Formative assessments are a great way to assess students’ understanding of content or ideas. They are also more flexible than summative assessments.
In this article, we will explore some examples of formative assessments you can use in your classroom to assess student progress. Each example is easy to implement and can help you make improvements in your teaching practice.
Spot the Error
Formative assessment is a type of feedback that informs teachers and students about their understanding of a subject. It does not produce a lettered grade or number of levels like summative assessments do.
In a formative assessment, teachers use their knowledge of learning goals to gather evidence of student thinking and respond to student responses. They interpret this evidence by comparing it to the criteria for success in a curricular unit of study.
A formative assessment also helps teachers develop learning progressions toward a particular goal. These progressions provide the big picture for locating students’ current status relative to desired goals.
Error analysis of formative assessments or students’ work can reveal trends in student understanding, providing teachers with an opportunity to re-teach content or skills. They can then make a decision about next steps that help students progress.
Doodle Notes
The doodle note approach to learning has been proven to help visual learners improve their memory recall. It helps students take verbal-linguistic information and turn it into visual-language information, which can then be retained for use on a test or quiz.
Doodle notes are organized into concise visual pages to help students associate ideas with each other. Using this visual approach to learning has been shown to be effective for many subjects, including science and math.
When used as a formative assessment, it’s a great way to get students to reflect on their learning and make sure they are understanding what you’ve just taught them. This can be done in a number of ways, from having them fill out a comic strip or drawing their own doodle notes to having them spot the error and two truths and a lie.
Doodle note lessons are a perfect match for many classroom applications, from pre-teaching or initial instruction, to practice and remediation, and even as a formative assessment tool. However, it’s important to select a lesson that is a good fit for your class, based on the needs of individual students.
Two Truths and a Lie
Two Truths and a Lie is an easy icebreaker game that can be played in groups of any size. It doesn’t require any equipment or preparation, and it can be played in a variety of settings — from parties to team bonding events.
This classic get-to-know-you icebreaker game involves telling two truths and one lie about yourself in any order. The rest of the group then must guess which statement is a lie.
Formative assessments are low-stakes, yet they’re important for monitoring students’ progress throughout the year. They’re also a great way to keep students engaged, even when they’re in a test-heavy environment.
If you’re looking for a way to assess student understanding during a lesson, consider requiring students to write down three statements that represent the concept you just taught. They can include the key points, a definition, or an example. You can then plug their answers into a word cloud generator to see which ideas are most worth remembering.
Comic Strips
Comic strips are a form of illustrated storytelling that combine words and images. They are usually published in a newspaper, magazine, or book.
They may include comical or serious content, depending on the reader’s taste. Some comic strips have a strong political or social message, while others satirize events.
One of the most important parts of creating a comic strip is drawing out your characters. Use basic shapes like stick figures or pencils, and sketch in your speech bubbles and starbursts for sound effects.
A comic strip is a series of drawn panels that are arranged horizontally, with each panel depicting a specific storyline. A complete story can be told in a single strip, or several strips may be released separately.