Fix Or Repair Mistakes And Try Initiating Voice Everyday (FORMATIVE) ©

What teacher does not fall for a good acronym?

Source :http://assessment.uconn.edu/why/

I think it is safe to say that we have moved beyond the mindset referred to in the cartoon above, although the media may have you believe otherwise. Many want to paint a picture of teachers showing up, lecturing from PowerPoint slides, and then going home with dreams of summer vacation on their mind. In reality, we know that there is a shift toward infusing more and more formative assessments into our teaching repertoires. 

That being said, here are a few fresh ideas on how to try giving quick feedback to students WITHOUT sacrificing more of your time.

Sponge Activities: 

• Problem Solving Box 

• caution: may give you flashbacks to how your junior high sexual education was handled

• Blackboard Purge 

• Yes, you can use a whiteboard for this

• Texting 

• match your thumb typing ability vs. theirs Description on these Sponge Activities? Click here. 

Critical Thinking Activities:

• Origami Thoughts 

• test your folding ability w/ some mindful questions
• from TeachThought.com

• Writing Prompt

• how can I get the Instructional Coach to do some of this for me?

•  Description of these Critical Thinking Activities? Click here.

Entrance Tickets:

• give them the keys to learning by giving them the keys to the room.

• For a complete description on Entrance Tickets, click here.  

In addition to aiding the learning process, formative assessment is a good way to identify "that kid" ahead of time.

Stay warm everyone!

Special Thanks and S/O to Megan Thomsen @meganrthomsen for her help.

Contemporary Teaching

As times change with respect to technology, culture, and learners, teachers adapt with their approaches to instruction. Here are three categories to consider if things feel a little stale:

1. On-the-Spot Scaffolding (Alber, edutopia.org)

"Scrambling in the moment to figure out what students need when they just don't get it is one of the exciting challenges of teaching."

• Sentence Starters
• Image/Short Film Clip
• Talk Time Over a Guided Question

2. VIDEO: Reteach and Enrich (edutopia.org) 

• Formative Assessments
• Differentiation
• Collaboration (Students and Teachers)

3. 53 Ways to Check for Understanding (edutopia.org). 

A sampling:

• Summary Poems
• Question Stems
• Muddy Moments
• Anticipation Guides
• Tagxedo

BONUS REDUX: The Valley Harvester teaching videos 

• Differentiation
• Formative Assessment
• Content Planning

Ideas Buffet

I don't particularly like buffet restaurants as the cost typically entices me to eat what I feel is at least the equivalent of the price, and I leave feeling horrible, physically and financially.

A buffet of ideas, however, comes with much less implied pressure, and the only cost is time to read, observe, or think. With that, here are a few ideas that have generated higher interest through the year, a few that are gaining momentum, and a few that are fresh:

1. Physical Movement to Aid Learning, as opposed to this first-hand experience

• "Brain research confirms that physical activity--moving, stretching, walking-- can actually enhance the learning process"
• "Movement gives learners a new spatial reference on the room."
• learning is "longer lasting, better remembered, more fun, age appropriate, and intelligence independent" and "reaches more kinds of learners"

2. Beginnings and Endings; the most memorable impressions

3. The Value Formative Assessments and How they Aid Differntiation

• How do we know when students understand?
• How do we know when to change instruction?

                * High School Video Examples of Formative Assessment from The Teaching Channel

4. What Transformational Teaching Looks Like & What Transformational Teachers Do

5. 5 Tips for Teaching Tough Kids

6. 15 Effective Ways to Use Google Docs in Class, including:

• How to use forms to turn in assignments
• How to create and use templates
• How to use comments in the grading process
• How to use revision history
• Use Voice Comments

7. What to Look for in a Classoom, from Alfie Kohn

8. Resource: OpenEd, Common Core videos, assessments, games, tasks, and plans

• free service that can invite students into the fold of sources as well

Formative Assessments

Some have called them "comprehension checks" or "checking for understanding"; some may associate these with "pop quizzes." All of these can be forms of formative assessments, but, more importantly, the underlying concern of whether or not kids grasp concepts has become a focal point in contemporary education. Here are a couple of resources regarding formative assessments:

1. BASIC DEFINITION &  EXPLANATION

 
    "Formative Assessment and Assessment for Learning" (from Seven Strategies of Assessment
     for Learning)

• "Formal and informal processes teachers and students use to gather evidence for improving learning"
• "Use of classroom discussions, classroom tasks, and homework to determine the current state of student learning/understanding, with action taken to improve learning/correct misunderstandings"
•  "Provision of descriptive feedback, with guidance on how to improve, during the learning"
• "Development of student self- and peer-assessment skills"

2. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT RESOURCE

   

     Interactive Learning Menus (Choice Boards) Using Google Docs from shakeuplearning.com.

• quick
• easy
• low-prep
• adaptable
• choice and differentiation