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 ...

Have you heard about Autocrat? Autocrat is an add-on for Google that allows you to merge information from a Google Sheet into a Google Doc using a template. I learned about this add-on a couple years ago, and now I use it to create report cards, rubrics, student self-assessments, and anything else I can use it for.  Autocrat makes creating report cards super fast and easy because it can be used to automate the creation of the reports. Click on the video below for a demonstration, or read the step-by-step instructions further below to see how it works. 1. Start With a Template Create a template for your report in Google Docs. You can create tags in your template that will be populated by autocrat if they are set up in double brackets, like this: <<tag>> See an example template below: 2. Create a Google Form The Google Form allows you to easily fill in the information you want auto-populated into your tags. This can include student name, strengths, stretches, or any other...

  If you are looking for a way to help your students with self-assessment of the Core Competencies in BC that doesn't feel like a challenge or a burden, look no further! This weekly reflection page has been a game changer in my classroom. Here's how I use it: In the first few weeks of school, I teach the language of the Core Competencies to my middle schoolers. We break apart all seven sub-competencies and create "I Can" statements that are in student-friendly language. Students won't be able to self-assess if they don't have the language of assessment. After they are comfortable with the language, we reflect on lessons where one or more competency was really highlighted. For example, in a lesson about finding reliable sources, I can bring the conversation back to the competency of critical thinking.  Then, starting in mid-late October, we begin a weekly reflection of Core Competencies. I use the page below with my students. (If you click on the image, you can...

  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...