Formative Assessment
Welcome back everyone!
This post is going to be about the book we just finished for EDU 223, Embedded Formative Assessment. This book was all about ways to get your students engaged in their assessments and numerous new ways on how to give them these formative assessments. It talks about not only teacher given formative assessments, but formative assessments that promote peer learning.
In the first two chapters discussed how important teaching is in society and the quality/effectiveness of the teachers we are currently employing. The future of our nation and its economy relies on the future workforce we are currently training and having enrolled in schools. The author also discussed replacing our entire workforce of teachers with newer freshly trained teachers will take too long, so we need to invest in equipping our current teachers with newer better tools to promote students' learning and their engagement. These tools are based around the concept of formative assessments where the teacher regularly checks in with the students in one way or another about their learning and takes into account the information gathered when moving on to continue the lesson.
Just a quick heads up if you click on the hyperlinked title next to the chapter number it will take you to a tweet that gives a brief summary of the information I found to be some of the most important from that chapter.
Chapter 3: Clarifying, Sharing, and Understanding Learning Intentions and Success Criteria
Expectations of your students should be clear in the classroom and on their assignments. Students struggle with their work when they don't know how it relates to anything or the purpose behind an assignment. Connecting their assignments to standards or another assignment that you had them previously do makes their work seem more important. Making sure you have an agenda written out on the board where every student can see it gives them comfort in knowing what they are doing for the duration of your class. This is definitely a technique that I will employ in my classroom (since it can double as something to keep myself on track).
Chapter 4: Eliciting Evidence of Learning
Knowing what your students already know or misconceptions that they have about the subject you are teaching them can be extremely beneficial. Formative assessments are a superb way to measure what your students know and this chapter is all about different types of formative assessments. When you use the results from these assessments you can alter the course of the lesson as needed. I would like to make it a regular occurrence in my classroom where the students must fill out some form of an exit ticket to leave for the day. The exit ticket would be things they learned or still have questions on that way I can know how effective the lesson I presented that day was.
Chapter 5: Providing Feedback That Moves Learning Forward
Giving students positive feedback in a timely manner gives them more confidence in their learning. They know how they are doing thus far with the information and know what they need to ask questions on to further their learning. With the exit ticket idea from above, I would like to take in the feedback my students give me and be able to address their concerns/questions the following class. The feedback a teacher receives from their students is just as important as feedback students get from their teacher. It allows you, the teacher, to alter your methods of teaching to better the education of your students.
Chapter 6: Activating Learners as Instructional Resources for One Another
This chapter discussed having students use their peers as learning resources. It also talked about using peer assessments to gauge student learning. The students are able provide feedback on written answers or other written work and the students are able to talk through the feedback. Having the students look over and provide feedback to others can also benefit the one giving the feedback since they get to see how the other student took it, internalized the information. It can give them another perspective that perhaps makes more sense to them than the way the teacher had previously presented the information. I think having peer learning/peer feedback is so valuable in the classroom and I would look forward to incorporating it into a classroom of my own. I would also be excited to see the results of the interaction and how it affected my students/their learning.
Chapter 7: Activating Learners as Owners of Their Own Learning
When students are engaged in the materials they are learning about they take charge of their own learning and get excited about the material. When you have students like this they make a positive impact on your classroom and can have the ability to get other students excited about the material. This chapter was all about how to get your students excited about the materials you're teaching using strategies such as; learning logs, learning portfolios, red/green disks, and traffic lights. I would really like to incorporate the learning portfolios into my classroom as something the students would be able to present to their parents at a parent teacher conference.
This post is going to be about the book we just finished for EDU 223, Embedded Formative Assessment. This book was all about ways to get your students engaged in their assessments and numerous new ways on how to give them these formative assessments. It talks about not only teacher given formative assessments, but formative assessments that promote peer learning.
In the first two chapters discussed how important teaching is in society and the quality/effectiveness of the teachers we are currently employing. The future of our nation and its economy relies on the future workforce we are currently training and having enrolled in schools. The author also discussed replacing our entire workforce of teachers with newer freshly trained teachers will take too long, so we need to invest in equipping our current teachers with newer better tools to promote students' learning and their engagement. These tools are based around the concept of formative assessments where the teacher regularly checks in with the students in one way or another about their learning and takes into account the information gathered when moving on to continue the lesson.
Just a quick heads up if you click on the hyperlinked title next to the chapter number it will take you to a tweet that gives a brief summary of the information I found to be some of the most important from that chapter.
Chapter 3: Clarifying, Sharing, and Understanding Learning Intentions and Success Criteria
Expectations of your students should be clear in the classroom and on their assignments. Students struggle with their work when they don't know how it relates to anything or the purpose behind an assignment. Connecting their assignments to standards or another assignment that you had them previously do makes their work seem more important. Making sure you have an agenda written out on the board where every student can see it gives them comfort in knowing what they are doing for the duration of your class. This is definitely a technique that I will employ in my classroom (since it can double as something to keep myself on track).
Chapter 4: Eliciting Evidence of Learning
Knowing what your students already know or misconceptions that they have about the subject you are teaching them can be extremely beneficial. Formative assessments are a superb way to measure what your students know and this chapter is all about different types of formative assessments. When you use the results from these assessments you can alter the course of the lesson as needed. I would like to make it a regular occurrence in my classroom where the students must fill out some form of an exit ticket to leave for the day. The exit ticket would be things they learned or still have questions on that way I can know how effective the lesson I presented that day was.
Chapter 5: Providing Feedback That Moves Learning Forward
Giving students positive feedback in a timely manner gives them more confidence in their learning. They know how they are doing thus far with the information and know what they need to ask questions on to further their learning. With the exit ticket idea from above, I would like to take in the feedback my students give me and be able to address their concerns/questions the following class. The feedback a teacher receives from their students is just as important as feedback students get from their teacher. It allows you, the teacher, to alter your methods of teaching to better the education of your students.
Chapter 6: Activating Learners as Instructional Resources for One Another
This chapter discussed having students use their peers as learning resources. It also talked about using peer assessments to gauge student learning. The students are able provide feedback on written answers or other written work and the students are able to talk through the feedback. Having the students look over and provide feedback to others can also benefit the one giving the feedback since they get to see how the other student took it, internalized the information. It can give them another perspective that perhaps makes more sense to them than the way the teacher had previously presented the information. I think having peer learning/peer feedback is so valuable in the classroom and I would look forward to incorporating it into a classroom of my own. I would also be excited to see the results of the interaction and how it affected my students/their learning.
Chapter 7: Activating Learners as Owners of Their Own Learning
When students are engaged in the materials they are learning about they take charge of their own learning and get excited about the material. When you have students like this they make a positive impact on your classroom and can have the ability to get other students excited about the material. This chapter was all about how to get your students excited about the materials you're teaching using strategies such as; learning logs, learning portfolios, red/green disks, and traffic lights. I would really like to incorporate the learning portfolios into my classroom as something the students would be able to present to their parents at a parent teacher conference.
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