lesson plan
Formative assessment
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What you will learn: In this lesson plan, you will learn what formative assessment is, how it can help students in their own learning process through three core questions, and how to apply it in your LessonUp lessons.
Time required: 10 minutes.
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WHAT IS FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT?
Formative assessment refers to all activities that teachers perform to understand, interpret, and use student learning activities to make better decisions.
To help students grow, they need insight into their own learning and development.
To increase this insight, it is wise to go through this cyclical process, which consists of the following three core questions:
- Where is the student heading? By clarifying learning objectives and sharing success criteria, you contribute to answering this question.
- Where is the student now? As a teacher, you try to facilitate effective discussions and provide tasks and activities that provide evidence of learning.
- How does the student get to the desired situation? Provide feedback that focuses on 'further learning' and activate students to stimulate ownership.
WHERE IS THE STUDENT HEADING?
The very first step is to state the learning objectives in the lesson itself. By placing the learning objectives in your slide and discussing them, students know what they are working towards and gain more ownership of their own learning process.
Tip: The way learning objectives are formulated is a personal choice, but formulating a learning objective from the student's perspective is often much more powerful: "You can...", or: "I can...".
Finally, don't forget to check at the end of the lesson whether the learning objective has been achieved. An exit ticket can help with this!
For example, one of the following three:
Question as an exit ticket Poll as an exit ticket Use the reports
WHERE IS THE STUDENT NOW?
Once the learning objective is stated, you can assess what knowledge the student already possesses.
Here are four examples of how to do this in LessonUp.
What do your students already know about a certain topic, or what do they remember from previous lessons? You can use ALL interactive elements to activate prior knowledge!
It is important to find out which students understand the subject matter. Knowing whether all students still understand and comprehend what you are aiming for with your education is essential for long-term learning.
Let students assess each other and activate students as important sources of information for each other! An effective method is "think-pair-share."
Asking open-ended questions is an effective way to make students think about the subject matter. You can do this in LessonUp with an open-ended question, a word web, or with the spinner.
HOW DOES THE STUDENT GET TO THE DESIRED SITUATION?
Good feedback can help the student further develop. But... How do you give good feedback?
- Provide clear instructions and quality expectations.
- Take a quick look at the work and give feedback.
- Let students give themselves feedback.
- Let students give each other feedback (peer feedback).
- Provide individual feedback.
Additionally, be specific, constructive, and goal-oriented in the feedback you give.
🧑🎓 CONTINUE LEARNING IN THE NEXT MODULE: "STUDENT PORTFOLIO"
You have now learned more about formative assessment, how to help the student in their own learning process through three core questions, and how to apply it in your LessonUp lessons. In the next lesson plan, you will receive tips on how to create a student portfolio.
👉 Go directly to the next lesson plan: Student Portfolio.