LE13

Welcome to Learning Event 13 (#LE13): 🎯

Formative Assessments for Feedback and Growth 🌟

Learning Event 13 focuses on using formative assessments to monitor learning, provide actionable feedback, and adjust instruction to meet students’ needs. Formative assessments emphasize growth and guide students in their learning journey, fostering self-regulation and continuous improvement.

Why It Matters

Formative assessments are low-stakes opportunities to:

• Check for understanding during the learning process.
• Provide timely, actionable feedback that supports student growth.
• Guide instructional adjustments to address gaps or misconceptions.

Unlike summative assessments, which evaluate learning at the end of a unit, formative assessments are ongoing and help students reflect on their progress.

Focus

Formative Assessments:
Assessments that occur during instruction to inform teaching and support student learning in real time.

Key Concepts:

1. Formative vs. Summative Assessments:

   • Formative: Ongoing, focuses on growth, low-stakes.
   • Summative: Final, evaluates outcomes, high-stakes.

2. Techniques for Real-Time Feedback:

   • Quick polls or quizzes (e.g., Google Forms, Mentimeter, Kahoot).
   • Exit tickets to check understanding at the end of a lesson.
   • Journals or learning logs for reflection and metacognition.

3. Using Data to Guide Instruction:

   • Identify patterns in student understanding.
   • Adjust pacing, revisit challenging concepts, or provide targeted support.

READ 📖

1. Formative Assessment is Key to Being Responsive – Catlin Tucker
   “Integrating formative assessment strategies seamlessly into your teaching practices allows teachers to monitor progress and facilitate more personalized learning experiences that foster continuous improvement.”

2. 7 Smart, Fast Ways to Do Formative Assessment – Edutopia
   “No matter which tools you select, make time to do your own reflection to ensure that you’re only assessing the content and not getting lost in the assessment fog.”

3. Formative Assessment: Assessment Is for Self-regulated Learning – Ian Clark
   “Formative assessment is connected by two contiguous assessment objectives: assessment for learning (AfL) and assessment as learning (AaL).”

WATCH 🎥

1. Formative and Summative Assessment (49:29)
2. Self Regulated Learning: The Technique that Smart Students use! (4:29)
3. How can I do this strategically? Self-regulation (3:21)

DISCUSS 💬

How can formative assessments support student growth and self-regulation? What are some challenges you’ve faced in implementing formative assessments?

DO ✍️

Design a Formative Assessment Activity

Steps:

1. Choose a learning objective or concept you want to assess.
2. Select a formative assessment technique (e.g., quick poll, journal prompt, one-minute reflection).
3. Create the assessment, ensuring it’s clear and aligned with your objective.
4. Plan how you will use the feedback to adjust instruction.

Self-Check:

• Does the assessment provide meaningful insights into student understanding?
• Can students use the feedback to guide their own learning?
• How will you act on the data to support student growth?

Share Your Work!

We’d love to hear about the formative assessment techniques you designed or implemented. Email us at hello@digitallyliterate.net to share your experiences!