M5 U1 Activity 2: Reviewing Formative Assessments
Project Description
Overview One of the best ways to gain a deeper understanding of assessments is to see them in action within the classroom. By watching and annotating videos that encompass different types of assessments, you can develop an awareness of how to use multiple forms of assessments effectively in your classroom to inform teaching and learning. Performance outcomes
Candidates will identify and evaluate the effectiveness of assessments in the classroom.
What will you do?
Read about different types of student grouping in the Activity Resources.
Watch one virtual and one in-person lesson video on the Submission page of this activity. Annotate each video by stopping at specific times when you notice an assessment taking place.
Note the type of assessment that is being used.
Indicate whether you would utilize the same assessment in your own classroom.
Identify different types of grouping (if applicable) the teacher is using.
Reflect on whether or not you would employ a similar strategy in your own classroom.
In a final annotation, give suggestions for the teacher to improve his/her practice in the classroom by utilizing additional assessments and/or grouping strategies based on the assessments.
Use the Discussion Forum, to discuss with your cohort which assessments are most applicable to your classroom and why.
Report requirements
Video annotations of 2 videos
Participation in cohort Discussion Forum
(The above information was cited from the TEACH-NOW Teacher Preparation Certificate Program)
My Work
Video 1 - Elementary Classroom
02:00 Assessment for learning - Teacher asks students to define the objectives of the lesson. The purpose is to gauge how much the students know, or if there are gaps in knowledge. Students start the task by talking together with their partners. Then they volunteer to answer the teacher’s checking questions. This is something I do regularly as it is a very useful way of checking understanding during an activity.
06:32 Kahoot quiz - Teacher says that the quiz’s purpose is to find out what students already know, which means it could be diagnostic, though at this point in the class it is more formative, as it gives students time to practice showing the difference between fact and opinion, and the teacher has the chance to clarify incorrect answers. I personally like using quiz tools like Kahoot because it is a fun way to review and check understanding.
14:31 Assessment as learning - students complete a note-taking task of fact/opinion as a way of checking their own learning. The teacher monitors and supports students as needed, giving attention to ELL students. This is a good student centred task. I tend to set tasks like homework and then check in the next class.
16:13 SUMMARY: The aims of the lesson, which were to ensure students understand the difference between fact and opinion were met. The teacher achieved this by giving a lot of opportunities to ask and answer questions, check understanding, and give practice time to students. She also incorporated both individual and pair grouping to good effect. However, I think certain parts could be more effective.
17:03 Suggestions: 1. When checking to understand facts and opinions, she relied on students to volunteer answers, which could mean she is only hearing from the confident students. She could also do more to support weaker students. For example, let everyone hold the mini whiteboards up to show their answers or use the colored cups (traffic lights: yellow to show it is a bit too fast, and red to show stop and I have a question), and the idea of participation cards to get every student engaged. 2. During the quiz she could have read out questions rather than relying on the text on the projector. This could be difficult for some students, especially as it was set to a timed quiz. 3. Finally, I felt that the teacher spent a lot of the time talking, and could have found ways to let the students speak up more.
Video 2 - Secondary Class Online
01:15
The teacher begins with a pre-assessment task which acts as a diagnostic assessment. However, the teacher has no way of gathering information from students. Nevertheless, this is a good way to get students to think about the upcoming topic. I do this, particularly before telling stories because I want the students to try to find connections between the story and their own lives.
03:13
The teacher checks concepts frequently and asks students to think back to previous lessons. This allows students to connect today’s lesson with previous learning. I think reviews like this are very important and I always try to combine the previous class with the current one.
03:45
I like how he gives opportunities for students to pause the video and review in their own time. This allows students of different abilities to spend time reviewing where they feel is necessary. By giving students the option to do this, the teacher is differentiating the learning experience and giving students power over their own learning, which is a good example of assessment as learning.
04:30
The teacher includes a review activity. This is a formative task, and while it can be difficult for students to assess themselves without prompting from the teacher as you would get in a live class, he does give numerous opportunities for students to ‘pause the video and think about…’. This is something I have never done before because I have not taught using recorded videos.
09:31
A task is given to students to fill in the blanks. This allows students to apply their learning by completing a simple quiz. This is something I do often and allows me to check my understanding, so it is a useful formative assessment.
10:51
The game: This could be a performative task, as students are completing a task, then sharing their final results. Students complete a self-assessment to assess how well they completed the game.
14:30
The teacher uses an exit ticket which helps them to reflect on the class and on their own learning. I often use exit tickets for the same reason.
15:11 SUMMARY: This kind of class is quite unique and not something I have any experience of. I was impressed by the teacher’s attitude and he managed to make the dry topic quite interesting. He gave a lot of opportunities for students to reflect on their learning, and the frequent requests to pause, as well as offers to do a further study based on the topic, were very useful and a nice way of differentiating between learners of different abilities.
15:34 Suggestion: One suggestion I thought of while watching was that it is possible to make a class like this more interactive, by using a tool such as edpuzzle. This would allow the teacher to include live quiz questions and automatically pause the video at certain points. This would be more engaging for students and force some of the less motivated students to focus more.
Resources
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