Today, I am talking formative assessments. We have been focusing on Formative Instructional Practices in my school using strategies like posting clear learning targets for students, making sure students know their learning targets and regular formative assessments to drive your instruction.
So, I want to share 5 ways to check for understanding during or after your lesson. You probably already use these strategies, but do you view at them as formative assessments??
Levels of Understanding
Using the Levels of Understanding is a great way to check and see how students are doing with a particular skill. I love this when teaching math. I will give a few problems for students to complete on an index card, then they put in the pocket that they feel matches their level of understanding. I always check in with the students who feel like they are not getting it. Its also surprising to find students who don’t think they are getting it but actually have the answers correct! I always check in with them to give them some encouraging words!
Whiteboards
I don’t even know how I could live without whiteboards in my classroom! We use them all day long. My favorite thing to use whiteboards with is our spiral math review. Students complete four review problems for morning work as they arrive in the morning. As I walk around I can quickly observe who I need to pull into a small group for remediation. I also love using the paddle style whiteboards for students to respond to questions and then show me their answers. These are so cheap at the Dollar Tree! You can get them online here.
You can get my Math Spiral Review here: Just click the pictures!
Journaling
Journaling is another quick way to check for understanding. No need to make copies, student just write in a composition notebook. They can respond to a prompt at the end of the lesson, you can check the journal and respond back if needed or verbally check in with that student. This works great for students who are afraid to ask questions in class or raise their hand in class.
Exit Tickets
Exit tickets are a great strategy to quickly assess student understanding of a lesson. Perfect to use as a lesson closure, you can quickly see who got the skill and who needs reteaching. These Exit Tickets work great for any subject and there are two on a page (so you save paper!). Click the picture to download a this FREE resource!
Technology
You cannot beat using technology for student engagement! I have a few favorites that I use regularly. My very favorite is Quizizz. I love that most of the time, I can search for content and use a Quiz that someone has already created! I also love Blooket (my kids go insane for this!) and Kahoot!. But if I am really looking to do a formative assessment Google Forms is my first choice. They are easy to set up and assign and I can get quick data.
If you’ve liked my 5 Ways to Check for Understanding resource, check out my shop!
