Formative Assessment / Assessment For Learning

This is an extremely important form of assessment that drives my teaching and allows me to ascertain areas that need to be re-taught.  This is an ongoing part of my practice as I am constantly gauging where the students are at and adjusting to meet the needs of the diverse learners in the class.

Observation

Observation is one of the major tools that is used in Formative assessment, but is often difficult to quantify it to administrators and parents.  I have taken this as a challenge to add an Anecdotal element to my observational assessment.  This may be during guided reading where I am taking concrete notes on what I am observing a particular student succeeding or struggling with.

Splash Activity

A splash activity is where a student is given a sheet of paper and is given a set amount of time to 'splash' what they know about a topic on the paper.  They can choose to write, draw, graph or any other graphic representation of their learning.  This allows for the differentiation of student's knowledge as they can use multiple means to represent their understanding of a topic.

This was a splash activity done with grade 2 students on the topic of 2D and 3D shapes

Conversational assessment

I have found that an extremely effective way to check for understanding is through having a conversation about a given topic with students, this can serve as an opportunity to right any misconceptions that might have arisen or to affirm the learning that is taking place.