Classroom Interactionsin Science and Math

# 08: Formative Assessment

Getting ready for Teach #1

• Buy about 6 mini-DV tapes– Videotape of your teaching is worth 5 points– Required to reflect on interactive decisions

• Bring activities to our class Thursday– Include materials, e.g., potatoes

• Submit plans to mentor teachers by Friday– NOT for feedback

• Plan today in class

Formative Assessment

• Designed to provide the immediate, contextualized feedback useful for helping teacher and student during the learning process.

Effects of Formative Assessment on Learning

• High quality formative assessment has powerful impact on student learning…

• When teachers use it, students gain roughly 1/2 of a standard deviation on standardized tests.

• That’s huge, larger than the effects of most known educational interventions!

Incorporate formative assessment into your teaching…

• Find out student’s prior knowledge• Conduct instructional conversations with

students about their thinking & understanding• Make criteria for engagement and success

explicit• Provide feedback

– Informally in dialogue– Identify strengths as well as weaknesses– Focus on quality not quantity– Provide guidance for improvement

Planning

• Lesson plan as heuristic– Especially for new teachers

• Activities & tasks -- do them yourself, predict student responses!– Include task(s) for extended engagement in content– Materials– Standards

• Lesson segments– Several segments– Be sure to include Direct Teach segment for this assignment

• What do you want students to take away?

Reassurance

• Planning vs. Interactive decision making– Reality: Most teachers do not write detailed plans– Interaction decisions: unscripted, frequent

• Give yourself permission to take time to make decisions while teaching– Not a performance