Assessing my students’ learning is a major part of my classroom. The assessments I use help me make informed decisions on how to improve my instruction, offer feedback to students, and monitor their progress. In fact, assessing students is the first part of my teaching cycle -- assess, plan, teach, reflect -- which helps me to be an ever-improving teacher. In my classes I use various forms of assessment: formal, informal, diagnostic, formative, and summative. My assessments range from simple thumb checks, where students show me with a thumbs up, down, or in the middle how well they feel they have mastered the concepts, to written quizzes and tests. I feel the need to be in tune with my students’ progress through my lessons, so I do my best to assess my students’ success each class.
A typical math class with Miss Wittrock consists with a “Do Now”. I use these as informal assessments to see how well students have mastered previously learned concepts. I allow students to check their work with a partner and then if there is any confusion, I take the time go through each problem before moving ahead. In math, everything builds on prior knowledge, so ”Do Nows” serve as mini check-ins.
As class progresses, I am sure to walk around and check-in with as many students as I can. I constantly incorporate collaborative work into my lessons and I love that it gives me the opportunity to assess my students’ learning. With a simple glance at my students’ work, I am able to tell if they are mastering the concepts they are working with or not.
If I notice errors, I am able to stop and help that student one-on-one.
Aside from assessing my students informally through “Do Nows” and check-ins, I also assess my students formally through written or online quizzes and tests. Throughout my units, I give students several opportunities to show me what they know through formative assessments or quizzes. I then give them a summative assessment at the end of the unit. These assessments give me the best data and show me what my students know and what they don’t know. I then use this data to re-teach concepts that my students did master.
Lastly, I believe that formal written assessments are not the only way to gather data. I also like to assign different projects that assess my students’ knowledge. In my classes, I assign different projects for students to show me what they are learning. One project I have created and love to use is having students write formal proofs for the laws of logarithms. Such a project as this allows students to show me their strong mathematical knowledge and reasoning.
Providing fair assessments for my students to show their learning is not always easy. I do my best to use a variety of assessments and assessment strategies. I never want to fail to give a student the opportunity to show me what they know. I believe one of the greatest experiences as a teacher is seeing a student progress and gain knowledge. Assessments offer me the chance to see my students’ progress and nothing warms my heart more than seeing a student succeed.