TEXAS REGIONAL COLLABORATIVES
for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching
Kathleen Jeremiassen
Formative Assessment for
Engagement
&
Learning
Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching
Dallas, Texas
November 17-19, 2011
Formative Assessment for
Engagement & Learning:
PART of the WHOLE
Kathleen Jeremiassen
Irma Dru Hutchison Elementary
Lamar CISD
“. . . the most basic elements of an effective lesson:
an essential, clearly defined learning objective
followed by careful modeling or a clear sequence of
steps, punctuated by:
efforts during the lesson
to see how well
students are paying attention
and/or
learning the material.”
-- Mike Schmoker, Results Now
Sounds simple, right?
Attention
VS
 Notice taken of
someone or something;
the regarding of
someone or something
as interesting or
important.

Engagement
Cognitive -consists of beliefs
and values: rigor through
higher level experiences and
relevance through meaningful
work
 Emotional - consists of
motivation and feelings:
establishing relationships,
classroom environment
 Behavioral - consists of habits
and skills: procedures,
transitions, expectations
Reality Check?
How do the learning experiences we
provide make our students feel?
WHAT ARE FAs?
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS are:
– quick checks for understanding
– aligned with the daily objective
– to provide evidence of learning
WHY USE THEM?
ENGAGEMENT:
• TEACHER-TO-STUDENT
• STUDENT-TO-TEACHER
• STUDENT-TO-STUDENT
 HIGHER ORDER THINKING
 UNCOVER MISCONCEPTIONS
 UNCOVER PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
 CONSTRUCT NEW KNOWLEDGE
 ONGOING ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING
WHAT IS IT FOR THE TEACHER?
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Monitor student progress
Evaluates own practice
Evaluates engagement
Assesses small parts of learning
Engages students in higher order thinking &
constructive products
• Higher performance on summative
assessments
WHAT IS IT FOR THE STUDENT?
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Self-reflection
Self-evaluation
Student centered engagement
Student constructed learning, higher order
thinking & authentic products
• Pieces together parts of learning objectives
• Prepares success on summative assessments
Whoever is doing most of the talking….
ends up doing most of the learning.
WHAT THEY PRODUCE:
• Non-threatening results for students
– Lowers the stakes for taking risks
– Creates environment for learning
• Direct and Immediate Feedback
– Teacher and student
• Structured Information
– Links instruction/activity to learning
• Intervention
– Identifies weaknesses in student learning
– Narrows the learning gap
Examples of
Formative Assessment for Learning:
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Individual White Boards
Think Pair Share or Elbow Partners
Four Corner Instruction
Admit Slips and Exit Slips
Response logs for reflective thinking
Graphic Organizers: Mind Maps, T-chart, Frayer Model
Post-it Note responses
Active Votes/”Clickers”
Foldables
Illustrations
Yes/No, True/False, Green/Yellow/Red Cards
Interactive Note Booking
Popsicle stick questioning
Group Efficacy
Build community through
shared learning experiences
Do they work in a 5E model? Yes!
Learning
Cycle
Target
Formative Assessment
Engage
“The
Newbie
Know”
Front load
Lesson with
Event or
Question
Engage students prior knowledge, illuminate
misconceptions & connect ideas before lesson to inform
instruction,
Explore
“Check &
Fix”
Hands-on
Experience
Clarify new understanding, make new connections from
observations and inference within the lesson to inform
instruction
Explain
“Mastery
Check”
Construct
Explanation
Construct explanations of new understanding, &
connections to learning objective
Elaborate
“Bloom’s
Stretch”
Apply &
Reflect
Use metacognition to reflect on learning, challenge
students to apply new knowledge & skills to new
situations or related concepts under learning objective
or Big Idea
Evaluate
“Jell-O Test”
Assessment
Students assess their own knowledge, skills & abilities
through reflection, questions, or performance test
Now Let’s Try Some!
Commit and Toss
• Provide student time to answer Prompt
• Students “commit” to an answer and “toss”
their response in the room (multiple choice,
checklist, open response, T/F…)
• Students responses are now anonymous and
are shared
• No response is “right” or “wrong”,
just an idea to be explored
--Paige Keeley, et. al
activity sample
I used to think, but now I know…
• Students reflect on their misconceptions or
prior knowledge and determine their new
thoughts and understanding based on a
classroom lesson or experience
Foldable
I used to But now I
think…
know…
I think, We Think
• Provide students time to write down what
they think
• Provide students time to share in small group
and explore each others thinking, report to
whole class common thoughts – “Our Class
Thinks”
Try: How are
Weathering &
Erosion interrelated?
Concept Cartoon
• Students look at cartoon and choose science
concept that best matches their
understanding
• Students justify answer with a written or
verbal response
By Emma Baker,
www.millgatehouse.co.uk
Annotating Student Drawings
• Students draw a concept and annotate to
show meaning and understanding
• Visual representation helps students make
sense of their own understanding
Try: Life Cycle or
Food Web
Felice Frankel, PI;
Picturing to Learn
Free Sites for Creating Cartoons
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MakeBeliefsComix.com
MarvelKids.com’s Create your Own Comics
Pixton
ToonDoo
Strip Generator
Pikistrips
Annotate a Photograph
http://serc.ca
rleton.edu/esl
abs/climate/2
a.html
What is happening in this picture?
Ten-Two
• For every 10 minutes of whole group
instruction, video, audio or other presentation
= 2 minutes of reflection and summarizing
• Writing notes, drawings, key words
Try: Write down
what you have
learned so far.
Fist to Five
• Students show their understanding on a scale
from 0 to 5
• A fist means, “no clue”, 5 fingers means, “I
understand completely and can explain it to
someone”
Two Stars and a Wish
• Teacher provides 2 positive
comments to reinforce what
students know and 1 comment of
encourages revision, correction or
further improvement
Two things I
liked (or
noticed):
One thing I
wish:
3, 2, 1
• 3 key ideas I will remember
• 2 things I am still struggling with
• 1 thing that will help me tomorrow
Agreement Circles
•Students stand in a circle as teacher reads a statement
•Students who agree with statement move to the middle,
Students who disagree stay on the circumference
•Students on the inside of circle face those on the circumference
and students pair share their thinking
•Teachers ask for students to decide if their discussion changes
their mind or stays firm, students are asked to reposition
themselves if they changed their mind
•Goal is to get all students in center of circle or on the
circumference
Try: Is global
warming
occurring?
Agree
Agreement
Circle
Discussion
Disagree
Refute or Defend
•Analyze statement
•Refute or Defend
•Justify
Try: Environmental
sustainability is a
global concern.
Missed Conception
• Analyze statement about a science concept
• Describe why people might think it is true
• Help understand misconceptions and develop
learning empathy
Some people think
that putting salt on
icy side walks is a
good practice
because “salt will
melt the ice.”
Give me Five
• Provide time for students to think
about the lesson activity
• Five students share their reflection
Looking Back (&Forward)
• Students summarize their learning of a
concept or skill
• Explain how they learned it
• Connect learning to process to new
knowledge or skill
Foldable
What I How I
Learned Learned
About… It…
What I wonder…
Fact First Questioning
• Turn questions around from
“What” to “Why”, “How”,
“Explain the process…”
– Elicits deeper thinking and richer
response and classroom
discussion
• Provide wait time
• Scaffold questions to support
student explanations and
elaborations
Odd One Out
•Find which doesn’t belong in the group
•Justify
•Similarities and differences
•Relationships
•forms, functions, cycles, behaviors,
patterns, properties…
Recognizing Exceptions
•Target overgeneralizations
•Question asks for the exception
Analogies
•Students attach own meaning to
scientific concepts, functions, structures,
etc. to relate to something familiar.
Four Corners
•Teacher posts four possible answers or ideas
for a question or a concept
•Student move to the corner that matches
best with their understanding
•Students discuss ideas in groups and share
with class
Teacher Feedback
Picture Feedback
• Germination of a seed
• A blooming flower
• Egg -> cracked egg -> chick
By Bill McBride
By Bill McBride
Achieve
Through
Community
Muddiest Point
• Ask what part was most difficult or
unclear
• Students respond on note card or sticky
• Teacher prompts students, “Today we…”
Any Questions?
Point of Most Significance (POMS)
• Students reflect on lesson or
experience and identify key points
of lesson objectives & big ideas
• Teacher prompts students, “Today
we…”
Try: Write
down the most
significant
points of
Formal
Assessments
Lastly… and this takes guts:
• “Hot Topic” interest Scale
• Parking Lot
Paige Keeley (and friends) books:
Resources
• Science Formative Assessment by Page Keeley
• Uncovering Student Ideas in Science by Page Keeley
• Common Formative Assessments by Larry Ainsworth
& Donald Viegut
• Working on the Work by Phillip Schlechty
• The Highly Engaged Classroom & Formative
Assessment & Standard Based Grading both by
Robert J. Marzano
• Bill McBride:http://billmcbride.pbworks.com
Extra Information
CAMPUS USE OF FAs:
1. Lesson planning: Focus FA on the standard or a
skill (the verb in the objective).
2. Design FA to target Big Idea, Essential questions,
Objectives
3. Build in Rubrics, formal or informal, to measure
how well students show mastery of lesson
objective.
4. Prepare for Intervention, have follow up time for
remediation.
5. Discuss and Present at Team Meetings, PLCs &
Vertical Team Meetings.
WHAT THEY ARE NOT!!
• Unit Objective instead of a lesson objective
• Activity NOT focused on standard or a skill
• What but no Why – No power verb set to the
objective in activity.
• Not measurable – How will the teacher know
if the students “understand” or “know”?
• Boring!
Now Let’s Try Some:
• Commit and Toss
• I used to think, but now I know
• I Think, We Think, Our Class
Thinks
• Concept Cartoon
• Annotated Student Drawings
• Annotate a photograph
• Ten-Two
• POMS
• Muddiest Point
• Fist to Five
• Give me Five
• Two Stars and a Wish
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3, 2, 1
Agreement Circles
Refute or Defend
Missed Conception
Look Back
Fact First Questioning
Odd One Out
Recognizing Exceptions
Analogies
Four Corners
Teacher Feedback