Are the Students Truly Understanding It? Are We? Part 3

This is the last of a three part look at what teaching is all about.

In this third part I will be focusing on formative and summative assessment and some of the tools available to help you get to know where each of your students is at any given time. Quoting from the first article: "What is this formative and summative assessment about? Giving final tests have been around forever (summative assessment). Asking questions of the students isn’t new either (formative assessment). But what have you done with the answers the students gave? Did they help in guiding where you were going with the material? Did it help you assess the success of your teaching strategies?"

Let's first start with questioning strategies. When a teacher asks a class a question, does it engage everyone? I would say it engages only those who know the answer or are interested in the question. What about the rest of the class? What about the shy ones, or those who don't or aren't sure of the answer? Our job is to engage all the students, or at least most of them. During most question and answer sessions you'll find many students checking out. Also, in asking the question, you ask one student for their answer. This only tells you that one student understands. What do you know about the rest of the class?

Formative assessment is a very important tool for the teacher. It should be done frequently (meaning daily) to help you assess where the students are in their learning and whether you, as a teacher, needs to make an adjustment in your approach. But it is very important that formative assessment is done correctly. All students should be engaged in the assessment. The assessment should be designed to give you instant feedback as to where each individual is. Realize right away that this is not for a grade. It's to give you feedback to where everyone is so that you can respond to it..

One easy way to do this is to use small white boards. When you ask a question each student writes down their answer on the board, and when given a cue, they show their boards to you. The reason for the cue is so the students don't just copy someone else's answer because that person had gotten it done early. If you don't have boards, or can't afford them, use blank white paper. This works great in giving you instant feedback and the students enjoy it because they find out right away whether they are understanding it and everyone is involved. The drawback to this method is that you don't have a good record of what each individual student understands. You could keep a tally with a class list to highlight students that need extra help as you scan their answers.

You may be thinking: Why go through all this hassle? Let me ask you this: Are we there for the learning, or just to present the curriculum? That is what all teachers need to decide.

Another way to assess students in a formative way is by using a Student Response System. There are several systems available. The system I use is available through einstruction. They are located at www.einstruction.com. Quoting from their website:

"You can engage every child in class material by creating an interactive learning environment in your classroom. Students who normally remain silent in class can now answer every question without fear of embarrassment. And since you see instant feedback from the entire class, you know whether to move on or continue teaching a concept. CPS also streamlines administrative tasks. Now you can spend less time grading and more time teaching."

The system uses a projector, computer with CPS software, response pad, and receiver. Your questions are displayed on the screen and every student then responds by using the response pads to input their answer. Depending on the type of system you use, the questions can be of varied types from multiple choice to short answer. The system then keeps track of the students' responses so you can see how each individual student responds. This also gives the students immediate feedback on whether they are understanding the lesson and engages every student. It also allows you, due to the instant feedback, to adjust your teaching to help them achieve greater understanding immediately.

Hopefully, I've peaked your interest. What you'll begin to see is better understanding and higher results in your summative tests. You'll also see more students engaged and becoming a part of their learning. I've had students say to me, "I'd take a test any day if I could use these", referring to the response systems. Have I seen an improvement? Yes, because I have a much better idea of where my students are at and can make the immediate adjustments to help those who are struggling.