This document discusses formative assessment strategies for teachers. It focuses on Strategy 2 of eliciting evidence of learners' achievement. It describes questioning techniques teachers can use, including engaging all students, allowing wait time for responses, using interpretive listening to understand students' thinking, and employing question shells to reveal students' understanding. Various methods are presented for getting real-time feedback from all students, such as thinking thumbs, fist to five, traffic light signals, and exit passes. The purpose of eliciting evidence is to ascertain where students are in their learning.
2. Formative Assessment in RGPS
Formative
Assessment
Key
Strategies
Learning Intentions
& Success Criteria
Eliciting Evidence
of Learner’s
Achievements
Feedback to Move
Learning Forward
Students as
Learning Resources
for One Another
Students as
Owners of their
Own Learning
Assessment
Design
Assessment
Plans for all
departments
Teachers
as Lesson
Designers
3. LEARNING INTENTION &
SUCCESS CRITERIA (Session 1)
• Understand what
formative assessment is
• Use formative assessment
strategies effectively
• Identify examples and
non-examples of
formative assessments
• Explain what formative
assessment is
4. LEARNING INTENTION &
SUCCESS CRITERIA (Session 2)
• Understand what
formative assessment is
• Use formative assessment
strategies effectively • Understand what learning
intentions & success criteria
are
• Use learning intentions &
success criteria effectively in
the classroom
5. LEARNING INTENTION &
SUCCESS CRITERIA
• Understand what learning
intentions & success criteria
are
• Use learning intentions &
success criteria effectively in
the classroom
Checking for understanding:
Do you understand what
learning intentions &
success criteria are?
If yes, give a
If no, give a
6. LEARNING INTENTION &
SUCCESS CRITERIA
• Understand what learning
intentions & success criteria
are
• Use learning intentions &
success criteria effectively in
the classroom
Checking for understanding:
Share your successes or
challenges in using
learning intentions &
success criteria.
7. Strategy 2:
Eliciting Evidence of Learner’s Achievement
• Understand what
formative assessment is
• Use formative assessment
strategies effectively • Understand what it means to
elicit evidence of learners’
achievement
• Able to elicit evidence of
learners’ achievement in the
classroom
8. Strategy 2:
Eliciting Evidence of Learner’s Achievement
Next, we need
to ascertain
where the
students are in
their learning.
Strategy 1
Importance of being
clear about what we
want students to
learn
Most teachers will plan
the instructional
activities in which they
will engage their
students, but rarely
plan in detail how they
are going to find out
where the students are
in their learning.
9. Strategy 2:
Eliciting Evidence of Learner’s Achievement
Questioning
Techniques
All student
response
So how
do we
find out
what
students
know?
10. Strategy 2:
Eliciting Evidence of Learner’s Achievement
Why does this matter?
When we ask students a question and we get the answer we were
hoping for, we tend to conclude that the students’ learning is
heading in the right direction.
If our questions are more like the 1st question than the 2nd, there is
real danger that we will assume that our students’ learning is on
track when it is in fact headed in the wrong direction.
11. Strategy 2:
Eliciting Evidence of Learner’s Achievement
Questioning
Techniques
All student
response
So how
do we
find out
what
students
know?
Questioning Techniques
2 good reasons to ask questions
To cause
thinking
To provide
information for the
teacher about what
to do next
12. Questioning Techniques
a) Student Engagement
Questioning
Techniques
All student
response
So how
do we
find out
what
students
know?
One teacher described his classroom as such:
“I’d become dissatisfied with the closed Q&A style that my
unthinking teaching had fallen into, and I would frequently be lazy
in my acceptance of right answers and sometimes even tacit
complicity with a class to make sure none of us had to work too
hard…..They and I knew that if the Q&A wasn’t going smoothly, I’d
change the question, answer it myself or only seek answers from
the “brighter students”. There must have been times (still are?)
where an outside observer would see my lessons as a small
discussion group surrounded by many sleepy onlookers.”
13. Questioning Techniques
a) Student Engagement
Questioning
Techniques
All student
response
So how
do we
find out
what
students
know?
High engagement classroom environments
increases student achievement
No hands up except to ask a question
• Pose a question, Pause for at least 5 seconds, pounce on 1 student
at random for the answer and then bounce that student’s answer
to another question at random, saying, “What do you think of that
answer?
“Pose-pause-pounce-bounce”
14. Questioning Techniques
a) Student Engagement
Questioning
Techniques
All student
response
So how
do we
find out
what
students
know?
How do we choose students at random?
Popsicle
Sticks
• Adding sticks for inattentive students
• Students to be selectors for the day
• Leave chosen sticks out of the beaker
• 2 at random, 3rd to answer
• Do not allow students to opt out by
saying “I don’t know”. Always go back
to the student and offer possibilities e.g.
“Phone a friend”, “ask the audience”.
15. Questioning Techniques
a) Student Engagement
Questioning
Techniques
All student
response
So how
do we
find out
what
students
know?
How do we choose students at random?
What are some of
your views so far?
16. Questioning Techniques
b) Wait Time
Questioning
Techniques
All student
response
So how
do we
find out
what
students
know?
• Teachers do not allow students much time to
answer questions, and if they do not receive a
response quickly, they will often “help” the
student by providing a clue, weakening the
question in some way or moving on to
another student.
• Allow wait time esp for questions that require
thought
17. Questioning Techniques
b) Wait Time
Questioning
Techniques
All student
response
So how
do we
find out
what
students
know?
• Teachers do not allow students much time to
answer questions, and if they do not receive a
response quickly, they will often “help” the
student by providing a clue, weakening the
question in some way or moving on to
another student.
• Allow wait time esp for questions that require
thought
18. Questioning Techniques
c) Alternatives to Questions
Questioning
Techniques
All student
response
So how
do we
find out
what
students
know?
• Asking questions might not be the best way to generate good
classroom discussions.
• “Are all squares rectangles?” vs “All squares are rectangles.”
• Students seem to respond more thoughtfully because they realise
that just agreeing or dissenting is not enough: reasons have to be
given.
• Quality if discussion is enhanced when students are given
opportunity to discuss before responding (THINK-PAIR-SHARE)
21. Questioning Techniques
c) Interpretive Listening
Questioning
Techniques
All student
response
So how
do we
find out
what
students
know?
• “Listening is the best way to learn. You have to listen to those who
you are supervising.” (Serwer,2010)
• What matters is how you listen.
• Often, we focus on the correctness of the answers than what we
can learn about the student’s understanding. We say things like,
“Close, almost, nearly, try again.”
• Evaluative Listening: “Give me the correct answer so I can get on
with the rest of the lesson.”
22. Questioning Techniques
c) Interpretive Listening
Questioning
Techniques
All student
response
So how
do we
find out
what
students
know?
• Interpretive listeners know that there is often information about
HOW to teach something better in what students say.
• With this information, they can adjust the instruction to better meet
students’ needs.
• “When Miss XXX used to ask a question, she used to be interested
in the right answer. Now she’s interested in what we think.”
What kind of listener am
I at most times? Why?
23. Questioning Techniques
d) Question Shells
Questioning
Techniques
All student
response
So how
do we
find out
what
students
know?
• Is a square a trapezoid vs Why is a square a trapezoid?
• Is a bat a mammal vs Why is a bat a mammal and a
penguin not?
• These are some ways to frame questions that are likely to
reveal students’ thinking.
25. Trying it out
Eliciting Evidence of Learner’s Achievement
Strategy 2
To ascertain
where the
students are
in their
learning.
Strategy 2: Eliciting Evidence of Learners’
Achievement
Where are my students in their learning?
O Student Engagement _____________________
O Wait time_ ______________________________
O Interpretive Listening ____________________
O Question Shell __________________________
O All Student Response ____________________
27. Strategy 2:
Eliciting Evidence of Learner’s Achievement
Strategy 3
To provide
feedback to
learners
about what to
do next
Strategy 2
To ascertain
where the
students are
in their
learning.
Strategy 1
Importance of
being clear
about what
we want
students to
learn