Five Key Strategies for Formative Assessment
Assessment Strategy
List examples of this strategy
being used in your school
What reflective question(s)
might you use to engage
colleagues in conversation
about this strategy?
Clarifying learning
intentions and
criteria for success
-Establishing success
criteria with students
Eliciting evidence of
student thinking
-Making thinking
visible
Providing feedback
that moves learning
forward
- Providing time to
incorporate the
feedback
Activating students
as instructional
resources for one
another
Activating students
as owners of their
own learning
(Wiliam, D., 2011)
Prepared for CBE Learning Leaders by the Galileo Educational Network, 2015-16
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Case Study: Fairytale Writing
Task: The teacher wanted students to experiment with perspective in their writing as a means
of exploring point of view. To do this, students were asked to write a fairytale from a different
character’s perspective as a means of exploring how our understanding of events can change
when considering other points of view. To introduce the task, the teacher read The True Story of
the Three Little Pigs by John Sciezka, which offers a clever version of the The Three Little Pigs as
told from the wolf’s perspective. Over the course of the week, the teacher read aloud over a
dozen fairy tales to the class as a means of familiarizing students with well-known fairytales and
generating ideas. After each reading, students identified other perspectives from which the story
could be told. The teacher worked with students to develop a rubric outlining the essential
criteria of the fairytale writing task. Students considered and shared story ideas with their peers,
as a means of determining which idea held the most promise. After deciding on an idea, students
wrote their fairytales. The students used the rubric to give feedback to each other throughout
the writing process. Students worked in pairs, and in small groups to share their fairytales and
provide feedback based on the established criteria. The teacher gave students class time to
compose a second and final draft of their fairytale that reflected the feedback received from their
peers. After reviewing the second drafts, the teacher was disappointed to learn that students
struggled to convincingly assume the perspective of another character and much of the original
tale remained unchanged a result.
What questions do you have for this teacher that might help them determine
their next steps to help students improve their stories?
Individual Reflection
1. Briefly state the learning intentions for this task.
Prepared for CBE Learning Leaders by the Galileo Educational Network, 2015-16
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2. What does the evidence of thinking tell you about what students are
understanding? Misunderstanding?
3. What are your next steps to help students improve? Students next steps in
learning?
Prepared for CBE Learning Leaders by the Galileo Educational Network, 2015-16
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Prepared for CBE Learning Leaders by the Galileo Educational Network, 2015-16
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Looking at the Work: Group Protocol
Adapted from the Looking at Students’ Thinking (LAST) Protocol,
Harvard Project Zero, Visible Thinking: http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org
Pre-Meeting:
Learning Leader establishes who is presenting and order of presentations.
During the Meeting:
Part A
I.
II.
III.
Teacher Describes the Task and Group Members Look at the Student Work
(5 Minutes)
Teacher briefly explains the task (2 minutes) and allows the group to look at the
student work and assessment plan (3 minutes). Time is given for the group to
silently look at the work and reflect on what they see. Group members use note
taking sheet to make brief notes of what they are seeing and any questions that are
emerging.
Learning Leader Asks, “What Do you See?” (5 Minutes)
Group members respond without making interpretations or evaluations. If an
evaluation is made, the Learning Leader refocuses the conversation by asking the
person to describe the evidence on which those comments are based.
Speculating and Asking Questions: (5 Minutes)
Learning leader choses one or more of the following questions:
o “Where in the work do you see insights into students’ thinking?”
o “What does this reveal about how students are making sense of ideas?”
o “What questions does this work raise for you?”
o “Where might this work go next to build on and extend student’s thinking?”
***Rotate to the next teacher presenter.
Part B
After all teachers have presented:
A recorder is selected to summarize the final part of the group conversation
I.
II.
Implications for Teaching and Learning (10 Minutes)
Learning Leaders invites group members to share any thoughts they have about:
o their own teaching?
o students’ learning and thinking?
o ways to support students in future instruction?
Recorder Shows Back Insights from the discussions (3 Minutes)
Recorder asks: “Did I capture this correctly?”.
Prepared for CBE Learning Leaders by the Galileo Educational Network, 2015-16
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Looking at the Work: Group Member Notes and Questions
Notes: Teacher Presenter 1
Notes: Teacher Presenter 2
Notes: Teacher Presenter 3
Prepared for CBE Learning Leaders by the Galileo Educational Network, 2015-16
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