It is mid-July and now the bug is really itching to get back in my classroom!
Just some food for thought...In my research on formative and summative assessments, I began reflecting on how I use both during the school year. The word “test” has such a negative connotation that I rarely use it. At the beginning of last year, my students would tend to "freak out" and then I would get into a conversation discussing with them the ways that I "test" them everyday. It occurred to me that they just didn't see things like exit slips, bell work, projects, learning games, etc. as ways of testing. I invariably need to clarify this with my students from the get-go. By the end of the first quarter, they usually understand this, but I was kicking myself for 9 weeks because I didn't have the conversation first.
In my opinion, students should see assessment as a part of what they do in the everyday routine of the classroom. They should not walk into a classroom being surprised by having to take a test or feeling like it did not measure what they were learning.
I was so sick of the effect of the word "test" (because it does mean different things in different classrooms), that I started calling my formative assessments “learning checks”, and surprisingly, I did not meet the "freak out" reaction when using it. By the time we got to an unit exam, assessing was such a part of our every day that those with “test” anxiety are much more at ease with the whole process.
I feel that when assessment is done effectively and in a variety of forms, students will most likely not truly notice that an assessment of their learning is taking place unless a multiple choice test is placed in front of them. Formative assessment can be done in such simple, quick, and effective ways, and when done often, students can be corrected quickly and can be more confident in moving to the summative assessment to culminate the unit.
Resource for your enjoyment - check out this article about "25 Quick Formative Assessments for a Differentiated Classroom" at http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3751398.
