Ideas for Formative Assessments

“Discovering what students know while they’re still in the process of learning it”

• Pulse Check

  1. true/false

     • ask students questions related to the topic and they will either sit down or stand up if they think it is true or falst

  2. Color cards (green, yellow, red)

     • each student will have a set of cards and they can hold up the card they feel about a scenario or their confidence in using the skill in the lesson

  3. Use your hands 

     • thumbs up responses instead of raising a hand, students hold a fist at their belly and put their thumb up when they’re ready to contribute

     • determine different hand gestures to silently signal that they agree, disagree, have something to add, and more

  4. Ask what are others wondering?

     • Ask students to “think of a question you think someone else in the class might have about today’s lesson so far. This avoids students thinking, ‘I don’t have any questions.’”

• Exit Ticket

  • Write a headline

    • Sum up today’s lesson in a few words

  • Use an emoji that represents what you learned today

  • Just one word

    • Pick one word that would describe today’s lesson and explain why

  • Prompts

    • What are three things you learned, two things you’re still curious about, and one thing you don’t understand?

    • How would you have done things differently today, if you had the choice?

    • What I found interesting about this lesson was...

    • Right now I’m feeling...

    • Today was hard because…

• Polls/Quizzes

  • Socrative

  • Quizlet

  • Quizalize

  • Kahoot

  • FlipQuiz

  • Gimkit

  • Plickers

  • Flippity

• Dipsticks

  So-called alternative formative assessments are meant to be as easy and quick as checking the oil in your car, so they’re sometimes referred to as dipsticks

  • Write a letter explaining a key idea to a friend

  • Draw a sketch that represents your new knowledge

  • Think, pair, share with a partner

• Misconceptions/Errors

  • Explain the muddiest point

    • the place where things got confusing or particularly difficult or where they still lack clarity

  • Misconception check

    • Present students with a common misunderstanding and ask them to apply previous knowledge to correct the mistake, or ask them to decide if a statement contains any mistakes at all, and then discuss their answers

• Self Assessment

  • Give students a rubric and ask they to grade themselves

  • have student write a reflection about what they did well and what they could improve on

• Teach Someone Else

  1. students with questions can write them on the whiteboard, and classmates who think they know the answer can write a response below the question

  2. ask them to “teach a new concept or skill to someone else—a new student, student who missed class, or student in a lower grade.