An effective way for teachers to know what students are learning is to use short, informal assessments throughout the school day that check for student understanding. Such assessments, often called formative assessments or assessments for learning, take little time to implement and are among the most efficient ways for teachers to know how well students understand the content being taught.
Dedicated teachers spend a significant amount of time preparing lessons that will engage students in the learning process. It is important to know that all the hard work is successful and that students are learning what is intended. An effective way for teachers to know what students are learning is to use short, informal assessments throughout the school day that check for student understanding. Such assessments, often called formative assessments or assessments for learning, take little time to implement and are among the most efficient ways for teachers to know how well students understand the content being taught. Following are several examples from Jim Knight (2009) of quick, formative assessments for immediate use in the classroom. For a more extensive list see the brief manual from Dr. Jim Knight.
THUMBS UP, DOWN, and WIGGLY: Explain to students that “thumbs up” means “I understand/agree, “thumbs down” means “I don’t understand/agree,” holding thumbs horizontally and wiggling your hand means “I’m not sure if I understand or agree.”
TURN-TO-YOUR NEIGHBOR: After students complete some kind of learning task, ask them to compare their answer or idea with their neighbor (one other student) to see if they have the same answer. If yes, give the teacher a “thumbs up”. If not, give the teacher a “thumbs down.”
WHITE BOARDS: Give students questions or tasks and ask them to write their answer on a white board. Then, ask all students to hold up the white board at the same time. If students give conflicting answers, open discussion by saying something like “It looks like we’ve got a disagreement here, let’s discuss this to come to an agreement.” Then lead a clarifying discussion.
RESPONSE CARDS: Use response cards in the same way you might use white boards. Response cards can include index cards with a yes on one side and a no on the other side, drawings of traffic lights (with red meaning no, or I don’t understand, yellow sure, and green meaning yes, or I understand). You can also hand out red, yellow, and green index cards to show the same meaning.
Knight, J. (2009). Assessment for learning: Motivating students, monitoring progress, and ensuring mastery of content. http://www.instructionalcoach.org/images/big4manuals/AssessmentforLearning1.pdf