Chelsea's Profile

Topic/Purpose

Through this course educators will be able to understand how to use a variety of formative assessments in the classroom. Topics will include

The difference between formative and summative assessment
The benefits of using formative assessment
How to develop formative assessments
Using technology to create formative assessments

Needs Assessment

The Instructional Problem

Problem: Students come to the classroom with a variety of strengths and areas of need. To ensure that all students are successful and achieve fully the objectives, teachers need to be continually informed of areas of need and areas of mastery. This is where formative assessment is key. When used correctly and frequently students and teachers are informed of progress. This allows teachers to tailor the lessons to areas of need and encourages better production from students.

What is to be learned: Teachers will learn the difference between formative and summative assessment and how to employ formative assessment effectively in their classes.

The learners: The audience of this course are 7-12 beginning teachers.

Instructional context: The learning in this course will be completed online and will be completed individually. Asynchronous discussion will be used so teachers can share best practices and learn many different ways to use formative assessment in their classrooms.

Exploring the Problem and Solution: Learners will have an opportunity to practice and apply their new knowledge about formative assessments. They will use discussion to further explore options to implement regular formative assessments.

Goals: For teachers to better understand what formative assessment is and how it can be helpful in planning lessons and informing learners of their level of comprehension.

Performance Objectives

Students will be able to explain the difference between summative and formative assessments.(verbal)
Students will be able to understand ways in which using formative assessment is important to lesson design. (cognitive)
Student will be understand how to give useful feedback on formative assessments. (verbal)
Students will generate formative assessments to use in their own classrooms using the socrative app and google forms.(intellectual)
Students will design a lesson featuring formative assessment, that supports an area of need in their curriculum. (verbal)

Task Analysis

Unit 1

What is formative assessment? How does it differ from summative assessment?

Students will read summaries of the difference between formative and summative assessment. (intellectual)
Students will watch a video on the differences between summative and formative assessments. (intellectual)
Students will respond in a google form to questions on differences and benefits of using formative assessments. (cognitive)
Students will respond to prompts on a voicethread account that ask them to create a definition of formative assessment giving examples of formative assessments they have seen implemented. (cognitive)

Unit 2

How is formative assessment used? What are examples of formative assessment?

Students will read information about: different ways to implement formative assessment in the classroom and how to give feedback that is useful to students. (intellectual)
Students will complete a check for understanding where they are asked to choose one form of formative assessment and reflect on how it should be used in the classroom. (verbal)
Students will read information on the importance of using formative assessment in the classroom. (intellectual)
Students will complete a reflection piece answering questions about how formative assessment is beneficial to students and teachers. (verbal)

Unit 3

How can I implement formative assessment in my classroom? What technologies are available to assist me in gathering information?

Students will complete a case study of a lesson. They are looking for uses of formative assessment and gauging whether assessment was used well in the lesson. (cognitive)
Students will brainstorm an area of difficulty within their subject. (cognitive)
Students will test run two different ways to use technology as a formative assessment. (intellectual)
Students will create a lesson featuring formative assessment. (cognitive)
Students will reflect on their implementation of this lesson. (cognitive)

Curriculum Map

References

Cornelius, K. E. (2013). Formative Assessment Made Easy. Teaching Exceptional Children, 45(5), 14-21.

Gangé, R., Walter, W., Katharine, G., & John, K. (2005).Principles of instructional desgin. New York: Wadsworth.

Kumar, A. (2013). Formative assessments as pedagogic tools. International Journal Of Human Sciences, 10(1), 750-759.