One Teacher's Adventures

  What is Assessment? Assessment is an integral part of a teacher's job. Assessment is a systematic measure of how students are learning in order to improve their learning. Effective assessment practices should direct the next steps of the teacher. Both formative and summative assessment practices should be used in every classroom.  What is Formative Assessment? Formative assessment is a part of the learning process. It provides teachers with a snapshot of teaching and learning while it is still happening. Formative assessment allows for guided practice for students so that the teacher can check the understanding of their students. Formative assessment allows for the teacher to make adjustments as needed and guides future teaching. What are Some Formative Assessment Practices? While this list is far from complete, here are some formative assessment practices that I use in my middle school classroom. 1. Exit/Entrance Slips Exit slips are a quick, written response to a question ...

  I have spent a lot of time over the past few years thinking about assessment. What does it mean? What does it look like in Middle School? How can teachers do it well? What's the "best" way to assess student growth and learning? Assessment has become a passion of mine, and I am ever-evolving on my quest to do it well. Here, I'll share some ideas and observations I've noticed over the past few years in my own classroom and those around me.  What is assessment? Assessment is the process of gathering information and data in order to gain an understanding of the strengths and struggles of our students and their learning. It is meant to help measure the progress of learning and to inform where to go next. Assessment can take many forms. Teachers (and students and parents) tend to think of testing as assessment. While testing is one way to gather assessment data, it is not the only form of assessment that should be used in a middle school classroom.  I believe that the...