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2. If you had to come up with your own brief but accurate explanation of formative assessment—an explanation suitable for members of a non-educator audience (such as parents)—how would you describe it?

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2. If you had to come up with your own brief but accurate explanation of formative assessment—an explanation suitable for members of a non-educator audience (such as parents)—how would you describe it?

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Formative assessment is a way for teachers and student to monitor and adjust instruction and student practice to create learning experiences that are effective, efficient and reflective. Furthermore, through periodic and regular check-ins, formative assessments make learning proactive so that issues and misconceptions are addressed prior to summative assessments rather than afterwards.
-MY

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1. From the perspective of promoting wider use of formative assessment...

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1. From the perspective of promoting wider use of formative assessment...

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the advantage of considering these 5 components of formative assessment allows teachers to find themselves in one of the components, their initial comfort zone with formative assessment, and then to expand their application into another component area when they are ready. A disadvantage would be that teachers might choose their starting component and just stay there. When things are compartmentalized, it's easier to stay within one compartment sometimes. I would venture that many teachers never see formative assessment as anything beyond the first component, as a tool for adjusting immediate instruction.
-KM

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3. What are the similarities and differences in the five applications of formative assessment outlined in this article?  

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3. What are the similarities and differences in the five applications of formative assessment outlined in this article?  

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The similarities between the five applications of formative assessment that are outlined in this article are that they all lend themselves to creating change for the better in your instruction.  Instead of focusing on using these assessments to assign a grade for kids, we should use these assessments as feedback for us to better our instruction. Each application differed in the sense that they offered different kind of change.  The five types of changes include immediate change, near future change, last chance adjustment, learning tactic adjustment, and to make a classroom climate shift. KP

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Formative Assessment as Enabler of learning

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Formative Assessment as Enabler of learning

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I definitely think that formative assessment is an enabler of learning. The more I think about it, the more it seems nearly all my assessments are formative rather than summative. (I allow for nearly endless revisions if students want to keep trying to improve a paper based on feedback and conferencing.) Some of them still think of it as a chance to get a better grade, which of course it is, but that is because they are continuing to learn.
I have my juniors working on several projects at the moment. One a mock college application, the other an exploration of journalism (They are also working on a synthesis essay). Today I used Flipgrid to have them tell me, after considering the tasks before them, what they need to learn more about so that they can be successful in meeting our goals. They had to really consider the tasks and their level of knowledge and understanding. Then they had a little fun making video responses. This kind of formative assessment should, it seems to me, enable them to move toward the learning they need.
-KM

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Heritage's mention of formative assessments as enabler is such an important idea. With students being bombarded with assessments that count toward their grades, many students are always fearful of doing anything in class because they think that they are being judged. This can be very stifling. Using formative assessments to enable learning and foster further questions is vital to student growth. It also helps us teachers plan more meaningful and efficient lessons that target trouble spots. This allows our teaching to be more precise.

Perhaps we need to move away from calling these types of exercises assessments because so often students and teachers associate assessments with something that must be logged in a grade book. -MY

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Formative Assessment: An enabler of learning.

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Formative Assessment: An enabler of learning.

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I really like the idea of creating and discussing the unit's goal in the beginning of the unit. This will give students a clear vision and will enable them to learn with a vision in mind. If students are unclear of expectations, they will not know what to do. With clarity and goals set forth, the teacher can formatively assess throughout the lesson and help guide students in the right direction. Giving the students immediate feedback will allow them to grow and move forward with their successful journey. Peer assessment is also important to ensure appropriate and responsible learning. We need to prepare our students for this type of behavior and responsibility. Creating a safe classroom environment by practicing repectful behaviors will lead to a successful learning environment for all. KP

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After reading this article I was brought back to 7th grade English class. My teacher at the time was one of the best teachers I had in middle school and it was because she did so many of the things that this article mentions, in particular with regards to teaching the way the mind learns. My teacher that year always primed our brains at the beginning of the lesson so we always knew what was being expected of us. I remember feeling in control in that class because there was always a roadmap of the day's lesson so I could see if I was learning everything I needed to. My teacher also lead us to discovering things on our own. Yes, these were guided, but she allowed us to make the discoveries rather than lecturing us about it. The class was also structured and organized and I remember really liking it because there was a sense of comfort to that.

She was also never sarcastic. I remember my technology teacher using sarcasm and at that time I took words literally and remember going home being petrified of him and the class. It took me a few weeks to realize that he was only joking.

MY

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2. Students in my Spanish III class are currently working on presentations on different cities around the Spanish-speaking world. In an attempt to shift away from being disappointed by many of the projects, I have built in more time for in-class work sessions so that I can meet with each student to provide feedback along the way to encourage them to (re)consider certain components of their work so that it shows application of information learned in class. In the past students were expected to complete all of their work at home and this did not allow for a collaborative approach where students were given more on-going feedback. I'm hopeful that the results of this year's project is better due to the new approach I'm implementing.

3. As for the scenario presented in the article "Facilitation is King," the second scenario was more successful because it allowed for more continuous, or formative, feedback. The time that the professor spent mentoring allowed for probing questions that invited/guided students to connect content knowledge to the project which ideally would lead to a more thorough project that demonstrates the application of the content in the final product.

MY

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1. I have presented my students with an authentic challenge this year that I have not in a while. They are writing a novel (novella). As the date for their draft approaches, I am realizing I have not been the best facilitator that I could have for them. We have done some workshopping, but not enough. And I have done too much lecturing about things to consider including rather than modeling or giving them models.

2. I try to do a lot of environment fostering where students wrestle with content on their own, but probably not as much as I should. While I should have given more guidance and feedback to the novel writers, sometimes don't let students wrestle enough. I am now working out a mock college application process for another class where I want them to take away  certain skills and concepts regarding research, forms, resumes, and personal writing. I am working on rubrics to guide them, putting together some models, and figuring out how best to use our class time for them to work it all out.
-KM

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The part of this article that struck me the most was the mindset piece.  How we need to teach students about how the brain works.  Having a growth mindset is so important for students to have in order to persist through the challenges that math presents to them.  Allowing students to grapple with content and be excited about what they are doing will lead to a natural desire to want to learn.  We can't manipulate students and expect them to have the true desire to learn the content.  We need to motivate them by providing authentic problems to hopefully spark the internal want to learn.  Motivating them might take some practice but I do believe it is ultimately what students need to be successful. KP

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1.  An authentic challenge that I could present tot my students is to ask them to design a layout of my classroom by creating a blue print.  This will require them to use scale and proportionality to scale down items in the classroom.  They will also have to be able to measure appropriately.  Instead of telling them how to do this, I will allow them to grapple with the content while being there for them to facilitate, question, and offer advice.  I would also provide mini-lessons for groups who struggle with particular concepts.  Since my students also all of have chrome books, I could also give them access to videos that reteach concepts they will need to complete the task.
3.  They second scenario was more successful than the first because the teacher acted as a facilitator.  They challenged their students with questions that led to a more thorough and successful design.  This allowed the end result to be a better product than if the teacher let them grapple on their own with no intervention.  A facilitator is there to guide their students instead of just letting them swim free completely on their own.
KP

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It is sometimes challenging to keep all kids engaged when they walk in the classroom at different ability levels.  While one kid may be facing anxiety about how "hard" the lesson is, while others may be bored because it is "too easy" for them.  By providing activities that meet all different levels of understanding, students will be able to work at a pace and appropriate level.  This will keep them in the "flow" section of the graph that was provided. Flexibility in the way I teach my lessons is important since I am used to the traditional method of teaching and practicing. I think the planning portion of this new type of instruction will take a lot of time to ensure that an activity list is thoughtful and appropriate. Next year I will not have an on-level and accelerated section(they are taking away the different classes and grouping all students) so it will be especially important to create these types of lessons to keep all the kids engaged. -KP

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Since I started teaching 13 years ago, I've always been known as a challenging teacher. I think it's important to hold students accountable for information and to be as thorough as possible. That said, it's made me very sensitive to students' reaction to learning in my classroom because I need to make sure that they're kept on their toes but not in a state of panic, anxiety or worry because then they start to shut down and optimal learning is severely compromised. This article lends itself nicely to the importance of constant check-ins with students through formative assessment because sometimes as teachers we aren't always perfect at gauging student behavior. Simple questions can be used on exit tickets to check in to see if instruction and activities need to be modified to make sure that students are kept in the flow.
-MY

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1. I have use all four of the types of formative assessments in my classroom (over the course of 30 years). I am much more attentive to deliberate formative assessment than I used to be. I like the range of time and breadth that is covered in the 4 types of assessment. I think the type I use most frequently would be a sort of combination temperature gauge/breakpoint assessment. Questioning in various forms at deliberately taken breakpoints in a class allow time for processing and give me a chance to assess learning so far. I use one-sentence summaries in similar ways, in the middle of class as opposed to exit tickets.
2. I think the type of assessment I use least is the three finger/red card - green card sort of check in. I teach AP seniors, and that particular type of check in doesn't suit their "college" mentality. And often I find students finger gauges are off either deliberately or mistakenly and so may not be as accurate as posing a specific question. I do sometimes ask students to rate there level of understanding verbally, which I realize is the same thing, but the fingers feel too gimmicky (and lots of teachers only do that with them when they are being observed, so it's sort of tainted as a methodology for them.)
-KM

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There are some days in my classroom where I take great joy in watching my students do their English thing. When they know where they have to - or want to - go, like understanding a what's going on in a challenging text, and they are working with a group of students working on the same goal. And some are looking up words and allusions on a phone or computer, some are asking their classmates what they think and sharing interpretations, some are writing their way through to understanding. I listen, pop in on the conversations, but they are doing the talking. They enjoy the moments of making sense of things, and that lays the foundation for their next steps. The "burden" of responsibility for their own learning comes with a greater measure of satisfaction in that learning.
-KM

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Four Types of Formative Assessment - Reflection Questions

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Four Types of Formative Assessment - Reflection Questions

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1) The most frequently used formative assessment in my Spanish class is exit cards/tickets. Sometimes, however, these are delivered to students via Google Forms so that I can more easily gather and evaluate data. For instance, in addition to traditional homework from worksheets, students might be asked to answer similar questions that I post in my class's Google Classroom. I am quickly able to adjust the next day's lesson based on the feedback I gather from the Form. I've found that this has been a very effective way to maximize instruction and minimize common errors on later summative assessments.
2) The formative assessment that I use the least is Self-Assessment on a Rubric. At the start of each year, I find that students are very honest in their learning but when they become concerned with their grade (something very common in the district where I teach), I've found that students rate themselves based on where they'd like to be on the rubric rather than where they currently are.

Another formative assessment that I don't use much but one that can easily be implemented is the Temperature Gauges. For some reason I used to use these more in the past. I don't know why I stopped using them, so it was a nice reminder to see the Check-In in this article.
-MY

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Definition of Student Responsibility for Learning

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Definition of Student Responsibility for Learning

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When students are responsible for their learning, they look inward to their own personal learning needs rather than wait for the teacher to guide them through a lesson. They are charged with taking an active role in the design, implementation, and reflection of their learning. Essentially, the role of learning shifts to the student, the teacher is there to guide the process so that it continues to move in the right direction. Much like the GPS analogy made in this week's video, the student is the driver and the teacher is the navigation system. In this model the student can no longer be a passive "back seat" driver. -MY

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1. What kinds of formative assessments have you used in your classroom? How prevalent are they? I mostly use the temperature gauge in my classroom while teaching, walking around to help guide students, or even just by observing and listening to their work.  This allows me to address problems and mistakes soon after they occur so that they can learn from what they did wrong.  I also use a lot of breakpoints.  I am a big fan of exit tickets and "quick quizzes".  Often time after I go over a quiz, I will give a quick quiz the next day on the problems I focused on while going over common mistakes.  If they don't get it the third time around, I know it is time for a small group mini lesson.

2. Which of the four types of formative assessments are used least in your classroom? Why do you think that may be?  The formative assessment that I use the least in my classroom is definitely Student Directed Assessments. I think that with my fast paced and rigorous curriculum, I forget to give students time to reflect on their work and I would like to spend more time doing this (one of my goals for this course).  KP

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In order for students to engage, collaborate, and learn, they must be responsible for their own learning.  Students exposed to a self-paced program and appropriate levels of challenge will naturally become engaged and curious about taking the next step.  Giving students choice will allow their style of learning to be utilized.  Executive functioning skills play a major role, and will be fostered by the facilitator in the classroom.  Students will have to take ownership in their work which will hopefully lead to the desire to want to learn the material, rather than learning the material for the sole purpose of getting a "good grade".  KP

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