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contributed by Saga Briggs

The ultimate goal of teaching is understanding.

But sometimes it's easier to talk than to teach, as we all know, especially when we need to cover a lot of material in a short amount of time. We hope students will understand, if not now then before test time, and we keep our fingers crossed that their results will indicate we've done our job.

The problem is, we often rely on these tests to measure understanding and then we move on. There isn't always time to address weaknesses and misunderstandings after the tests have been graded, and the time to help students learn through strategies to ask great questions is gone.

Below are 22 simple assessment strategies and tips to help you become more frequent in your teaching, planning, and curriculum design.

Book TeachThought Professional Development for training on assessment practices that grow teachers
22 Simple Assessment Strategies & Tips You Can Use Every Day 1. An open-ended question that gets them writing/talking
Avoid yes/no questions and phrases like "Does this make sense?" In response to these questions, students usually answer 'yes.' So, of course, it's surprising when several students later admit that they're lost.

To help students grasp ideas in class, ask open-ended questions that require students that get students writing/talking. They can reveal more than you would've thought to ask directly.
2. Ask students to reflect
During the last five minutes of class ask students to reflect on the lesson and write down what they've learned. Then, ask them to consider how they would apply this concept or skill in a practical setting. Exit ticketsmake this easy to administer and review student answers.
3. Use quizzes
Give a short quiz at the end of class to check for comprehension.
4. Ask students to summarize
Have students summarize or paraphrase important concepts and lessons. This can be done orally, visually, or otherwise.
5. Hand signals
Hand signals can be used to rate or indicate students' understanding of content. Students can show anywhere from five fingers to signal maximum understanding to one finger to signal minimal understanding. This strategy requires engagement by all students and allows the teacher to check for understanding within a large group.
6. Response cards
Index cards, signs, whiteboards, magnetic boards, or other items are simultaneously held up by all students in class to indicate their response to a question or problem presented by the teacher. Using response devices, the teacher can easily note the responses of individual students while teaching the whole group.
7. Four corners
A quick and easy snapshot of student understanding, Four Corners provides an opportunity for student movement while permitting the teacher to monitor and assess understanding.

The teacher poses a question or makes a statement. Students then move to the appropriate corner of the classroom to indicate their response to the prompt. For example, the corner choices might include "I strongly agree," "I strongly disagree," "I agree somewhat," and "I'm not sure."
8. Think-pair-share
Students take a few minutes to think about the question or prompt. Next, they pair with a designated partner to compare thoughts before sharing with the whole class.
9. Choral reading
Students mark text to identify a particular concept and chime in, reading the marked text aloud in unison with the teacher. This strategy helps students develop fluency; differentiate between the reading of statements and questions; and practice phrasing, pacing, and reading dialogue.
10. One question quiz
Ask a single focused question with a specific goal that can be answered within a minute or two. You can quickly scan the written responses to assess student understanding.
11. Socratic seminar
Students ask questions of one another about an essential question, topic, or selected text. The questions initiate a conversation that continues with a series of responses and additional questions. Students learn to formulate questions that address issues to facilitate their own discussion and arrive at a new understanding.
12. 3-2-1
Students consider what they have learned by responding to the following prompt at the end of the lesson: 3) things they learned from your lesson; 2) things they want to know more about; and 1) questions they have. The prompt stimulates student reflection on the lesson and helps to process the learning.
13. Ticket out the door
Students write in response to a specific prompt for a short period of time. Teachers collect their responses as a "ticket out the door" to check for students' understanding of a concept taught. This exercise quickly generates multiple ideas that could be turned into longer pieces of writing at a later time.
14. Journal reflections
Students write their reflections on a lesson, such as what they learned, what caused them difficulty, strategies they found helpful, or other lesson-related topics. Students can reflect on and process lessons. By reading student work-especially -types of learning journals that help students think-teachers can identify class and individual misconceptions and successes. (See also
15. Formative pencil-paper assessment
Students respond individually to short, pencil-paper formative assessments of skills and knowledge taught in the lesson. Teachers may elect to have students self-correct. The teacher collects assessment results to monitor individual student progress and to inform future instruction.

Both student and teacher can quickly assess whether the student acquired the intended knowledge and skills. This is a formative assessment, so a grade is not the intended purpose.
16. Misconception check
Present students with common or predictable misconceptions about a concept you're covering. Ask them whether they agree or disagree and to explain why.
17. Analogy prompt
Teaching with analogies can be powerful. Periodically, present students with an analogy prompt: "the concept being covered is like ____ because ____."
18. Practice frequency
Check for understanding at least three times a lesson, minimum.
19. Use variety
Teachers should use enough different individual and whole group techniques to check understanding that they accurately know what all students know. More than likely, this means during a single class the same technique should not be repeated.
20. Make it useful
The true test is whether or not you can adjust your course or continue as planned based on the information received in each check. Do you need to stop and start over? Pull a few students aside for three minutes to re-teach? Or move on?
21. Peer instruction
Perhaps the most accurate way to check for understanding is to have one student try to teach another student what she's learned. If she can do that successfully, it's clear she understood your lesson.
22. "Separate what you do and don't understand"
Whether making a t-chart, drawing a concept map, or using some other means, have the students not simply list what they think they know, but what they don't know as well. This won't be as simple as it sounds-we're usually not aware of what we don't know.

They'll also often know more or less than they can identify themselves, which makes this strategy a bit crude. But that's okay-the goal isn't for them to be precise and complete in their self-evaluation the goal is for you to gain insight as to what they do and don't know.

And seeing what they can even begin to articulate on their own is an excellent starting point here.
This post was written by Saga Briggins and was first published by on opencolleges.edu.au; 20 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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22 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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contributed by Saga Briggs The ultimate goal of teaching is understanding. But sometimes it's easier to talk than to teach, as we all know, especially when we need to cover a lot of material in a short amount of time.

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Assessment for Learning activities | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC

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They include ideas on collecting information, the strategic use of questioning, giving feedback, and introducing peer and self-assessment.

Collecting information

Draw a face

At the end of an activity or lesson, ask learners to draw a face to show how confident they are about the topic. Smiley face = ready to move on, neutral face = fairly confident, sad face = not confident, need to review.

Summary sentence

Ask learners to write one sentence to summarise what they know about the topic at the start or end of a lesson. You could focus this by telling them to include e.g. what or why or how etc.

Pair share

At the end of a lesson learners share with their partner:

Three new things they have learnt

What they found easy

What they found difficult

Something they would like to learn in the future.

Traffic lights

Give learners red, yellow and green cards (or they can make these themselves at home). At different points during the lesson, ask them to choose a card and put it on their desk to show how much they understand (red = don't understand, yellow = partly understand, green = totally understand).

Post-its

Use post-it notes to evaluate learning. Give to groups, pairs or individuals and ask them to answer questions. For example:

What have I learnt?

What have I found easy?

What have I found difficult?

What do I want to know now?

Draw a square

When a learner has finished a worksheet or exercise, ask them to draw a square on the page. If they do not understand well, they colour it red, if they partly understand, yellow and if everything is OK, green.

Not clear

At the end of an activity or lesson or unit, ask learners to write one or two points that are not clear to them. The teacher and class discuss these points and work together to make them clear.

Thumbs up!

Check class understanding of what you are teaching by asking them to show their thumbs. Thumbs up = I understand; thumbs half way = I understand some; thumbs down = I don't understand.

KWL

At the beginning of a topic learners create a grid with three columns - what they know; what they want to know; what they have learned. They start by brainstorming and filling in the first two columns and then return to the third at the end of the unit.

Most ....... thing

Ask learners what was the most, e.g. useful, interesting, surprising, etc. thing they learned today or in this unit.

A, B, C, D cards

Give learners four cards: A, B, C, D (or they can make these themselves at home). Ask questions with four answers and ask them to show you their answers. You could do this in teams too.

Mini-whiteboards

Ask learners to write their answers on mini-whiteboards or pieces of paper and show it to you (or their peers).

Observing

Observe a few learners every lesson and make notes.

The strategic use of questioning

Questioning helps teachers identify and correct misunderstandings and gaps in knowledge. It gives teachers information about what learners know, understand and can do.

Use open questions

Closed questions only ask learners to recall. Use open questions to encourage the use of thinking skills, communication and eliciting more information. Examples of good question stems:

Use 'might'

When questioning, use the word 'might' to encourage learners to think and explore possible answers. For example, 'Why do teachers ask questions?' and 'Why might teachers ask questions?' The first question seems like there is one correct answer known by the teacher, but the second question is more open and suggests many possible answers.

Wait time

Tips:

Give 30 seconds silent thinking before any answers.

Ask learners to brainstorm in pairs first for 2-3 minutes.

Ask learners to write some notes before answering.

Ask learners to discuss with a partner before answering.

Use think, pair, share.

Use higher order thinking skills (HOTS)

Don't ask, e.g. 'Is flour uncountable?' Ask, 'Why isn't flour countable?' Then learners don't only recall, they reason too.

Prompt

Prompt for more information, e.g. 'Why do you think that?' 'Persuade me!'

Bounce

Ask learners to build on each other's answers. E.g. 'Maria what do you think about Javier's answer?'

Giving feedback

Comment-only marking

Only write comments on learners' work, and don't give marks or scores. This helps learners to focus on progress instead of a reward or punishment. They will want a mark, but encourage them to focus on the comments. Comments should make it clear how the learner can improve. Ask if they have any questions about the comments and make time to speak with individual learners.

Feedback sandwich

Use a feedback sandwich to give comments. An example of a feedback sandwich is:

Positive comment, e.g. 'I like ... because ...'

Constructive feedback with explanation of how to improve, e.g. 'This is not quite correct - check the information with .......'

Positive comment, e.g. 'You have written a very clear and .........'

Time in class to make corrections

Give learners time in class to make corrections or improvements. This gives learners time to focus on the feedback that you or their peers have given them, and make corrections. It also tells learners that feedback is valuable and worth spending time on. And, it gives them the opportunity to improve in a supportive environment.

Don't erase corrections

Tell learners you want to see how they have corrected and improved their written work before they hand it to you. Don't let them use erasers, instead tell them to make corrections using a different colour so you can see them, and what they have done to make improvements.

Introducing peer and self-assessment

Share learning objectives

Some examples:

Use WILF (what I'm looking for).

Point to the objectives on the board.

Elicit what the success criteria might be for a task.

Negotiate or share the criteria

Write these on the board for reference.

Two stars and a wish

A useful activity to use when introducing peer or self-assessment for the first time is 'two stars and a wish':

Explain/elicit the meaning of stars and a wish related to feedback (two good things and one thing you wish was better/could improve).

Model how to give peer feedback using two stars and a wish first.

Role play the peer feedback, for example:

- 'Ah this is a really nice poster - I like it!' (Thank you)

- 'I really like it and I think you included most of the information.'

- [Look at the success criteria on the board]

- 'Hmm, but there is no title for your poster so we don't know the topic.'

Feedback sandwich (see above)

This is a useful activity when learners are more confident in peer and self-assessment. Model how to give feedback first.

Write the following text on the board:

- I like... because

- I think next time you should... because...

- ... is good because...

Elicit from your learners what a feedback sandwich is from the text on the board (what is good and why, what could be better and why, what is good and why).

Given an example like this:

"The poster gives all the necessary information, which is good but next time you should add a title so we know the topic. The presentation is good too because it is clear and attractive."

Learning wall

Make a 'learning wall' where learners can post positive feedback about others.

Peer check

Ask learners to read each other's written work to look for specific points, such as spelling mistakes, past tense verbs, etc. During speaking activities such as role plays and presentations, ask learners to give each other feedback on specific points, e.g. how interesting it was, whether they understood what was said and any questions they have.

Self-assessment prompts

Examples:

Choose one thing in your work you are proud of. Tell the whole group why. You have one minute.

Discuss which of the success criteria you have been most successful with and which one could be improved and how. You have three minutes.

Three things

At the end of the lesson, ask your learners to make a list of two things they learned, and one thing they still need to learn.

I have a question

At the end of the lesson, ask your learners to write a question on what they are not clear about.

Journals

Ask your learners to keep a learning journal to record their thoughts and attitudes to what they have learned.

Portfolios

Ask learners to keep a file containing samples of their work. This may include work done in class, homework, test results, self-assessment and comments from peers and the teacher.

Reflection time

At the end of the lesson give learners time to reflect and decide what to focus on in the next lesson.

Setting goals

After feedback, encourage learners to set goals. Tell them they have identified what is good, what is not so good, and any gaps in their knowledge. Now they need to think about their goal and how they can reach it. Ask them to work individually and answer the questions:

What is your goal?

How will you achieve it?

Personal goals

Ask learners to set personal goals, for example: 'Next week I will read a short story'.

Self-assessment forms

Work with learners to create self-assessment forms or templates that they can use to reflect on an activity or lesson. For younger learners, something like the form below would work:

Below is an example for higher level or older learners:
I can write an email giving news and information
How true are these? Circle the best number(3 = true, 2 = partly true, 1 = not true)
I can write an email giving news and information
How true are these? Circle the best number(3 = true, 2 = partly true, 1 = not true)

Some of the activities listed here are taken and adapted from: www.tes.com/teaching-resource/assessment-for-learning-toolkit-6337093

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They include ideas on collecting information, the strategic use of questioning, giving feedback, and introducing peer and self-assessment. Collecting information Draw a face At the end of an activity or lesson, ask learners to draw a face to show how confident they are about the topic.