Assessment
I took two classes at ETBU over Assessment in the classroom. What I found to be true is that assessment can be looked at in two parts, formative assessment and summative assessment.
Formative Assessment
Formative assessment should be used by teachers to check the understanding of their students over the material. It is also used to guide the instruction of future classes. When A teacher understands what their students know and do not know, then that teacher will have the power to plan on what needs to be reinforced, what needs to be taught, and if it is ok to move on to the next subject. Formative assessment comes in many forms, it can be simple discussion questions, a short check your understanding activity, and exit ticket, or even a handout quiz. Its main purpose is not to give the students grades, but its purpose is to make sure that the students learn the information.
Summative Assessment
Summative assessments are a bit different. These assessments tend to be focus more on what the students know from the whole unit. Summative assessments will not occur everyday like formative assessments do, but instead they will occur at the end of a unit or at the end of a class. These assessments will give the grades to the students.
Planning
Another truth that I found in assessment is that, just like in anything else in teaching, planning makes the difference. A teacher cannot simply come into a classroom and expect to make formative assessments on their students. Questions need to be developed and thought out, worksheets need to be suited for the proper use, and the sequence of the material should be organized. Planning is also important in summative assessment, one cannot simple create an end of the unit exam in class. The type of questions on the test should be decided depending on what level of understanding the teacher needs to see. Do you want simple, convergent multiple choice, true/false, or matching questions that show knowledge, or do you want complex, divergent essay or performance questions that show deeper understanding?
Formative Assessment
Formative assessment should be used by teachers to check the understanding of their students over the material. It is also used to guide the instruction of future classes. When A teacher understands what their students know and do not know, then that teacher will have the power to plan on what needs to be reinforced, what needs to be taught, and if it is ok to move on to the next subject. Formative assessment comes in many forms, it can be simple discussion questions, a short check your understanding activity, and exit ticket, or even a handout quiz. Its main purpose is not to give the students grades, but its purpose is to make sure that the students learn the information.
Summative Assessment
Summative assessments are a bit different. These assessments tend to be focus more on what the students know from the whole unit. Summative assessments will not occur everyday like formative assessments do, but instead they will occur at the end of a unit or at the end of a class. These assessments will give the grades to the students.
Planning
Another truth that I found in assessment is that, just like in anything else in teaching, planning makes the difference. A teacher cannot simply come into a classroom and expect to make formative assessments on their students. Questions need to be developed and thought out, worksheets need to be suited for the proper use, and the sequence of the material should be organized. Planning is also important in summative assessment, one cannot simple create an end of the unit exam in class. The type of questions on the test should be decided depending on what level of understanding the teacher needs to see. Do you want simple, convergent multiple choice, true/false, or matching questions that show knowledge, or do you want complex, divergent essay or performance questions that show deeper understanding?
Effective Questioning
The following documents are examples of effective questions that show that questions cannot be simply thrown together, but rather planned and developed so that they can be fully understood by the students and show their understanding of the material.
Multiple Choice |
MC Higher Order Thinking |
Completion |
Matching |
Ture/False |