Why Formative Assessment?

It’s rare that I get to see a master teacher in action. One of the consistent markers of a master teacher that I’ve seen in my over 20 years in education is the ability to accurately create formative assessment opportunities; for them to gauge where their students are and how far they can take them that day using data. When I see those classrooms, there are teacher behaviors that are indicators of success using formative assessment, whether it’s on the fly or after analyzing data like exit tickets.

I knew a teacher once that had a tiny little recorder the size of a big highlighter marker. She would consistently walk around the room during a lesson (when students were doing all the work and she was facilitating) and I would watch her whisper things into that microphone. I’m very aware of traditional formative assessment techniques, and this is one I hadn’t seen before. As an administrator, I came back different times during the day, and I would notice that she used the small mic all day during times when students were creating, collaborating, or talking with each other. I went and asked her later what kinds of things she said into the microphone. She told me a professor told her a long time ago during one of her first classes in education the following statement: If you can watch your students and notice what they’re learning, then you can talk about their learning and act on it. If you can watch your students and notice how they’re learning, then you can think more deeply about their learning and act on it.

The committee on defining deeper learning and 21st century skills recommend a few research based teaching methods to support 21st century learners. The first one is using multiple and varied representations of concepts and tasks. I believe that this is nearly impossible without first knowing your students and using formative assessment to determine what representations will engage them. The next one is all about encouraging elaboration and explanation and using questioning. I would challenge any teacher to do this effectively without formative assessment; if I don’t know my students, I will not ask them questions that promote their growth, higher order thinking skills, and engagement. If I cannot explain a concept in a way that relates to them, they will not understand the concept as deeply.

The next aspect that the committee talks about is perseverance. This is one of those social emotional learning (SEL) terms. Encouraging students and providing guidance, bringing them to the edge of their learning without them becoming discouraged – it’s only something that a teacher who knows their students can do. The next topic that the committee talks about is teaching with examples in cases case studies. If I know where my students come from, it is much easier for me to provide relevant, contextual, just-in-time examples to promote their thinking while using all the background knowledge that you know that they have.

The last one they talk about is priming student motivation by connecting topics to student lives and interests. Now this is a culmination of a couple of the previous points that they make, but this one, to me, is the most important. Students grow so much more in their thinking when they can bounce their ideas off and learn from their peers. As adults we are finally realizing this, easing off the direct instruction, and moving into facilitation so that students are doing the work. When students do the work it’s much easier for us as educators to use our formative assessment techniques to help them achieve more in a shorter amount of time.

Which Strategies for What Students at What Time?

It takes practice to figure out which strategies to use when. Robert Marzano (2007) tells us “The best research can do is to tell us which strategies have a good chance of working well with students. Classroom teachers must determine which strategies to employ with the right students at the right time.” And here is where a teacher toolbox full of formative assessment pathways and strategies comes in handy. Just like Felix the Cat or Dora the Explorer, whether it’s a bag or a backpack, teachers that are focused on student behaviors/talk in the classroom can use their toolbox to choose the right activity to get our learners thinking and doing at a deeper level.

But remember, this is not us teachers doing the work – it’s the students. When I know my students, I know their ‘go to’ strategies for learning and I can push them from there to think more deeply or consider a topic from another viewpoint. I have found it very difficult to use Direct Instruction and Formative Assessment at the same time, so I am intentional in my roles in the classroom: I am either teaching or facilitating, period. I felt like I had to make that distinction for myself so that I could get the most out of each teaching strategy I used throughout the day.

How Can my Students Help?

This is the beautiful part of the story: In pushing student understanding of Formative Assessment in the classroom, we are helping them to be more cognizant of their own learning. Metacognition is awareness of the ways you tend to think, solve problems, react to situations, etc. Put simply, it’s thinking about thinking: connecting new information to information you have already understood and selecting thinking strategies deliberately. It’s one thing for you as the teacher to know how a student learns best, but it’s quite another when a student is so aware of their own learning that they know their level of thinking during an activity. This takes practice and can be done through any Formative Assessment activity that asks students to reflect on their own learning.

I encourage educators to mix up the modalities you use to help your learners reflect; Quizziz and Kahoot! work as well as paper and pencil timed reflection, depending on what your lesson outcomes are. For the sake of your students, get out of your comfort zone and keep adding to that toolbox! Being able to reflect on your level of learning/engagement, using and responding to different modalities, is a lifelong skill that your students will be grateful for.

Real teaching is observing and acting on data – with heart (we need both). Humans are built for empathy; it’s what sets us apart from other animals. Don’t be afraid to tap into this when you are observing – think about those things that are important to each student. And don’t be afraid to try something that might not work, because this only informs our future planning decisions. We can’t get better if we do the same thing all the time, and we are all striving to be better.

Shatta García Mejía

Senior Advocate

Shatta-I Consulting, llc

February 2022