We know that formative assessment is a really effective way to improve students’ learning and attainment. Educational research, including notably Dylan Wiliam’s and Paul Black’s article, ‘Assessment and Classroom Learning’ (Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 1998), has shown that teachers can help all students to make progress by developing their ‘learning to learn’ skills, emphasising the process of learning and including a variety of approaches alongside peer and self-assessment activities.
8 quick and effective formative assessment examples
Here are eight simple, quick and effective formative assessment approaches that are easy to implement without losing significant teaching time.
1. Write, pair, share
Pose a question or a problem to the class. Students should write down their thoughts before sharing them in a pair to ensure that every student is doing some independent thinking first. Ask for feedback from pairs, who share their ideas/understanding with the class or with other pairs in a group, while you monitor, listen and assess.
2. Self-assessment sorting
Using an exit ticket template (see example below), ask students to file their responses in four trays or poly pockets marked ‘Understand it’, ‘Almost there’, ‘Not really’ and ‘Not at all’. This approach helps you to gauge students’ mastery of a concept or skill and their confidence level at the same time. Follow this up by working with the students in the least confident groups to develop their understanding of the learning.
3. Graffiti wall
Pose a series of tasks or questions on A3 paper around the classroom. Encourage students to circulate and annotate the paper with their ideas. Next, ask students to read and add to each other’s responses. They could also put a tick or smiley face next to the ideas they agree with or a question mark if they don’t fully understand or need to know more. It’s a quick way to check whole class understanding and can help scaffold the responses of lower-achieving students through informal modelling.
4. Quiz questions
Ask students to write three quiz questions that they feel best cover the concept, skills or content of the day’s lesson. You could encourage students to write one multiple choice, one cloze / fill in the blank and one short answer question, for example. If their questions aren’t similar to the questions you would have written, then you know that re-teaching is needed. If their questions work well, put them together and you have a ready-made formative assessment or a quick low-stakes quiz for another lesson!
5. Big ideas
Challenge students to summarise the key ideas from the lesson/topic/term using a fixed number of words. You could use the novelty of the 280 characters of a Twitter post or multiple Instagram hashtags if you want them to focus on key vocabulary. As well as appealing to students who like social media, this activity forces students to engage in focusing on what is most important in their learning.
6. Wrong answers
Project an incorrect answer, explanation or example of a concept or skill on the board. Students should either note down or discuss with a partner whether the answer is right and, if not, how it could be corrected. Support students who are struggling to rework the answer correctly and consider your student pairings carefully – mixed-attainment partners can work well for this activity.
7. Fist to five
This simple visual strategy can help to show you how students feel about their learning and to make decisions about which students can work independently or in peer groups, and which need more support. Ask students to use their hands to show how they feel about their understanding:
8. Red light, green light
With younger students, use a traffic light system. Provide students with cards with red, amber and green circles which they can place in the corner of their desks to show whether they are working with a high level of understanding, or need help from a buddy or assistance from the teacher.
Get more inspiration, teaching ideas and support from the Teachers' toolkit
You'll find these teaching ideas and templates, plus a whole lot more, in the Teachers' toolkit, a comprehensive resource offering creative and effective strategies to enhance secondary teaching across all subjects. This downloadable and printable toolkit provides instant inspiration and adaptable approaches to enrich classroom practice and support professional development. Available to buy for £10 or included with a Premium subscription. |