FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
HAND SIGNALS
Ask students to display a designated hand signal to indicate their understanding of a specific concept, principal, or process: - I understand____________ and can explain it (e.g., thumbs up). - I do not yet understand ____________ (e.g., thumbs down). - I’m not completely sure about ____________ (e.g., wave hand).
One minute essay
A one-minute essay question (or one-minute question) is a focused question with a specific goal that can, in fact, be answered within a minute or two.
Misconception check
Present students with common or predictable misconceptions about a designated concept, principle, or process. Ask them whether they agree or disagree and explain why. The misconception check can also be presented in the form of a multiple-choice or true-false quiz.
three minute pause
The Three-Minute Pause provides a chance for students to stop, reflect on the concepts and ideas that have just been introduced, make connections to prior knowledge or experience, and seek clarification.
self assessment
A process in which students collect information about their own learning, analyze what it reveals about their progress toward the intended learning goals and plan the next steps in their learning.
journal entry
Students record in a journal their understanding of the topic, concept or lesson taught. The teacher reviews the entry to see if the student has gained an understanding of the topic, lesson or concept that was taught.
ABC summary
Each student in the class is assigned a different letter of the alphabet and they must select a word starting with that letter that is related to the topic being studied.
idea spinner
The teacher creates a spinner marked into 4 quadrants and labeled “Predict, Explain, Summarize, Evaluate.” After new material is presented, the teacher spins the spinner and asks students to answer a question based on the location of the spinner. For example, if the spinner lands in the “Summarize” quadrant, the teacher might say, “List the key concepts just presented.”
fish bowl
Inside and outside circles of students face each other. Within each pair of facing students, students quiz each other with questions they have written. Outside circle moves to create new pairs. Repeat
one sentence summary
Students are asked to write a summary sentence that answers the “who, what where, when, why, how” questions about the topic.
Think Tac Toe
A collection of activities from which students can choose to do to demonstrate their understanding. It is presented in the form of a nine square grid similar to a tic-tac-toe board and students may be expected to complete from one to “three in a row”. The activities vary in content, process, and product and can be tailored to address DOK levels.
Four corners
Students choose a corner based on their level of expertise of a given subject.
Based on your knowledge of __________________ , which corner would you choose?
Muddiest Point
This is a variation on the one-minute paper, though you may wish to give students a slightly longer time period to answer the question. Here you ask (at the end of a class period, or at a natural break in the presentation), "What was the "muddiest point" in today's lesson?" or, perhaps, you might be more specific, asking, for example: "What (if anything) do you find unclear about the concept of '_____'?
3 - 2 - 1
3 things you found out
2 interesting things
1 question you still have
Roll of the dice
Display 6 questions from the lesson. Have students in groups.
Each group has 1 die. Each student rolls the die and answers the question with the corresponding number. If a number is rolled more than once the student may elaborate on the previous response or roll again.
Recall, summarize, question, connect
In two minutes, students recall and list in rank order the most important ideas from the lesson; in two more minutes, they summarize those points in a single sentence, then write one major question they want answered, then use the information learned to connect it to previously taught ideas.
Likert Scale
Provide 3-5 statements that aren’t clearly true or false, but are somewhat debatable. The purpose is to help students reflect on a text and engage in discussion with their peers afterwards. Students respond with if they strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree with the statements.
I have the question, who has the answer?
The teacher makes two sets of cards. One set contains questions related to the unit of study. The second set contains the answers to the questions. Distribute the answer cards to the students and either you or a student will read the question cards to the class. All students check their answer cards to see if they have the correct answer. A variation is to make cards into a chain activity: The student chosen to begin the chain will read the given card aloud and then wait for the next participant to read the only card that would correctly follow the progression. Play continues until all of the cards are read and the initial student is ready to read his card for the second time.