Involving Students in Formative Assessment

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Here are some ways in which you can engage your students:

A.  In a particular vignette which I read, the teacher handed out pieces of papers on which he had printed three goals for the unit he was teaching.  At the bottom of the paper, he left a space for the student to write a goal that the student hoped to accomplish in the unit.  For example, if the class had been reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, perhaps the goals were as follows:

1. You (the student) will identify Mark Twain's use of verbal irony.
2. You will be able to explain Twain's use of symbolism.
3. You will be able to describe the relationship between Huck and Jim.
4.___________________________________________________


B.  Allow the student to choose from a select group of activities (predetermined by you, the teacher) in which to showcase his or her own learning style and in which he or she can feel some sense of ownership and control.

C.  The Stoplight Method, featured in a previous video, offers the student a chance to let her teacher know how she is faring while she is involved in the lessons.  Exit slips serve the same purpose.

Here's some information on exit slips for reading.

Different Examples of Formative Assessment

I'm focusing this part of my presentation on the subject of language arts because this is my forte; this is what I have been teaching most recently.  I am also gearing it toward middle school students, but you may find much of this applicable to your own situation.  That's the beauty of homeschooling--flexibility.

Above is a video from youtube. Though this video is appropriate, one never knows what one will find on the internet, so please always caution.

I included the above video as a method of formative assessment, though it is not technically, because I believe the teacher can determine how much his class, as a whole, has grasped of his lesson when they repeat back to him or to their fellow students what they have been taught..  This lesson is highly structured and can be enjoyable from time to time.

 This video has some interesting strategies for assessing your students.



And so does this one!

I believe the benefit to the student is that he has a safe, non-threatening way in which he can communicate with his teacher.  The teacher has several quick ways in which she can monitor progress in her classroom.


This gentleman offers a plethora of ways to engage students while the teacher is assessing "on the go."

Because the author of this presentation offers so many suggestions, it will be difficult for his students to become bored.  Most of the activities are engaging and motivating.  They offer many avenues for the student to demonstrate his/her knowledge.  The teacher, if he/she uses many of these, can gain a broader outlook of the students' abilities as well as what they've learned.

It Begins

Within your own home, as teachers to your children, it may not be as difficult to assess your student's (or students') progress.  Nonetheless, I hope the information to follow will be helpful to you parents as well as to those of us who teach your precious progeny in the classroom.

The subject I wish to address is formative assessment.  It's an education phrase that means, basically, we track the progress of our students "as we go."  Sort of.  The purpose of monitoring the progress of our students while we teach is to evaluate how much they've learned, how we need to adjust our teaching methods, and what learning objectives to pursue from that point.

Below is a link to me introducing you to three types of assessment:

Go here, please and thank you.

Okay, now that you've listened to that cacophony, let's move on.

"Why is formative assessment so important?"

Well, I'll tell you.  Beware, you'll get to hear me again!!


Go here! Now!

Sharing. . .

Inspiration for this blog comes from a class project I am currently trying to complete.  I am to "develop an information presentation for other middle school teachers about how to effectively use formative assessment in the classroom."  I racked my brain trying to determine what would be applicable to me and my situation.

Aha!  I can share what I've learned with my colleagues and the parents from KCA, a university-model, resource school for those who home school their children.  Because I am quite excited about all the new ideas I'm learning from the research I'm doing, I feel, quite humbly, that this information would be helpful, especially to parents who instinctively know what their children need, but may be overwhelmed with all that is out there.  This will be one less thing for them to have to research.

Because these are new and fresh ideas (as of today), maybe this information will be helpful for my colleagues, who (I'm assuming) are so busy actually TEACHING, they might not have time to do the research.

The next blog post will begin my presentation.  Please enjoy.  And, since this is basically about feedback, I would be some serious kind of hypocrite if I did not welcome YOUR feedback. . .and I do!