All Things Assessment

 Assessment is a HUGE part of teaching. Every single day teachers should be assessing the students to see what they know about what is being taught. From beginning to the end assessment should be happening. There are two types of assessment: informal and formal. Informal assessment is not “graded”, but it is used to see where students are in their learning. This assessment takes place during learning. An informal assessment may look like a teacher observing or listening to a student discussion to see what the student knows about the topic. Informal assessment may also be recognized as formative assessment because it takes place as the knowledge is still forming for students. Formal assessment on the other hand is very structured and takes place after learning. This is also known as summative assessment because it is the students’ opportunity to really show what they know in a comprehensive way. This is where teachers really test the knowledge of there students.

There are so many fun, awesome ways to use formative assessment in the classroom. Some examples include Think-Pair-Share, journal entries, 4 corners, and fun games like Kahoot! and Quizziz. Summative assessment may take form as a end of unit tests, large projects, and presentations. I really like the representation presented below because it sums up the difference between summative and formative assessment perfectly. Teachers use formative assessment to changed and adjusted to the lesson to ensure that students are getting what they need, just like a chef tastes the soup to adjust flavors as needed. Summative is the final product in which students present their final knowledge.

 

There are so many different types of assessments for both formative and summative. The possibilities are endless. Teachers can use traditional paper assessment, performance based assessments that show direct learning, or choose to use the multiple technological methods as an alternative. Some popular technology assessments include Kahoot!, Prodigy, Educreations, and my personal favorite Flipgrid. Whatever the method it is important to turn to formative assessments to understand where students are in there learning and what you need to do to get them where they need to be! Then use that summative assessment to asses your own teaching methods and evaluate how to improve the lesson on your end.