Even after an amazing lesson, the best educators wonder, ‘Did they all get it?’
Formative assessment helps us to read the room and gauge where the students land on the mastery spectrum. Fortunately, we live in an age where both old-school and digital methods can work harmoniously to give us a real picture of student comprehension.
Administrators can benefit from both the visual elements and the quantitative measurements, while educators can use multiple methods in their day-to-day understanding of each students’ current status.
Sticky Notes & Google Jamboard by Stanford
Old-school sticky notes of different colors help teachers immediately see where students stand. Give students three different colors - green, yellow, and pink - with green standing for “I’ve got it!”, yellow as “Slow down, I’m not quite there!”, and pink (red) as, “Hit the brakes! I need help!” A student moves the sticky note to a specified desk location, and the educator visually knows who needs support.
Google Jamboard is completely integrated into the Google Platform. To utilize it, go into Drive, then select the “+New” button, then “More”, then select “Google Jamboard.” From there, students can create digital sticky notes to share with the teacher, leaving notes or questions for more help. There are numerous ways you can use Google Jamboard in the classroom, including brainstorming, annotating, voting, and more - for quick training, try Google for Education’s Get Started.
3-2-1 Exit Tickets & Canva
Index cards as exit tickets have long been a great way to assess lesson effectiveness. With or without names, teachers can assess 3 things students learned, two things they want to know for extension, and 1 question they have for clarification or higher-order thinking.
Amp up your design quotient with a free account from Canva, where you can search “exit ticket” for templates or get working on your design. Students can even use Canva to design their projects or boards to show their comprehension in a final project.
These methods help students learn metacognitive aptitude, and encourage communication about their learning, both struggles, and successes, which will increase self-confidence in their futures.