Formative Assessments
It has been literally a few days since I have heard the word, Formative Assessments.
As we all know, we Millenials have all lived in a generation where the classroom was all about the grades you get and the number of numbers you earn. In the classroom, we were solely assessed by our teachers only to be ranked, judged and numbered based on the scores we get on a sheet of paper. After many years since I left school, I still recall how assessments were generally based on some logical science and math problems, along with mindless memorization-based questions, which the content is based on the material we looked at a few months ago. It is questionable whether or not I have actually utilized them in real life after memorizing them. The point is, I sometimes wonder whether these materials and content actually have given me the opportunity to actually “think” or use “logic”.
Thanks to the rise of the new, innovative ways of teaching, students in the new generation are now to be assessed practically based on their level of understanding. Unlike how we were tested for the sake of our cumulative grades, instead, nowadays the main purpose of education has shifted towards measuring the students’ actual understanding of the content and material.
We are now in a generation where teachers are to hold a strong responsibility to make sure every student is up to date to the content of their classroom material.
An example would be “Fist to Five”. It is not only a way to assess student’s understanding, but also a way of communicating with them when they feel uncomfortable or have a lack of confidence in speaking, or even feel hesitant to show their misunderstanding. Because it is such a new and different concept to many students living in this area, the most difficult part is to make sure that students are actually understanding the concept overall. It is, in fact, safe to say that these results provide immediate feedback to students in a way to make sure teachers are doing their classes effectively. As Lydia mentioned in my comments, “...it can be used as an open discussion for all to gain clarification and further understanding.”
Exit-Entry Tickets is a good way to provide a student a way to think about ‘what’ exactly they want to learn, and ‘what’ exactly they have become proficient in. It is also a way to find out if they have grasped the material well enough to use them practically in their daily lives. Depending on the level, the questions would have to be adjusted to the level they are teaching. For instance, if they were teaching a beginner level, you cannot expect students would automatically write a complete sentence or two without adding any fragments or words.
Tech-based formative assessments are still a big new world to me. First, there are times when I think it is unnecessary and extra. For instance, some may even question the extra effort to create some account online and uploading them on a website the majority are new to, instead of simply emailing them to the teacher. To be fair, apps like classdojo and Seesaw has its own function of giving students an opportunity to share and display their work.
If you think twice, sometimes we tend to forget the fact that most of us learn important things through our peers. It is safe to say that teachers’ lectures aren’t the only aspects which help us learn. For example, when you learn a language, not only do learners learn a new language only because the teacher is good, but learners acquire a new language through outside resources: friends who are native speakers.
Fact that we can see how peers play a vital role in any learning process, it is no exaggeration to say that peer reflection plays an important role in a student’s learning. Some may criticize sharing each other’s work as creating competition or psychologically damaging to such young students. However, there is a strong belief in me that there is an extent believe that our learning achievements would be limited if there were no other ones to compare themselves to. As a matter of fact, students and young learners cannot be expected to survive in the real world without a comrade.
As much as it is proven that formative assessments are beneficial and less overwhelming to students, I still believe that summative assessments are in some ways important in the learning process. For instance, when learning a language, we learn particular grammar forms, key expressions, and lexis. Although to a certain extent these factors are highly dependable on the teacher’s way of teaching, factors such as numbers and lexis cannot be learned without mechanically learning them. It is important to know that to some extent, sometimes simply memorizing is a shortcut to acquiring the lexis of a new language.
Not only limited to languages but also, when learning subjects such as math, it is questionable to think how students can be easily expected to take a step forward in exploring the real world of mathematics if they don’t get summatively tested on their ability to solve basic equations. That being said, I still have a belief that although summative assessments should not be heavily weighed, there should be some type of summative assessment to some point.
In all, I would like to share my thoughts with my colleagues as well as my students to find ways to further explore the true meanings of learning and education.