Jason Stives

5/1/17
Student Teaching B
Spring 2017
Formative Assessment Project

In one of my Monday classes of Teacher as a Researcher, we were

presented with a workshop on formative assessment. I found the

presentation to be quite amazing and it in some shape and form got me even

more excited to be a teacher. Constantly I was thinking about how I might be

able to include every single assessment type into my own classroom. I never

really had many ideas for assessment besides exit tickets. However, by

participating in the workshop, I suddenly had a variety of resources on hand,

I was able to teach my students well and use interesting and effective

formative assessment strategies.

The first strategy I had used for my formative assessment was exit

tickets. These exit ticket assessment is nothing new to me as I have used

them throughout my Primary II, and all Student Teaching placements this

semester. What I enjoyed most about the exit tickets was that they were

connected to the lesson I taught. In Eureka Math, part of the student packet

is the exit ticket. It is a great way to quickly assess which students need help

most. While reviewing the math exit tickets, I was able to determine which

students I would need to pull to the side during I/E every day. The math exit

ticket wasnt the only type of ticket used. While being observed, I had
students quickly write me a sentence about what they learned during a

reading lesson. This allowed me to make connections between who I could

easily tell wasnt paying attention and provide documented evidence to

prove it. By implementing exit tickets every day, it has allowed me to really

get to know my students. I collected them in a small white binder, and they

were incorporated into my Kids Notes Project.

The second strategy I used during the placement was green, yellow,

and red cards. I used them because while researching possible assessments,

I found Class Dojo themed formative assessment cards. These individual

cards had statements that said Got it! I can do it on my own and I can help

others, I think I understand but I need a little help and I dont get it! I

need some help to understand. Each was then copied on green, yellow, and

red construction paper and laminated in the ESU curriculum center. What I

found while having these cards on the desks, was that I could quickly see

which students needed help during independent work. I kept a personal log

that went along with my kids notes, and this guided me to pay more

attention to certain students during the period. What I ended up doing with

these cards was placing them in a green basket. Each day, the cards were

passed out when I would teach. At the end of the day, students returned

them back to the basket. This wasnt the only card set attached to the set

though. I also managed to use ABCD cards, as I would call them. These were

used less however because I found them to require more of a set-up. I would

mostly think of options on the spot or not utilize them much at all. However, I
did find them useful. Just like any other assessment I could see a visual of

which students could understand the content and which werent

understanding at all. What I could have done was prepare when I would use

them and set-up my multiple choice the night before. This could have

stopped random choices from being implemented and provided better use of

the cards.

The final formative assessment strategy I had used was the Die Game.

This game was played during ELA. I would have a foam die that I would allow

one student to be in charge of spinning the dice. The class would then write

their answers on a whiteboard. The example is quoted below from my

Fundations lesson plan Have students roll a die and when the die rolls to a

number, the students must write a words on their whiteboard with the

attached sound. 1- U, 2- U-e, 3- Ue, 4- oo, 5- ou, 6- ew. The whiteboard also

became a major assessment tool in Fundations, and I used it almost every

day. The students would be asked a question and then write the word, or

sound on the board. They would then turn them over when finished writing.

Students finally would then show me their board, and I would correct them as

needed.

In final words, I found great use of the formative assessment tools in

the classroom. However, all strategies have challenges when implementing

them. What I found the most challenging about using different formative

assessment strategies was finding ways to make them relatable to my

lessons. I kept the folder from the workshop and dug through all the various
strategies. I found these three written about above the most useful because

they could be used for any subject. My goals are to continue researching for

effective classroom assessment strategies. I found by completing this project

that I am still building up my toolbox of different strategies. The workshop

was the kick start to collecting strategies and It has completely interested

me as a teacher to continue collecting resources and trying them out. Maybe

some strategies didnt work best for a certain class but, this does not mean it

couldnt be perfect for another classroom in the future. I plan to look for

engaging and resourceful ways to collect data, and use the formative

assessment data collected to continue making modifications to my teaching

strategies and lesson plans as I content to grow as a professional educator.