graphical student response system with the ability to poll and leave feedback. The blank pad functions like an individual whiteboard for each student.

AudioNote - A combination of a voice recorder and notepad that captures both audio and notes for student collaboration.

Backchannel Chat - (Now MasteryConnect Student.) Like TodaysMeet, this site offers a teacher-moderated version of Twitter. An extension of the in-the-moment conversation might be to capture the chat, create a tag cloud, and see what surfaces as a focus of the conversation.

Biblionasium - This online, safe, and simple book network allows teachers to view books students have read (a digital reading log), create reading challenges for students, and track progress. Students also can review and recommend books to their peers on the site.

BookSnap - While currently this app is only available for iOS, it truly provides a digital way for learners to interact with text and with other learners.

Buncee - A creation and presentation tool that helps students and teachers visualize, communicate, and engage with classroom concepts and ideas.

Chatzy - Use Chatzy like you would use TodaysMeet to support backchannel conversations in a private setting. These live chats make great companions to classroom discussion, provide exit tickets, or keep a discussion going after the class is over.

ClassKick - This app allows teachers to post assignments for students, so both the teacher and peers can provide feedback on the assignment. Students can monitor their progress and work.

Coggle - A mind-mapping tool designed to understand student thinking.

Conceptboard - This software facilitates team collaboration in a visual format - similar to mind mapping, but using visual and textual inputs. Compatible on tablets and PCs, Conceptboard can work from multiple devices.

Dotstorming - A whiteboard app that allows digital sticky notes to be posted and voted on. This tool is best for generating class discussion and brainstorming on different topics and questions.

Educreations Interactive Whiteboard - A whiteboard app that provides students the tool to share understanding and comprehension.

Five Card Flickr - Designed to foster visual thinking, this tool uses the tag feature from photos in Flickr.

Flipgrid - This tool has been recently updated. Students can use 15-second to 5-minute videos to respond to prompts; teachers and peers can provide feedback.

ForAllRubrics- This software is free for all teachers and allows you to import, create, and score rubrics on your iPad, tablet, or smartphone. You can collect data offline with no internet access, compute scores automatically, and print or save the rubrics as a PDF or spreadsheet.

Formative - This online, all-student response system provides teachers the opportunity to assign activities to students, receive the results in real time, and then provide immediate feedback to students.

Formative Feedback for Learning - An iPad app that is designed to foster and encourage communication between students and teachers. Through a conference setting, it uses icons to prompt discussions.

Google Forms - A Google Drive app that allows you to create documents that students can collaborate on in real time using smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

GoSoapBox - Free for less than 30 students, this all-student response system works with the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) model, so no charge for a clicker. One of the most intriguing features for me is the Confusion Meter.

iBrainstorm - An iPad app that allows students to collaborate on projects using a stylus or their finger on screen.

Kahoot - A game-based classroom response system, where teachers can create quizzes using internet content.

Kaizena - An online tool for providing students with real-time feedback on their digitally-uploaded work. Teachers can highlight or speak to give verbal feedback and attach teacher-created, reusable resources to student work.

Lino - A virtual corkboard of sticky notes so students can provide questions or comments on their learning. These can be used like exit tickets or during the course of a lesson.

Mentimeter - Allows you to use mobile phones or tablets to vote on any question a teacher asks, increasing student engagement.

Naiku - Teachers can easily and quickly create quizzes that students can answer using their mobile devices. Great for checking for understanding before and after a lesson.

Nearpod - This tool is nice in that you can not only gather evidence of student learning, like an all-student response system, but you can also create differentiated lessons based on the data you collected. The basic version (30 students or less) is free.

Obsurvey - Create surveys, polls, and questionnaires quickly and easily.

Padlet - Provides an essentially blank canvas for students to create and design collaborative projects. Great for brainstorming.

Pear Deck - Plan and build interactive presentations that students can participate in via their smart device. Limited free usage, and it offers unique question types.

Peergrade - A platform that allows teachers to create assignments and upload rubrics. Students upload work and are anonymously assigned peer work to review according the rubric.

Piazza - A platform that allows teachers to upload lectures, assignments, and homework; pose and respond to student questions; and poll students about class content. This tool is better suited for older students as it mimics post-secondary class instructional formats.

Pick Me! - An easy to use app for an iPod, iPad, or iPhone that facilitates random student selection. Can be organized by class for convenience.

PlayPosit - An interactive video and assessment tool that allows teachers to add formative assessment features (pauses and questions) to survey what students know about the topic. Teachers choose from a library of video content from popular sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, and others.

Plickers - Allows teachers to collect real-time formative assessment data without the need for student devices. Perfect for the one-device classroom.

PollDaddy - Quick and easy way to create online polls, quizzes, and questions. Students can use smartphones, tablets, and computers to provide their answers, and information can be culled for reports.

Poll Everywhere - Teachers can create a feedback poll or ask questions. Students respond in various ways, and teachers see the results in real-time. With open-ended questions, you can capture data and spin up tag clouds to aggregate response. There is a limit to the number of users.

ProProfs - Build and test knowledge with quick quizzes, polls, and surveys.

RabbleBrowser - An iPad app that allows a leader to facilitate a collaborative browsing experience.

RealtimeBoard - Teachers can invite students and collaborate with the whole class in real-time.

Remind - A free tool that allows teachers to text students and stay in touch with parents. A great 'check for understanding' tool that's easy to use.

The Queue - Free educational chat tool that mirrors Twitter and allows teachers to post questions and students to respond via the thread. Students can respond via text or video, and the tool allows "journeys" in which teachers introduce a topic via video and connect students to participating resources. Great for gathering formative assessment data at the beginning, middle, or end of units.

Quia - Teachers can create games, quizzes, surveys, and more, and access a database of existing quizzes from other educators.

QuickVoice Recorder - Another free voice recording app for the iPhone or iPad that allows you to record classes, discussions, or other project audio files. You can sync your recordings to your computer easily for use in presentations.

Quizlet - Create flashcards, tests, quizzes, and study games that are engaging and accessible online and via a mobile device.

Random Name/Word Picker - This tool allows the teacher to input a class list and facilitates random name picking. You can also add a list of keywords and use the tool to have the class prompt a student to guess the word by providing definitions.

Seesaw - This tool helps teachers improve parent communication and makes formative assessment easy, while students can use the platform to document their learning.

ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard - Another whiteboard tool that students and teachers can use to check understanding.

SMART Response VE(for SMARTboards) - A cloud-based software that enables students to respond to planned and spontaneous questions and take quizzes using any of their favorite Internet-enabled devices, from anywhere.

Socrative - Exercises and games that engage students using smartphones, laptops, and tablets.

Tagul - This word cloud generator has an added feature that allows the user to make each word an active link to connect to a website you determine.

Tagxedo - A tag cloud generator that allows you to examine student consensus and facilitate dialogue.

TitanPad - This unique tool for collaborative work offers 8 colors to choose from so that each contributor may use a different color. You can easily imagine how group work, be it peer review or peer editing for starters, can be made interactive.

TodaysMeet - This online collaboration tool allows educators to create a "room" in which students can share ideas, answers, and thoughts to lectures and lessons. Educators can view student responses in real time for evidence of learning.

Triventy - A free quiz game platform that allows teachers to create quizzes students take in real-time. These live quizzes provide teachers with real-time data on student understanding of classroom concepts. Students need individual devices to respond to quiz questions (compatible with mobile devices and laptops).

Verso - Described as a feedback tool, this app allows teachers to set up learning using a URL. Space is provided for directions. Students download the app and input their responses to the assignment. They can then post their comments and respond to the comments of others. The teacher can group responses and check engagement levels.

VoiceThread - Allows you to create and share conversations on documents, diagrams, videos, pictures, or almost anything. This facilitates collaborative student discussion and work.

Vocaroo - A free service that allows users to create audio recordings without the need for software. You can easily embed the recording into slide shows, presentations, or websites. Great for collaborative group work and presentations.

Voxer - Consider using this voice recording tool as a way to let students listen and self assess their ideas and assignments. You can send recordings to parents so they can hear how their students are doing, let students chat about their work, or provide feedback to students.

Wordables - The Word Cloud Guessing Game. This app allows you to elicit evidence of learning or determine background knowledge about a topic. These word clouds are pictures composed of a cloud of smaller words that form a clue to the topic.

Wordle - Generates tag clouds from any entered text to help aggregate responses and facilitate discussion.

WordSalad - This app generates word clouds from the text you provide, and they can be exported and shared.

XMind - A mind-mapping software for use on computers and laptops.

Yacapaca! - Allows teachers to create and assign quizzes with ease.

There are many Twitter chats related to formative instructional practices that could be considered tools, as well. One that is exceptionally lively and focused is regularly hosted by David Kwan (@davidwkwan) and Rachelle Dene Poth (@Rdene915) Monday evenings at 4:30 p.m. PT at #formativechat. I often tweet about formative instructional practices and you can follow me @kdyer13.

Kathy Dyer is a Sr. Professional Development Specialist for NWEA, designing and developing learning opportunities for partners and internal staff. Formerly a Professional Development Consultant for NWEA, she coached teachers and school leadership and provided professional development focused on assessment, data, and leadership. In a career that includes 20 years in the education field, she has also served as a district achievement coordinator, principal, and classroom teacher. She received her Masters in Educational Leadership from the University of Colorado Denver. Follow her on Twitter at @kdyer13.

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The Ultimate List - 65 Digital Tools and Apps to Support Formative Assessment Practices

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There is no shortage of strategies, techniques, and tools available to teachers (and students) who use formative instructional practice in their classrooms. We've compiled an extensive list of 65 digital tools, apps, and platforms that can help teachers use formative assessment to elicit evidence of student learning.