Five Fantastic Formative Assessment Tools (updated 4/28/15)

This list is from Vicki Davis through Edutopia, but many of these you'll recognize from our Tech Tuesday sessions! Hit the link below to read her personal that made the case for her use of formative assessments in her classroom (and follow her @coolcatteacher). Also, GoFormative.com and ExitTicket.com...

Update: I'd like to add a newcomer, Quizizz.com. This site takes it a bit further than Kahoot!, as students can play against eachother from anywhere, keep track of points they rack up based on how fast they answer the questions, and review incorrect answers after the quiz is complete. Make your own reviews, or choose from a plethora of teacher-created quizzes. Upon starting your quiz, you generate a code that your students can enter at www.quizizz.com/join 

Formative Assessment with 5 great tools - with our without devices!

Formative Assessment Toolkit

Learn the strengths and weaknesses of each tool. You’ll need several to meet every classroom situation. These are my fab five tools for formative assessment.

1. Socrative

Socrative can be used for quick quizzes and also on the fly, as I've already shared. Here's another feature. Before class, I create quizzes that we can play as a game called Space Race. The website automatically divides the class into teams. Kids know what color team they're on and can look at the rockets racing one another on the board. I don't always record the grade, particularly when I know I have more teaching to do.

The advantage of Socrative is that it gives me percentages that I can use as a grade if we're ready for that. You can even use it for traditional quizzes if desired.

2. Kahoot

Kahoot lets us build fun quizzes. Students use computers, cell phones, or other devices to join in the game. You can create flashcards for review. You can also embed videos and use Kahoot as part of the teaching process, or students can create review games to share. One disadvantage is that students can use aliases. While I can see overall how the class is doing, unlike Socrative, I can’t see the patterns of which unfamiliar nickname is struggling.

Otherwise, I knew this one was a winner when I finished ten minutes early on the last day of school and one class asked to play SAT vocab review in Kahoot.

3. Zaption

I’m in-flipping my class and using videos. But just as we know that it's better to ask questions throughout the text rather than only at the end of the chapter, you should also ask questions after a topic is covered in the video and not wait until the end. Zaption lets you embed questions within the video. Students can't move forward in the video until they can correctly answer the question. Whether you’re flipping your classroom or in-flipping, this is a powerful tool.

You'll need to upgrade your Zaption plan to embed it in your learning management system, but you can test it out on their site for free to see if it works for you.

4. Backchannel Chat Tools

Backchannel chat -- a live chat that accompanies class discussion -- is a great way to do exit ticket activities. While these chat tools aren't anonymous,Chatzy, Today’s Meet, or Ning can be powerful. Students can take notes as you teach together, and you can check for understanding by having them type answers to questions. Another riff on this would be group note taking inGoogle Docs. (If you need to have anonymous chat, you could set something up in Google Forms.)

One tip: If I ask a question and want everyone to answer, my rule is that you cannot repeat a previous answer -- each response must be slightly different and add something to what we know. Afterward, export the chat and share it with the class as notes for the day.

5. No BYOD? Plickers and Mobile Scanners Rock

But what if you have no computers, no cell phones, no nothing? Do you have a smartphone or tablet? If so, you've got two simple answers.

For verbal questions: Log into Plickers and create a page for each student. This tool will code in the student's name and answers. Hand each student their plicker card and ask a question. The student will hold the card up in the direction of their answer. Looking at the class through the camera on your smartphone inside the Plicker app, you’ll see the name of each student and whether he or she got the answer right to the question you just asked! BAM! (Hat tip to Richard Byrne for teaching me about Plickers in a recent interview.)

For quick quizzes: QuickKey is one mobile scanning app for the iPhone. There are several others, such as ZipGrade and GradeCam. The disadvantage of this method is that your questions must be multiple choice. You print out the short form and students bubble it in. Use your smartphone to immediately know what students know with a snap of a picture.

Can You Teach Without Formative Assessment?

Test scores should never be a surprise. You don’t need to be a mind reader. You just need a formative assessment toolbox, and you need to use it every day.

Using TodaysMeet as a backchannel for classroom discussion

Ever wish you could read the confusion on your student faces? What are they thinking? What don't they GET about this lesson/movie/discussion/chapter? Or, do you find yourself daydreaming of a tool that could capture student reactions and comments in a tangible format?

Hello TodaysMeet.com!

Todaysmeet.com is a website that allows you to create a forum page in a matter of seconds. Students go to the URL you've created and can instantly gain access with simply typing their name - no sign ups required for you or your students.

An English teacher at Westonka high school uses Todaysmeet.com as a backchannel for her socrative circle, with inner students answering pre-determined questions and the outer circle typing their responses and feedback to the inner circle's answers and discussions. Then, all comments are created in a transcript that students can study later and the instructor can use to grade participation points.

Quick tutorial

More ideas for use:

1. Have a conversation. Students can talk about anything in a TodaysMeet room, and often you’ll draw out the shyest, quietest students — the ones who would never raise their hand in class discussion.

2. Share links. Post the URL for a website you want everyone to visit. Links you post are clickable in TodaysMeet.

3. Ask questions. During a lecture, presentation or movie, if students are unclear about something, they can ask questions and get answers without interrupting.

4. Give examples. Looking for students to show how something relates to their life? Or how they would apply a new concept? Participation is immediate and much faster than raising hands to answer.

5. Take a poll. Ask for a vote among a couple choices and the results will be visually obvious in a matter of seconds.

6. Check for understanding. Ask a comprehension question and have students type the answer WITHOUT clicking “Say” (the button you use to submit your answer to the room). Then, if they all click “Say” on the count of three, you’ll see who understands and who doesn’t.

7. Gather feedback. Did your presentation make sense? Do students like changes to the school? What is really working in class? What would they like to see more of?

8. Gather anonymous feedback. If you want participants to be REALLY honest, ask them not to type their names (maybe just a letter or character, or the same thing for everyone) when they answer.

9. Create “rotating stories.” Create a TodaysMeet room with a story starter. Have each student add a new sentence to the story. (Or, have every student create a TodaysMeet room and start their own story … then have each student visit every other student’s room to add a sentence.) See where the story goes.

10. Discuss an event. The State of the Union speech. A movie relevant to class. A presentation in the auditorium. Host a behind-the-scenes quiet discussion.

11. Hold online office hours. Tell students you’ll be available at a TodaysMeet room at a certain time to answer questions.

12. Crowdsource details. When my Spanish classes and I make up stories in Spanish, I like to ask them for details to add — a character’s name, where the character goes, what a character does next. I can get suggestions from everyone in about 15 seconds (or less!).

13. Connect with other classrooms. Extend a discussion beyond the four walls of your classroom. Invite a class from down the hall, in another city, in a different country.

14. Connect with experts. Find an expert in the subject your class is discussing and see if he/she will engage with your students in a TodaysMeet room. You can have a guest speaker without the hassle of travel.

15. Host a contest. The first person who correctly posts in the TodaysMeet room wins!

16. Teach brevity. Students can easily get too verbose and use unnecessary words. Expressing thoughts in 140 characters is an exercise in simplicity.

17. Practice digital citizenship. TodaysMeet rooms are online spaces for discussion much like many social media sites. They are a safe place to post and then talk about the do’s and don’ts about engaging online.

18. Facilitate group projects. Students can post links to useful articles, relevant information and ideas they want to include in a group TodaysMeet room.

19. Create a club/team communications site. Post meeting cancellations and changes. Connect with parents. Save yourself tons of phone calls or text messages if everyone checks the group TodaysMeet site.

20. Have asynchronous staff/committee meetings. Host a discussion where participants can discuss when it’s convenient for them. Let everyone pop in to a TodaysMeet room throughout the day (or week) and wrap up the meeting at a predetermined time.

(http://ditchthattextbook.com/2014/01/30/20-useful-ways-to-use-todaysmeet-in-schools/)