Alternate Formative Assessment Techniques
in the Content Areas
in the Content Areas
Assessing Through Drawings
"When students translate the concepts they’re learning into
visual representations,
it reveals much about how deeply they understand the material."
"When students translate the concepts they’re learning into
visual representations,
it reveals much about how deeply they understand the material."
"Because students make many decisions as they
translate content into visuals, teachers can uncover their preconceptions, their misconceptions, the depth of their understanding, and what excites them about the content."
Learning Logs
"Learning Logs are used for students' reflections on the material they are learning. In the log, students record the process they go through in learning something new and any questions they may need to have clarified. This allows students to make connections to what they have learned, set goals, and reflect upon their learning process....and for teachers to monitor student progress."
"Learning Logs are used for students' reflections on the material they are learning. In the log, students record the process they go through in learning something new and any questions they may need to have clarified. This allows students to make connections to what they have learned, set goals, and reflect upon their learning process....and for teachers to monitor student progress."
Journal Writing
"Journal writing provides a partial record of the instructional experience, can access understanding, and acts as a review of content learned."
"Journal writing provides a partial record of the instructional experience, can access understanding, and acts as a review of content learned."
Conference
Questioning Techniques in Content Areas
When conferring with students on their reading or writing, teachers can get a much greater understanding of what the students understand - and can then consequently tailor instruction to get students where they need to be. Conferring allows for a multitude of formative strategies to be embedded to build that "photo album." Independent goals for students can be set or strategy groups can be formed based on similar needs of groups of students in order to reteach or clarify. Conferring also engages the students, triggering metacognitive opportunities for
students to be active participants in the
formative assessment process.
Questioning Techniques in Content Areas
When conferring with students on their reading or writing, teachers can get a much greater understanding of what the students understand - and can then consequently tailor instruction to get students where they need to be. Conferring allows for a multitude of formative strategies to be embedded to build that "photo album." Independent goals for students can be set or strategy groups can be formed based on similar needs of groups of students in order to reteach or clarify. Conferring also engages the students, triggering metacognitive opportunities for
students to be active participants in the
formative assessment process.
Science
-Science Talk Moves
-Science Talk Moves Map
-Science Assessment - Diagnostic, Formative, Summative
Social Studies
-Critical Thinking in Social Studies
-Facilitation of Question in Social Studies
-Questioning Practices in Social Studies
Math
-Open Question, Parallel Tasks, and Tiered Assignments
-Math Moves - Questioning through Engagement
Cross Curricular
-Reciprocal Teaching (Elementary/Middle)
-Cross Content Sample
-Science Talk Moves
-Science Talk Moves Map
-Science Assessment - Diagnostic, Formative, Summative
Social Studies
-Critical Thinking in Social Studies
-Facilitation of Question in Social Studies
-Questioning Practices in Social Studies
Math
-Open Question, Parallel Tasks, and Tiered Assignments
-Math Moves - Questioning through Engagement
Cross Curricular
-Reciprocal Teaching (Elementary/Middle)
-Cross Content Sample
Reading
-Teaching Moves for Comprehension
-Read and Respond Questions
-Book Club (Primary)
-Reciprocal Teaching (Elementary/Middle)
Writing
-Questioning for Writing Conferences
-Tips for Writing Conferences
-Teaching Moves for Comprehension
-Read and Respond Questions
-Book Club (Primary)
-Reciprocal Teaching (Elementary/Middle)
Writing
-Questioning for Writing Conferences
-Tips for Writing Conferences
Reading
Reading Conference Form - A great from that helps students and teachers to create reading goals together. It also assists teachers with fiction and non-fiction conferencing prompts and what answers to listen for in order to assist in conferring effectively when the teachers themselves haven't read the book.
Characteristics of Texts and Reading Behaviors - Here is a great link to text descriptions for each F&P level as well as descriptions of reading behaviors at each level. Using this information will help in choosing guided reading and independent text selections. It will also aid in monitoring student progress when used checklist to help as part of the process to identify when students should move up in reading levels and to formatively assess what reading behaviors need to be addressed instructionally.
Here is the Teachers College updated version - Matching Books to Readers.
The Reading and Writing Project - A collection of running records at each level to assess student reading progress, created by Teachers College.
Miscue Analysis - Running records not only tell a child's reading level, but also allow for a formative assessment of miscue analysis in order to determine the types of errors students make while reading. Instruction can then be tailored to focus in on instruction to remediate those identified.
Book Wizard - Web-based database of leveled book titles. The app version allows you to scan the book's bar code to search.
Reading Level Conversion Chart - Convert DRA, Lexile, and Guided Reading levels.
Text Complexity Grade Bands and Lexile Bands - The lexile ranges by grade level as defined by Common Core.
Student Reading Strategy Log - A log for students to use at home or school with their independent books to guided them to utilize their reading strategies with provided thinking stems.
Writing
Writing Tips and Posters - Great posters for Writing Workshop
Writing Conferences - Great resources, tools and ideas
Writing Workshop Resources - Resources for videos, lesson plans, organizational tips and more
Achieve the Core - Resources for ELA lessons, student writing samples, assessment questions, and more.
Google Drive - Great way to store published pieces of writing and manage student work and progress. It can also be used to manage conferencing or to make forms for quick formative assessment. There are many benefits for using it in ELA.
Raz Kids- Online books that allow students to read on their level using reading strategies. Running records can be performed by the student and sent to the teacher's mailbox.
Rubric Development - Tool for rubric creation.
Confer - App that allows teachers to take notes on reading or writing conferences, plan for next steps, and easily sort students based on strategies needing to be addressed or based on level. Check out the video tutorial.
Linked here are Conferring Menus from Teachers College that can be downloaded into Confer.
1) Copy/Paste the menus individually into Notepad and save each file as a "Plain Text File."
2) Open each menu in Confer.
3) Import as "quick text."
4)Choose subject.
Conferring Menus by Reading Level
Reading Conference Form - A great from that helps students and teachers to create reading goals together. It also assists teachers with fiction and non-fiction conferencing prompts and what answers to listen for in order to assist in conferring effectively when the teachers themselves haven't read the book.
Characteristics of Texts and Reading Behaviors - Here is a great link to text descriptions for each F&P level as well as descriptions of reading behaviors at each level. Using this information will help in choosing guided reading and independent text selections. It will also aid in monitoring student progress when used checklist to help as part of the process to identify when students should move up in reading levels and to formatively assess what reading behaviors need to be addressed instructionally.
Here is the Teachers College updated version - Matching Books to Readers.
The Reading and Writing Project - A collection of running records at each level to assess student reading progress, created by Teachers College.
Miscue Analysis - Running records not only tell a child's reading level, but also allow for a formative assessment of miscue analysis in order to determine the types of errors students make while reading. Instruction can then be tailored to focus in on instruction to remediate those identified.
Book Wizard - Web-based database of leveled book titles. The app version allows you to scan the book's bar code to search.
Reading Level Conversion Chart - Convert DRA, Lexile, and Guided Reading levels.
Text Complexity Grade Bands and Lexile Bands - The lexile ranges by grade level as defined by Common Core.
Student Reading Strategy Log - A log for students to use at home or school with their independent books to guided them to utilize their reading strategies with provided thinking stems.
Writing
Writing Tips and Posters - Great posters for Writing Workshop
Writing Conferences - Great resources, tools and ideas
Writing Workshop Resources - Resources for videos, lesson plans, organizational tips and more
Achieve the Core - Resources for ELA lessons, student writing samples, assessment questions, and more.
Google Drive - Great way to store published pieces of writing and manage student work and progress. It can also be used to manage conferencing or to make forms for quick formative assessment. There are many benefits for using it in ELA.
Raz Kids- Online books that allow students to read on their level using reading strategies. Running records can be performed by the student and sent to the teacher's mailbox.
Rubric Development - Tool for rubric creation.
Confer - App that allows teachers to take notes on reading or writing conferences, plan for next steps, and easily sort students based on strategies needing to be addressed or based on level. Check out the video tutorial.
Linked here are Conferring Menus from Teachers College that can be downloaded into Confer.
1) Copy/Paste the menus individually into Notepad and save each file as a "Plain Text File."
2) Open each menu in Confer.
3) Import as "quick text."
4)Choose subject.
Conferring Menus by Reading Level