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Questioning: How to scaffold student response

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Questioning: How to scaffold student response

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Classroom Management: USE A VISUAL TIMER

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Classroom Management: USE A VISUAL TIMER

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One of the most frequent comments I leave during observations is to use a digital timer. This helps you manage time, and helps your students self-regulate. This is the free one that I use in class all the time.

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A Free flash online countdown, quick easy to use countdown! also an online stopwatch!

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Differentiation: Start with this Article

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Differentiation: Start with this Article

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Lessons can be differentiated by content, process, product, and learning environment. Read more about it on Reading Rockets.

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Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction.

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Great video that helps teachers understand that differentiation really is a STATE OF MIND!

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Differentiating Instruction: It’s Not as Hard as You Think

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Listen to this podcast for 76 ways to differentiate

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76. Differentiation Strategies To Support Every Learner

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Discover simple differentiation strategies you’re already using! From scaffolding to peer teaching, we share tips to support every learner. Tune in now!

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Take a deep dive and explore this self-guided online learning module about differentiation from Vanderbilt.

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This module discusses the importance of differentiating three aspects of instruction: content, process (instructional methods), and product (assessment). It explores the student traits-readiness level, interest, and learning preferences-that influence learning (est. completion time: 3 hours).

Work through the sections of this module in the order presented in the STAR graphic above.

Related to this module

Copyright 2022 Vanderbilt University. All rights reserved.

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Differentiated Instruction: Maximizing the Learning of All Students

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This module discusses the importance of differentiating three aspects of instruction: content, process (instructional methods), and product (assessment). It explores the student traits-readiness level, interest, and learning preferences-that influence learning (est. completion time: 3 hours). Work through the sections of this module in the order presented in the STAR graphic above.

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Tone of voice matters!

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Using your voice to manage a classroom is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal. Teachers vocalize to impart information through direct instruction, gauge student understanding by asking questions, facilitate transitions between activities-and also manage behavior by redirecting wayward learners and issuing directives when necessary. It's a deceptively complex, multifaceted tool, requiring constant modulation to fit changing classroom circumstances-and it can take teachers years to hone.

In a 2022 study, researchers set out to explore the nuances of tone, and especially how a teacher's tone of voice can shape classroom culture. Researchers from the University of Essex and University of Reading analyzed how elementary students reacted to common classroom instructions-"It's time to quiet down" or "Get in your seats, we're starting the lesson," for example-which were delivered in tones varying from controlling to neutral to supportive. While the words remained the same, shifts in tonality had a surprisingly large effect across multiple dimensions of classroom health, including students' sense of belonging, autonomy, and enjoyment of the class, as well as the likelihood that they'd confide relevant personal information to educators, like their interests or academic struggles.

The researchers concluded that controlling tones "undermined" students' sense of competence, while supportive tones "enhanced" their sense of connection with teachers. An authoritarian disposition can erect barriers: Controlling voices "dissuaded children from intentions to share secrets with their teachers," including whether students were being bullied, were suffering hardships, or had completed work they were proud of, said the researchers, eroding the bonds of trust that are needed to learn in the social setting of a classroom.

Yet tone remains difficult to master, and harder still to sustain in a chaotic classroom environment. That's why it's helpful to be mindful of how things like intonation, volume, and the pacing of your speech can influence behavior, and how these qualities of voice can be judiciously deployed in ways that are likely to reinforce learning.

Canary in the Coal Mine

Subtle changes in a teacher's tone of voice can be the first signal that something is awry in the classroom. A note of panic that slips into verbal directions, a rise in vocal register or volume, or a sudden barrage of repeated instructions may indicate to students that things are starting to spin out of control and trigger a fight-or-flight response in the classroom, ratcheting up the anxiety and leading to outbursts.

Emotions are contagious, researchers explain in a 2021 study. When teachers convey warmth and express interest in a topic, students are more likely to stay engaged-and stay out of trouble. Conversely, teachers who overreact to student disruptions or are emotionally distant can unwittingly create a combative or unfriendly atmosphere. Exhibiting passion for the topic works wonders: Teachers who enjoy being in the classroom "sustained their positive attitudes when students struggled and reported spending more time teaching," the researchers report.

Meanwhile, developing a steady, calm demeanor in a dynamic classroom setting takes time and practice, particularly when students know how to press your buttons. Take things slowly and work from a place of empathy and compassion. One way to prepare for the inevitable tests of your patience is by running scenarios in your head or with a partner. "Think through scenarios that might happen in your classroom and how you want to respond before the start of the year," suggests high school teacher and instructional coach Emily Terwilliger. "It will make those first redirects and interventions less intimidating."

As always, focusing on relationships first is a bedrock principle: " Bank time " with students and get to know them better, since these deposits can help ease future conflict. Finally, it's important to let go and start fresh; it's easy to overreact if a student keeps pushing your buttons. Try to start each day with a clean slate.

Finding the Warm in Your 'Warm Demander'

The ideal tone is a blend of both approaches, says middle school teacher Kristine Napper. "Neither high expectations nor kind hearts can do the job alone," writes Napper, who recommends adopting a warm demander tone that focuses first "on building strong relationships with students," and then "draws on that wellspring of trust to hold students to high standards of deep engagement with course content."

When students misbehave in Nina Parrish's classroom, she sees it as an opportunity to ask thoughtful questions and look for patterns. Did something spark the disruption? Are students trying to get attention from their friends, or are they bored? "Behaviors help students obtain something desirable or escape something undesirable," she explains. Instead of demanding compliance as a first step, meet your students halfway: Set high expectations, but also spend time trying to understand what makes them tick.

There will undoubtedly be times when you'll need to raise your voice or speak sharply to a student, but the tactic should be used sparingly. "Developing a calm, neutral, assertive voice is part of the teacher's own self-regulation, which allows them to help students to be self-regulated and to be secure in the knowledge that the teacher will be receptive to them, but also in control," says Linda Darling-Hammond, president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute.

A Dose of the Nonverbal

It's easy to forget that tone isn't just conveyed through your voice-it can also be conveyed by facial expressions, hand gestures, and body language, which "help guide facilitation of student learning," says Samford University professor Lisa Gurley in a 2018 study. Teachers often adopt a formal demeanor in the classroom, modeling behavior that mirrors a professional environment. Yet the difference between too-controlling and just-controlling-enough often relies not on what is said, but on the accompanying nonverbal cues that can soften perceptions.

Are you inadvertently frowning or looking exasperated when a student speaks up? Do you seem dismissive? Modern eye-tracking research suggests that teachers tend to make eye contact with students in the front row and the middle section, so consider circulating in your room and making an effort to acknowledge those sitting in the back (and on the peripheries) with your presence.

You can be formal by nature and formal in speech, and still connect. Students can detect and appreciate teaching authenticity in many forms, according to recent research. And students usually "respond positively to professors who treat them with dignity and seem approachable, even if those professors are more formal in their speech and demeanor," says Amber Dickinson, a political science professor at Oklahoma State University, in a 2017 study. Acknowledging students with eye contact or an approving nod can "reduce the psychological distance" and help build a trusting relationship without saying a single word, she writes.

The Case of the Disembodied Voice

Vocalizing is not the only way that tone is expressed; our voice continues to have influence even in the absence of our physical presence. When giving feedback on an assignment, writing emails, or having an online discussion, the right tone can be harder to pin down-but it remains crucial-when communicating with students.

"A professor in a classroom may provide succinct instructions that students understand and appreciate, but a short email from a professor may be interpreted as cold or uncaring," says Dickinson. In her study, she discovered that attempts to be efficient by communicating in a precise manner-such as giving clear instructions on how to upload an assignment-were often interpreted by her students as harsh. Stripped of the nonverbal cues that typically accompany a face-to-face conversation, her online persona became stern and distant, and she saw her students become less engaged as a result.

When writing messages to students, be sure to include personal touches, suggests Dickinson. It not only will make them feel more comfortable but also can create a more positive classroom culture and encourage students to reach out for help. "For example, I included content to offer general encouragement by saying things such as 'Don't give up, the semester is almost over, and your hard work will pay off,' or reminding students I was happy to help them in any way," she writes.

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How Tone of Voice Shapes Your Classroom Culture

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Using your voice to manage a classroom is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal. Teachers vocalize to impart information through direct instruction, gauge student understanding by asking questions, facilitate transitions between activities-and also manage behavior by redirecting wayward learners and issuing directives when necessary.

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Classroom Management: Hary Wong 1st Days of School Podcast

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Classroom Management: Hary Wong 1st Days of School Podcast

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Five-Minute Chapters: First Days of School Ch.1 Effective Teachers (Wong 2018)

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1K reactions · 28 shares | Teaching Tip 💡 Make It A Teachable Moment ✨ Every moment in the classroom is an opportunity to teach life lessons. DON’T WASTE THEM! 🙌🏾 Do you take advantage of teachable moments in your classroom? What does that look like? What teacher moves did you notice? LETS DISCUSS! 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

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Classroom Management: Keep a fast pace Video (LOVE this guy)

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Classroom Management: Keep a fast pace Video (LOVE this guy)

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This teacher models how to keep students engaged with a fast pace in a real classroom.

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1K reactions · 28 shares | Teaching Tip 💡 Make It A Teachable Moment ✨ Every moment in the classroom is an opportunity to teach life lessons. DON’T WASTE THEM! 🙌🏾 Do you take advantage of teachable moments in your classroom? What does that look like? What teacher moves did you notice? LETS DISCUSS! 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾 **LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, SAVE** Follow @youngblackscholarbook for daily educational and inspirational content. 🖤 🚨🚨Be sure to join my email subscriber list through my website to gain access to “The Scholars Digest” . A Monthly Newsletter with tips and strategies to bring to your classroom! 🙌🏾(LINK IN BIO) 📰🚨🚨 | Young Black Scholar

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Teaching Tip 💡 Make It A Teachable Moment ✨ Every moment in the classroom is an opportunity to teach life lessons. DON’T WASTE THEM! 🙌🏾 Do you take advantage of teachable moments in your…

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659 reactions · 14 shares | Teaching Tip 💡 The “We Do” Pt. 1🫶🏾 Once you engage students in a strong teacher model the next step is to engage them in a “We Do”. The “We Do” is exactly what it sounds like. The students are unpacking the problem alongside you but they are doing more of the heavy lift. Ask questions as students unpack the problem and be sure they are putting pencil to paper. 📝 Do you engage students in a “We Do”? What teacher moves did you notice? LETS DISCUSS! Young Black Scholar

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Classroom Management: Keep a fast pace Video 

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Classroom Management: Keep a fast pace Video 

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659 reactions · 14 shares | Teaching Tip 💡 The “We Do” Pt. 1🫶🏾 Once you engage students in a strong teacher model the next step is to engage them in a “We Do”. The “We Do” is exactly what it sounds like. The students are unpacking the problem alongside you but they are doing more of the heavy lift. Ask questions as students unpack the problem and be sure they are putting pencil to paper. 📝 Do you engage students in a “We Do”? What teacher moves did you notice? LETS DISCUSS! 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾 LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, SAVE** Follow @youngblackscholarbook for daily educational and inspirational content. 🖤 | Young Black Scholar

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Teaching Tip 💡 The “We Do” Pt. 1🫶🏾 Once you engage students in a strong teacher model the next step is to engage them in a “We Do”. The “We Do” is exactly what it sounds like. The students are…

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3.8K reactions · 160 shares | Teaching Tip 💡 Set The Expectation 💪🏾 When we set clear expectations from the beginning it minimizes redirections on the back end. How do you set expectations? What teacher moves did you notice? Young Black Scholar

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Classroom Management: Keep a fast pace Video 

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Classroom Management: Keep a fast pace Video 

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3.8K reactions · 160 shares | Teaching Tip 💡 Set The Expectation 💪🏾 When we set clear expectations from the beginning it minimizes redirections on the back end. How do you set expectations? What teacher moves did you notice? LETS DISCUSS! 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾 **LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, SAVE** Follow @youngblackscholarbook for daily educational and inspirational content. 🖤 🚨🚨Be sure to join my email subscriber list through my website to gain access to “The Scholars Digest” . A Monthly Newsletter with tips and strategies to bring to your classroom! 🙌🏾(LINK IN BIO) 📰🚨🚨 | Young Black Scholar

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Teaching Tip 💡 Set The Expectation 💪🏾 When we set clear expectations from the beginning it minimizes redirections on the back end. How do you set expectations? What teacher moves did you notice?…

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If you do not have a GoNoodle account yet, sign up for one now!

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Use our school login to access this library of movement videos tied to content.

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Questioning strategies correlate to student engagement, classroom management, supporting struggling learners, and challenging higher level learners. Find the youtube video about the article here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwvHaGdm07M&t=10s

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The longer I teach middle school students, the more I am convinced that student engagement and classroom management connect back to this one thing: how we ask students questions throughout a class period as we're teaching content.

Questioning strategies are simply how we ask students to respond to questions. Questioning strategies correlate to student engagement, classroom management, supporting struggling learners, and challenging higher level learners.

Let's first start with what I refer to as "teacher default mode" when it comes to questioning strategies. Teacher default mode is when the teacher asks the whole class a question, allows students to raise their hand if they'd like to respond to the question, and then calls on students one-by-one. Whole group questioning is our first instinct as teachers, and it's easy to fall into the trap of this being the only way students respond to questions in our classroom. However, whole group questioning has several downsides. The most obvious downside is usually the same students answer the questions. Another disadvantage is only a few student voices are heard with each question. One negative that we might not realize though is how this questioning strategy impacts student engagement and classroom management. If students know this is the way their teachers are going to ask questions, they can easily check out of the lesson, or even blurt or become impatient with sitting through this questioning strategy over and over and over again until they become a behavior issue.

So what should we do instead of whole group questioning? First of all, it is my belief that teachers just ask way too many questions. Not everything has to be a question, so before even asking a question, I would encourage teachers to think through these two filters:

1. Should this be a question or can I just tell/explicitly teach what I am about to ask?

2. Do my students know the routines/expectations for this questioning strategy? (We often go back to teacher default mode with whole group questioning because we haven't taught students how to use new questioning strategies.)

Here are areas we should strive for in each class period with our questioning strategies:

1. Use a variety of questioning strategies. There is no magical questioning strategy, but we should have 5-6 go-to strategies that we use across a class period.

2. Use strategies we have time for. Some strategies take longer, some are shorter. We have to select what will fit with the time we have with students.

3. Every time we ask a question, most students should respond to the question in some way. This keeps student learning at the forefront and engagement high.

Now that we have the foundation for why whole group questioning should move to the back burner, let's dive in and examine 20 questioning strategies we can use instead.

1. Turn & Talk: The teacher poses a question, students turn and talk with a partner seated right next to them in response to the question.
Example in action: You're in a realistic fiction reading unit. While reading Touching Spirit Bear aloud, pause after Cole realizes he can't swim to escape the island and ask students, "Do you think Cole regrets burning his shelter and supplies down now that he realizes he can't swim to escape the island?"

2. Students Ask the Question: The teacher pauses at a key spot during the lesson and asks the students to think of a question that would be good to ask at this point in the lesson. Students then ask the question they came up with to a partner.
Example in Action: You're in a science fiction reading unit. While reading The Hunger Games aloud, Katniss is stuck in a tree, and the Career tributes are waiting for her below. Katniss gets the idea to cut down the tracker jacker nest. Pause the reading and say to students, "What question would you ask right now to discuss this part of the book?"

3. Teacher-Modeled Thinking: The teacher asks a question and then answers their own question by explaining the thought process they would go through while deciding how to answer the question that was posed.
Example in Action: You're prepping students for the reading portion of the state test and ask a few multiple choice question about the current read aloud book. For the first question, you open your mind up to students about how you would go about answering the multiple choice question by rereading the question, referring back to the passage, eliminating answers that don't make sense, and choosing the best answer from there.

4. Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: The teacher asks a question that requires a yes or no response. Students give a thumbs up if they would respond "yes" to the question and a thumbs down if they would respond "no" to the question. This strategy can work with questions that have concrete answers as well questions where the answer is a matter of opinion. The teacher can also follow up after students give a thumbs up/thumbs down with, "For those of you who agreed with (restate question prompt) and gave a thumbs up, why did you say "yes" to this question?

Example in action (concrete answer): You are assessing students' understanding of writing conventions with Sentence Dictation. One of the sentences had the phrase "my dad" in it, and you ask students to give a thumbs up if they thought "dad" should be capitalized and a thumbs down if they did not capitalize it.

Example in Action (open-ended answer): You are reading as a novel study, and get to the part where Jonas is deciding whether or not he should tell the Giver that he was able to transfer a memory to the newborn Gabriel. Stop at that place in the reading and ask students, "Do you think Jonas should tell the Giver about being able to transfer a memory to Gabriel?"

5. 1, 2, 3, 4 (instead of A, B, C, D): If you are asking the whole class the answer to a multiple choice question, instead of calling on one student to give the correct answer, have all students hold up the number their answer correlates to at the same time. In order to do this, you have to have the question and answer choices projected for all students to see. You could use language like, "On the count of three, hold up the number of the correct answer." This gives you a quick idea of your students' overall understanding of the concept you're asking a question about. From there, you can decide the next step based on students' responses. For example, if students are split between two answers, you could have one student give their rationale for one answer and a second student give their rationale for the other answer.
Example in Action: You just finished your daily interactive read aloud, and state testing is coming up. Instead of giving students relentless test prep reading passages and questions, have a multiple choice question prepared based on a plot event from the day's reading.

6. Sticky Note Jot, Then Categorize: Ask an open-ended question to students that may receive responses from multiple perspectives. Students jot their response to the question on a sticky note. After students respond, ask them to stand up and stick their sticky note in different areas of the room based on their responses. You could then read aloud a few student responses or have students find a partner who had a different perspective than them to discuss with.
Example in Action: You just finished reading aloud to students the part in Touching Spirit Bear where Cole tries to attack the Spirit Bear but gets mauled and ends up in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. You ask students the question, "What should Circle Justice do now that Cole ruined the chance they gave him?" After students respond ask students who responded saying Cole should get another chance to place their sticky notes in one area of the room and students who thought Cole should go to jail in another area of the room. Follow up by reading a few from each perspective aloud to the whole class.

7. Stand Up and Discuss: Sometimes you can just sense that your students need some movement. This is the perfect time to have 2-3 questions projected for students and then tell them to stand up and find a student across the classroom to discuss the questions with. I prefer to use this method with a series of questions and also after students have been sitting and/or concentrating for a long stretch of time.

8. Fill In the Blank Response: There is no need to have just one student respond to a quick question that only requires a 1-2 word response. All students should be able to say the answer at the same time. When you say a statement that requires students to fill in the blank at the end of the statement, it gives all students a chance to answer.
Example in Action: You're reviewing where to put a comma in a compound sentence with students. You say, "When two independent clauses are joined together with a coordinating conjunction, the comma is placed before the coordinating conjunction. A common acronym to remember what the coordinating conjunctions are is __________________ (FANBOYS).

9. How Do You Know?: For this questioning format, start by asking the question. Next, give students the answer. Finally, ask, "How do you know?" or "Why do you think this is true?" Students can turn and talk about how they knew that was the correct answer, or you could have a student share out with the whole class.
Example in Action: You're doing a reading lesson on identifying point of view in fiction books. You display an excerpt from The Hunger Games and say, "Suzanne Collins uses first person point of view from Katniss's perspective. How do you know?"

10. Two Options with Movement: This is a fun one that gets everyone involved, even if some middle school students might initially act "too cool" to participate. Ask a question and give students two response options. Have a coordinating movement to match each response option. Ask all students to commit to an answer by doing the movement that matches their answer choice. Here are a few movement ideas that could work: jumping jacks, push-ups, step side-to-side, raise arms up and down, pat the top of head, etc. It works best if you display the question and movement options for students to see before they answer.
Example in Action: You're on the last chapter of The Hunger Games, and Katniss and Peeta are almost back to District 12 and resuming "regular" lives after the games. You display this question on the board, "Do you think Katniss will spend more time with Peeta or Gale once she's back in District 12?" Students who think Peeta will do jumping jacks, and students who think Gale will do push-ups.

11. Partner Dictation: Students are paired in partners. You have a series of questions prepared. You ask a question, and one partner speaks the answer aloud while the other partner writes down their answer. You ask the next question, and students repeat this process, switching roles. The trick with this is that students are not allowed to give feedback to their partner's answer if they are in the writing role. Their job is to simply listen and write down whatever their partner says. This would work great with mini white boards, but the white boards are definitely not required to complete this strategy.
Example in Action: Students are completing their daily Sentence Stalking to dig deeper into grammar and vocabulary using mentor sentences from popular middle school books. Instead of having students complete the 5 focus questions with today's mentor sentence independently, they partner up with only one response sheet. You read the questions aloud while students alternate back and forth with recording/saying the answer to the questions. You can read even more about this strategy and download a free resource to try it out in this blog post.

Final Tips for Making Questioning Strategies Work with FREE Resources to Help:

Plan when you're going to use which questioning strategy and put the questioning strategy right into your lesson presentation. I've prepared this Google Slides presentation that you can download for free. There are 20 slides, one slide for each of the questioning strategies mentioned above. This presentation is meant to copy and paste individual slides right into your lesson presentation and easily insert your question prompt. We all have good intentions, but if we don't plan when we're going to use a variety of questioning strategies, we'll just go right back to teacher questioning default mode (whole class Q & A). I've also made a version of this with questions specific to teaching that can be used as an example for the types of questions that can be asked or even for teacher PD.

Use peer observation and feedback. Getting the privilege to observe other teachers in action is hands down the best professional development opportunity I've ever had. Some schools have peer observation requirements. However, it's hard to know what to focus observation on when you're in another teacher's classroom. Questioning strategies are a great place to focus peer observation. Have all the teachers in your school read this blog post and commit to using a variety of questioning strategies in their classrooms. If all teachers in your school observe even one other teacher and use this tool to focus their peer observations, imagine the positive impact this could have on students and teachers. The peer observation tool simply has teachers notice the different questioning strategies being used, rate students engagement with the questioning strategy, and jot down any other noticings.

Use the Questioning Strategies Quick Reference Table to plan which strategies to use. Even if you're really short on time, glancing at this resource before a lesson and jotting three questioning strategies you want to use during the day's class period on a sticky note is better than nothing!

You can download the resources mentioned above: Questioning Strategies Presentation Templates, Questioning Strategies Peer Observation Tool, and the Questioning Strategies Quick Reference Table for free by opting into my emails where I share new blog posts or by downloading it from my TPT store.

Click here to download by email

Click here to download as a free resource from my TPT store

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Increase Student Engagement & Improve Classroom Management with Questioning Strategies

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The longer I teach middle school students, the more I am convinced that student engagement and classroom management connect back to this one thing: how we ask students questions throughout a class period as we're teaching content. Questioning strategies are simply how we ask students to respond to questions.

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Formative assessment is one of the most important aspects of instruction-it's how we celebrate student learning and growth, and how we help uncover learning needs to point students in the right direction. However, time and time again I used to find myself thinking, "I definitely thought that was going to go better" after giving a formative assessment. That feeling inspired me to modify or adapt a variety of strategies to make them even more effective, especially in promoting students' metacognition, ownership over learning, and self-efficacy.

The assessment strategies below are widely used, so I'm hoping my tweaks will inspire you to continue finding new ways to accurately measure what students have learned.

15 Ways to Improve Your Formative Assessments

1. Exit ticket loops: Exit tickets are a great way to check for understanding at the end of a lesson. However, we can get even more value by reusing them the next day, either at the beginning of class as a bridge to the previous day's content or at the end by adding a new question so that students see how pieces of information are connected, which can help increase retention.

3. Fist to five and your next question: Fist to five is a check-in where students rate their understanding of a concept from a fist (0) to a 5. This can be a good way for a teacher to get a quick understanding of how students are doing, but often it simply ends there. To take it a step further, when students rate their understanding, have them then identify what they need to learn to move up to the next level (their next question). This helps them identify a personal learning goal and engages them in metacognition-they are really thinking about their thinking.

4. Entry tasks throughout the lesson: An entry task is designed to either connect back to previous content, provide an anticipatory experience for the content to come, or a bit of both. My tweak was to design these tasks so that students could revisit them at the end of class and add new information from the lesson. Maybe there were a couple of questions they couldn't fully answer at the beginning of the lesson, but by the end they could answer them more fully. This strategy can be a great way to help set a learning intention for students.

5. Gathering oral assessment data: So much data about student learning is revealed in conferences and conversations with students, but that's hard to keep track of. How can we capture that formative assessment data? I found it helpful to carry an oral assessment tracker during class discussions and to use an individualized slip during informal check-ins. These provided me with assessment data I could use to verify trends, identify areas of need, or determine a student's current score on a skill or standard.

This helps close the feedback loop-students get instruction on their misconceptions almost immediately, and they get to experience ownership over their learning in a controlled format.

9. Digital feedback with resources: Feedback is an important part of formative assessment, but so often I found that students didn't see the value in it. To address this, when leaving feedback on student work digitally, I would provide links to resources the student could access immediately to grow their understanding. Tools like text expanders can be helpful here, and Google Classroom has a comment bank feature that you can use to create comments with detailed explanations and digital resources linked to address common errors. Then, with just a couple of keystrokes, you can insert the entire comment with the resources while leaving feedback.

When I embedded resources into my feedback, students were much more likely to engage with the feedback, and it became less common for me to see errors repeated time and time again.

10. Gate quiz: I'll admit that I have given students an assessment when they weren't ready simply because it was the date set for the assessment. The impact of this on students and their learning was often negative. So I began to create quizzes that covered some of the fundamental knowledge that students needed to know to succeed on the assessment-they needed to pass this "gate quiz" in order to proceed to the assessment. It was really helpful if I could set this up as a digital assessment that students could repeat as many times as needed. This helped me identify students who needed additional support and helped students tap into their self-efficacy by identifying background knowledge they already knew and could use as a foundation.

11. Closed- and open-note quiz: Whenever students took a quiz, I was challenged by what to do with the information they didn't know on the quiz. What I found success with was giving both a closed-note quiz and an open-note one. Students would attempt the quiz without their notes using one color (either digitally with a font color or physically with a colored pen) and then get their notes and/or book out and add to their answers with a new color. The original color gave me an accurate picture of where students were currently in their understanding, and this process allowed students to identify elements they didn't know and immediately access a resource to find that information.

12. Assessment structure: When giving assessments, I noticed a couple of elements that concerned me: Students who struggled early in the assessment seemed to give up more easily than others, and when the assessment was done and corrected, it was hard for me to tell students what they needed to work on because of the way my questions were mixed together. I began designing my assessments so that the earlier questions connected to background knowledge, and I would group questions together based on the concept or complexity level. This helped students persevere longer because they experienced some success in the early questions, and it made the assessment much more usable for both me and students afterward.

14. Thumbs up/thumbs down: While "thumbs up if you get it and thumbs down if you don't" is a helpful way to get a pulse on the room, sometimes it's tough to support the thumbs-down students in the moment. So, after students identify their level of understanding, have them get into mixed groups-some students with thumbs up and some with thumbs down-and have those with thumbs down question those who had thumbs up. This takes a bit of time, but I found it to have significant benefits for all students, especially those who had questions that, when answered in the moment, really helped increase engagement and learning for the rest of the lesson.

The key with these strategies, as with all of teaching, is to experiment-but don't experiment blindly. Have a vision of key elements you want in your classroom, and experiment with them in mind. My vision involved students using their own assessment data, reflecting deeply on their learning, and really engaging in both creative and critical thinking about the concept at hand. Not every tweak I tried worked, but every time I tried to improve my methods, no matter how big or small, whether that specific activity worked or not, it moved me closer to the dream classroom that I envisioned.

Responses are generated by artificial intelligence. AI can make mistakes.

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15 Formative Assessment Hacks to Boost Students' Learning

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Common formative assessment techniques like exit tickets can work a little better with these simple tweaks.

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Great idea!

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134K views · 881 reactions | Teachers, here are 7 ways to get students thinking about their thinking! 🧠 | Edutopia

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Teachers, here are 7 ways to get students thinking about their thinking! 🧠.

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YES!

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Quick learning "pulse checks" during and after lessons can be a powerful way to "improve and enhance student learning," says veteran teacher and author Jay McTighe. Designed to assess students' understanding of concepts or their ability to apply new skills, formative assessments can also inform next instructional steps.

Importantly, they're generally not graded, since the point of these in-process checks is to "obtain feedback to use in improving teaching and learning, not to evaluate learning," McTighe clarifies. "It's important that students understand the purpose of these techniques, that mistakes are OK-and even expected-and that they will not be graded on their responses."

Drawing from our archives and hundreds of comments on the topic from educators across our social media channels, we compiled a list of quick, low-stakes-and fun!-formative assessments designed to offer a variety of low-lift, flexible options in your classroom.

Write a Headline: Following a lesson, ask students to write a headline about it. Teacher Sarah Cook caps her students' headlines at six words: "They really have to think about what is most crucial to say," she writes on our Facebook feed.

Sit Down/Stand Up: Midway through a lesson, or at the end, ask the class several true/false questions related to what you just covered and have them stand up if they agree, stay seated if they don't, or squat if they're uncertain, suggests educator Celeste Kirsh. To make kids comfortable, educator Jess Mark asks students to keep their eyes shut during this quick check for understanding.

Draw a Comic: After a lesson, "ask students to draw the lesson in a comic strip-max five frames," proposes educator Kim Allsup, then have them explain the comic to classmates. It's a helpful review strategy, and kids gain insights into what their peers found important about the lesson, says Allsup.

Color Cards: Periodically, stop the lesson and have students hold up color cards. Green means "Keep going, I understand"; yellow means "I'm a little confused"; red means "Stop, I need help." We heard several variations: Bobin Manchanda has students write their names on Post-it notes and stick them in green, yellow, or red zones on the board. Sarah Marlatt Petrie's students place a green or red dot on their desk to show their understanding, an approach that helps "other students identify an 'expert' when working in groups or pairs," Petrie writes.

Mini Debate: In class, select a few student "experts" to debate or discuss a topic you've just covered while the rest of the class listens, suggests Todd Finley, a professor of English education at East Carolina University. If you record it, you can even have students turn the discussion into a mini podcast using free audio editing software like Audacity.

Connect to Your Life: EducatorSarah Nawras Sandouk uses a strategy that she calls Connect to Life Objective. "Whether it's a poem, a text, a history fact, or even a grammar rule," she asks students to explain how they'll use something they've learned in their day-to-day lives.

Create a Quiz: Students can write a set of test questions related to the lesson they've just had, then pick two of them to answer in a paragraph, Finley suggests. For a twist, consider having students trade papers to answer each other's questions.

Quick Check-In: At the end of class, ask students to "take a selfie, or use an emoji, that represents how you felt about today's lesson," proposes teacher Tarita Reeves. "Include a caption that tells what you learned that made you feel this way."

Compose an Acrostic: Have students pick a vocabulary word or key term from the day's lesson and write an acrostic poem-a short poem where each line begins with the next letter in the chosen word-suggests Kristin Shapiro.

Knowledge Walk: On the whiteboard or on sticky notes hung around the class, students can write a single sentence summarizing something new they learned, says educator Greg Evans on our thread on X. Then the class strolls around the classroom reading what their peers have written.

Have a Chat: If you have the time, quick one-on-one conversations with students-scheduled or off the cuff-can reveal what they understand and what they're struggling with. "Five minutes per student would take quite a bit of time," says educator and education researcher Laura Thomas, "but you don't have to talk to every student about every project or lesson."

Tweet It: Have students write a 280-character tweet summarizing a central takeaway from the lesson, suggests Finley. And if there's time, have students write responses to each other's tweets, says educator Jackie Ferguson. Consider having students generate related keywords or hashtags, too.

Use Your Hands: McTighe recommends hand signals to quickly gauge kids' understanding:

Thumbs up: I understand _____ and can explain it in my own words.

Wave hand: I'm not completely sure about _____ and doubt I could explain it.

Thumbs down: I don't yet understand _____ and cannot explain it.

Holding up fingers also works, says Sherri Rockstad Simpson, who asks students to hold up fingers from one to five to quickly show their level of understanding.

Note It: Ask students to write one takeaway from the lesson on a sticky note, then affix the notes to a poster or whiteboard so classmates can browse and learn from their peers, suggests educator Kim Roberts.

Misconception Check: Give students a common misconception about the topic they're studying. Their first challenge is to identify the flaw or error in the statement, says McTighe. The bigger challenge: correct the error with an accurate explanation.

Assess Yourself: The ability to assess their own learning is an important metacognitive skill for students. "You can give your rubric to your students and have them spot their strengths and weaknesses," says Thomas. For a lighter lift, write three or four topics on the board that you think the whole class should work on, then have students write their names under the topic they need the most help with.

Just One Word: Have students provide a singleword to describe a person, event, or concept they learned about. "I'm always amazed at the creative, thought-provoking words the kids come up with," writes Meredith Adelman.

Summary Poem: Ask students to list 10 useful vocabulary words from an assigned text, then write a free-verse poem using those words, says Finley. Or have them write a quick summary of the reading that incorporates their 10 chosen vocab words.

Concept Maps: Many teachers use graphic organizers and concept maps to support learning-but they can also work as formative assessments, writes McTighe. For example, students might draw a visual web of factors affecting plant growth or develop a concept map to illustrate how a bill becomes a law.

Help Me Plan: At the end of a lesson, educator Mark Hansen breaks his class into small groups at separate tables to discuss how their learning went. Groups report back to Hansen to share "what we should review or clarify tomorrow, and where we should go deeper."

3-2-1: Many teachers in our audience check for understanding via 3-2-1 prompts-with some interesting variations. Meghan Mannarino asks for three things students learned, two things they found interesting, and one question they have. Jessica Case-Martinez, meanwhile, starts her 3-2-1 by asking for three words to describe the day; Lorraine says on Instagram that she ends with one connection they can make about the class material.

A $2 Summary: Tell students that they have a $2.00 budget to summarize the day's lesson or a recent reading, and each word costs 10 cents. Besides quickly showing students' grasp of the lesson's key idea, this activity gets elementary-age students engaging in mathematical thinking, says educator Sunaina Sharma.

What Are Others Wondering?: To avoid the sea of blank stares after he prompts his class to ask questions, educator Paul Holimon suggests a different approach: Ask students to "think of a question you think someone else in the class might have about today's lesson. This solves the problem of a student thinking, 'I don't have any questions.'"

Vote With Your Feet: Hang four signs in the corners of your classroom: "Agree," "Mostly Agree," "Mostly Disagree," and "Disagree." Then read statements related to the day's lesson-for example, "Orwell was trying to call attention to animal rights with Old Major's speech"-and ask students to agree or disagree by migrating to the appropriate corner of the room, writes an educator from Rhode Island on Instagram.

One Minute Jot: Teacher Angie Huels gives students 60 seconds to write a reflection on the day's lesson, answering the following prompts: Name the most important thing you learned in class today; what questions do you still have?; and offer a suggestion about our class.

Help a Classmate: At the end of a lesson, students with questions can write them on the whiteboard, and classmates who think they know the answer can write a response below the question-or volunteer to discuss the topic one-on-one, writes educator Heather Brown.

Get Creative: "Whether students draw, create a collage, or sculpt," a creative formative assessment can help students "synthesize their learning," writes Thomas. "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," she adds.

Teach Someone: To expose gaps in students' understanding, ask them to "teach a new concept or skill to someone else-a new student, a student who has just returned from absence, or a younger child," writes McTighe. Or have students write a letter explaining a new concept to a friend, Finley suggests.

HELP OTHER TEACHERS OUT!

What are your favorite ways to check for understanding? Please share your strategies and ideas in the comments so other teachers can try them out in their classrooms.

Responses are generated by artificial intelligence. AI can make mistakes.

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28 Ways to Quickly Check for Understanding

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From sketching comics to drafting tweets, these fun-and fast-ways to check for understanding are creative and flexible.

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Test your knowledge about differentiation.

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This quiz will get information on teachers knowledge about differentiated instruction

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Test your classroom management knowledge

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Great resource with interactive ideas.

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Find practical resources in this book.