Formative assessments are "a wide variety of methods that teachers use to conduct in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson, unit, or course (Great Schools Partnership 2014). Based on the feedback I received from Kelly and from my own experience of using these Formative Assessments in my classroom, I believe that my assessments have been successful. The process of design and revision I found to be pretty intuitive. For example, during our first grade Main Lesson time each morning, we as a class have an entire block of time carved out for reviewing the material that was brought the day before. This is the time when I use formative assessments to get a read on what information students were able to retain, what elements of the lesson were unclear, and how to differentiate learning for the remainder of the lesson.
I honestly had no idea that what I was doing was labeled Formative Assessment, and so I really enjoyed learning what exactly formative assessments were and other ways of assessing students performance and my teaching from cohort members and from the resources provided by our instructor. I appreciate being exposed to and learning about so many other ways to assess student learning, aside from the tools and activities I already use. I specifically wrote about using Story timelines, chalkboards, and alphabet cards as formative assessment tools in my classroom.
Using an Exit ticket is another assessment tool I use regularly, but I never heard of it before nor had ever I called it that. For example, every Monday, after the students have their outdoor Ecoliteracy day on the Friday before, I have the children draw a picture of what they did and what they learned during Ecoliteracy. The students may illustrate a fun experience, something they didn’t understand, or something funny that happened; usually we have a theme. It’s a great review and recall activity for my students and often times I don’t go with them on these field trips, so it’s also a great way for me to hear about what they did. I have then been giving these pictures to their eco lit teacher and she absolutely loves it. She and I check in once a week and go over what the students created. It’s great process for all of us. We also use this reflective tool as a review for the stories we hear in Main Lesson that pertain to either Language Arts, Math, or Form Drawing, depending on the block.
From our most recent Math block, learning about the quality of numbers
"Chatterer, Grey Squirrel, Finn, and Wynn trying to figure out the riddle told by the wise old woman."
"Finn, Wynn, Chatterer, and Grey Squirrel sitting in front of the fire, listening to the wise woman."
(The number and roman numeral 5).
As far as how my research, cohort discussions, and/or feedback I received from peers and my instructor helped me to develop and improve my formative assessments, I honestly could’ve used more help and greater access to information regarding ELL and special education alternatives to formative assessments seeing as how we, as a cohort through TeachNow, have not yet addressed ELL or special education before. I did find a few resources online for ELL and sped students, but to get them to fit with the specifics of my assessments was difficult. On a separate note, I very much appreciated Kelly's comment, that by incorporating the use of this data I could complete another formative assessment for the students to assess whether the are visual or auditory learners, was a terrific recommendation and will do so in my upcoming assessments.
I love using chalkboards as a formative assessment tool. I use them in form drawing class, math, and language arts. I can immediately gauge where the students are as I ask them to write a letter, number or form and hold it up as they are finished. I then record the students level of understanding and comprehension in a notebook that I then transfer over into an excel spreadsheet. In Todd Finley’s web article, Dipsticks: Efficient Ways to Check for Understanding, he agrees that “by methodically watching and recording student performance with a focused observation form, you can learn a lot about students’ levels of understanding in just a few moments” (2014).
I feel the assessments I use in my classroom are accurate in gauging student learning and that the real-time data I collect tis accurate and informative. Each time I perform an assessment I record results of student performance and confidence level in a spreadsheet that helps me keep track of where the students are in their learning. I then use that data to modify my daily lessons and review and revisit any material that students may need revisited. In the online article by Lisa Greenstein, she states that, “ Formative assessment is purposefully directed toward the student. It does not emphasize how teachers deliver information but, rather, how students receive that information, how well they understand it, and how they can apply it”. I only partially agree with this statement because I strongly believe these assessment tools can provide teachers with the opportunity to reflect on whether or not the information they are delivering is being done so in a way that is effective and clear. When the students are not excelling, are not grasping concepts, or seem confused or lost by the directions, these are all great indicators my delivery of information needs to be more effective and I am able to gauge this through the use of the formative assessment tool.
My students are pretty young still, and where I would refrain from sharing the results directly with them in a formal matter, I would instead congratulate them on their learning and let them know that because of their progress and job well done, we as a class are able to move on to the next challenge. The students would become aware of their progress as I change the activity to become more complicated and challenging for them. I have also differentiated the activity based on how particular students are progressing through the activity/assessment. I will either add additional challenges or maintain the same level of difficulty until a student shows the ability to grasp the concept. and move forward. As my students are 6 and 7 years old and while they are actively involved in participating in the assessment process itself, I would refrain from inviting them to help keep a record of their progress. This can really encourage a competitive atmosphere in the classroom and that is the complete opposite of what I have been working so hard to develop and foster amongst my students this year. We encourage each other and lift each other up. Learning is not a competition, but instead, I explain to my students that we all excel when everyone does well, we work together to help each other and record keeping is not something I feel these children are ready for. Maybe in the third or fourth or fifth grade, but not at this age.
I really appreciated reading other peoples use of formative assessments in the classroom as well as the plethora of information and resources out there on the web. Edutopia is usually my go to and they have multiple fantastic websites and links that I’ve been looking at for quite a bit over the past few days: Edutopia !o Fun-Filled Formative Assessments, This too is a great video example fo a teacher using formative assessments with her class: 5 Types of Formative Assessments Overall, this assignment has been helpful in finding ways to make formative assessments fun and interactive.
References:
Finley, Todd. (2014). Dipsticks: Efficient Ways to Check for Understanding. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/dipsticks-to-check-for-understanding-todd-finley
Great Schools Partnership. (2014). Formative Assessment. https://www.edglossary.org/formative-assessment/
Greenstein. Laura. retrieved from the internet on November 9, 2019. What Teachers Really Need to Know About Formative Assessment. http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/110017/chapters/The-Fundamentals-of-Formative-Assessment.aspx
Hill, Hillary. (2013). 10 Fun-Filled formative Assessment Ideas. https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/10-fun-filled-formative-assessment-ideas
Youtube video. (2017). 5 Types of Formative Assessments. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUhFwvHIdxw
