Exit Slips Exit slips are formative assessments that can be used to help students process new information, reflect on course material, and express themselves. Teachers can keep a stack of exit slips handy to assess students without preparation.
Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down Thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs all around is a quick and easy formative assessment. This is great to use after explaining a new concept or class activity to students. The teacher can ask the class a question and students can put their thumbs up if they get it, thumbs down if they don't, and thumbs to the middle if they understand part of it, but are still confused. It's an easy way for teachers to get immediate feedback from their students and they find out if they should modify their instructions, provide extra explanations, or give individual help to students on the spot.
Socratic Seminars Socratic seminars are effective ways for teachers to assess students' reading comprehension, critical thinking skills, and ability to engage in an educational discussion. It allows teachers to gain a deeper understanding of what their students really know while giving students an opportunity to assess their own understanding of course material. One effective way to conduct socratic seminars are to give students question slips so they can write any questions they have about the text anonymously. The question slips can be used to drive the discussion and they allow students' to get their questions answered.
Inside-Outside Circle The class is divided into two circles. The students in the inner circle face outward and the students in the outer circle face inward so that each student is facing a partner. The students in the inner circle ask their partner a question and after the students in the outer circle reply, they ask their partner a question. Then the students in the outer circle move to the right so that students are paired with new partners. The activity can be used to review class concepts, answer essential questions, make predictions, etc.
Self-Assessments Self-Assessments require students to reflect on their work and judge how well they performed. Developing reflective skills helps students identify their strengths and areas for improvement, which will help them succeed in school and life. Some examples of self-assessments are self reviews of collaborative skills on a group project, assessing their own essays using a rubric, student report cards that require students to identify their strengths, areas for improvement, and goals for each class.
Peer Assessments Peer assessments require students to take the responsibility of assessing their peers. This is a great way to empower students by helping them understand assessment criteria while helping out their classmates. Some examples of peer assessments are peer reviews of essays in writing workshops, peer review of collaborative skills in a group project, etc.
3-2-1 This strategy that helps students comprehend a text. After reading a passage, students identify 3 things that they learned, 2 things that they found interesting, and 1 question that they still have. This activity could also be used after a lesson or presentation. Teachers can modify this strategy so that students identify 3 important things to summarize what was taught, give 2 examples of the concept, and find 1 way to apply what they learned to life.