Unit 3- Formative Assessment Design
- Unit 1- Formative Assessment
- Unit 2- Formative Assessment in Practice
- Formative Assessment Project Page
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Create a lesson with formative assessment included.
- Create a formative assessment using google forms
- Understand how to create a formative assessment in the socrative app for Ipad
Case Study
Read the following lesson plan from an 8th grade Spanish classroom. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j4-zAofOCUzC4Gx-N1GNTTCCeAcnRM0l9QMOJcqLjMk/edit Answer the following questions in a comment on the google doc:
- Where is formative assessment used in the lesson?
- Is the use of formative assessment effective in your opinion? How will the teacher give feedback from the assessment?
- How could the use of assessments be improved?
Brainstorming
Answer these questions on a piece of paper or fill out this google form:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1YvweLj8PXhtHlmXque3KL7FHG4CpqpGFzskspRh1QPU/edit
- Think of an idea or concept that students are struggling with/have struggled with in the past.
- What aspects of that concept are the most challenging for students to understand?
- Choose/create a lesson where this concept is taught.
- How could incorporating formative assessment into this lesson positively effect student learning?
- What type of formative assessment would be best suited to this lesson?
- How can you use peer feedback or discussion to shape student understanding?
Examples of using technology for formative assessments
In the last unit we looked at many different types of "pen and paper" formative assessments. However, using technology is a 21st century skill for students and a convenient method for compiling data for teachers. While there are multitudes of programs with formative assessment capabilities, there are two that I find to be easy to use, versatile in their uses and compile data simply. Google forms (which we have already used in this course) and the socratic app for Ipads. Choose one (or both if you are so inclined) of the tutorials. If your school doesn't have Ipads available for your students to use, students can use the socratic software from a computer.
Google Forms
Everyone with a free gmail account has access to the google drive suite of free programs. If you do not have a gmail account create one from google.com follow the tutorial found here: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/gmail.
Activity
Create a google form for the topic you identified in your brainstorming activity.
- Tutorial on creating a google form https://support.google.com/drive/answer/87809?hl=en
Pros of google forms:
- Free
- Provides many different types of questions
- You can choose how to collect your responses. You can look at a spreadsheet of student responses by question or you can look at each form individually. https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2917686
- It is also possible to embed google forms in other web based sites (like google sites), so they can be used to check in with students as they are completing steps of a project or web quest.
Cons
- Students must also have google accounts. With any technology based formative assessment students will have to take time to make an account to connect their answers to. This is not necessary with a pen and paper assessment. Educators need to weigh the time spent vs. the convenience of having answers collected in one place.
Socrative
This app creates a unique "classroom" for your unique log-in, the students join this room once they have created their log in.
Pros
- Many different types of assessments, quizzes, tickets out the door, true/false and multiple choice.
- Creates easy to read reports of students' responses.
- Can be used on Ipads or Computers
Cons
- As with google, the set up time for students is more than with a pencil and paper assessment.
Activity
Create an activity for the topic you identified in your brainstorming using the socrative app for Ipad (you'll need to download the free app from the iTunes store) or use the computer and navigate to http://www.socrative.com/.
Lesson revision
For this activity you will use the area of confusion that you identified in your brainstorming activity. You will create a lesson to address this area of need in your classroom. Because you have identified this as a difficult area for your students, formative assessment will be key to making sure they are on the right track and to give them feedback on their progression. Choose how you include formative assessment carefully. Will technology be a help or hindrance to this lesson? When you are developing you lesson plan keep the following points in mind:
- Are your objectives clear and measurable?
- Do your activities support those objectives in a coherent way?
- How have you included formative assessment?
- Did you provide an opportunity for peer collaboration or feedback?
- How will you give students feedback?
Post your completed lesson plan to the discussion forum. After posting, please give at least one other lesson plan feedback. As we have seen, peer feedback is important to learning.
https://moot.it/formativeassessment#
Feedback
After you have had a chance to implement this lesson in your classroom reflect in the same forum on how the lesson went.
- Did the students respond well to the new approach? What was their attitude?
- What information did you gather from your assessment?
- How will this impact your planning of future lessons?