Formative Assessment: 7 Strategies

How do we gather ongoing data to inform our instruction? How can we ensure what we are teaching is making sense for our students? Here are 7 ideas to consider for formative assessment:

  1. Use mini whiteboards. Prompts followed by a “1-2-3 Show!” enable you to do a quick scan of who gets it and who doesn’t.
  2. Diamond Sheet Assessment: Fold a paper into 4 quadrants. Then fold the centre over into a triangle. When you open the paper, it should have 4 quadrants and a diamond in the middle. Place the concept in the middle. Each of the four boxes around the outside could show a different way of understanding/representing the concept. (See photo for example)

    Diamond Math
  3. Big Four: Split your page into four boxes. Choose one concept and write 4 questions (one per box) that get incrementally more complex. Collect and scan for understanding
  4. Exit Slips: Fast and easy way to figure out who needs more support. Choose the big idea from that day’s lesson.
  5. Write a letter: Write a letter to a friend explaining the big idea from the lesson
  6. Interview assessment: Meet with the child and have them orally explain the key concepts. See Edutopia’s “60 Second Interview Assessment” Video for more.
  7. Show your understanding with materials like loose parts and write an “artist’s statement” that explains what you created

 

Dotty Sixes

 

Here is a great game to play that promotes ideas around number flexibility, addition, and reasoning. It’s Tic-Tac-Toe meets dice!

 

Visit NRich Math for more fun and engaging math games and ideas!