KAITLIN BARNES
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
I am constantly using formative assessments in my reading class to gauge how well students are grasping the objectives we are learning, and if they are comprehending their independent reading books. This data helps me know which students to pull for small group review, and which students I need to target for individual reading conferences to discuss their personal reading habits and independent reading books.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Once a week, students spend 4 minutes after our daily independent reading time responding to a prompt about what they are reading. I have created these prompts to measure both a student's comprehension of their book and their ability to apply a reading skill, such as predicting, analyzing characters, or asking questions. By doing so, I have designed an assessment that matches the learning objective (reading comprehension and a quick skill check) to the assessment method (a quick writing prompt).
There are two benefits to this routine. First, it helps me get a quick pulse check of who is understanding their book and who is not. If a student cannot describe what they read and respond to a quick prompt, I know that they are either (a) not reading a good-fit book, or (b) not reading at all. I can then pull that student for a quick reading conference and help them get back on track with picking books that interest them and allow them to be successful. The second benefit of Currently Reading is that it gives students another place to get book recommendations. Students are more likely to read when they are being exposed to different types of books, and Currently Reading shows each student what their 60 peers are reading and enjoying. I often find students lingering at the Currently Reading board when they are adding their response, because they are reading what their classmates have written.
Student responses are displayed in the classroom
all week long.
These are student responses to a prompt that asked them to describe what they read that morning, and describe a character's trait. The student on the left understood the prompt but did not follow the format, while the student on the right followed the format and went above and beyond to list more than one character trait. This prompt was assigned during our unit on character traits and provided me with another piece of data to monitor individual student progress and guide my planning of the unit.
Listed above are examples of Currently Reading prompts that students respond to.
I teach in a reading workshop style, which means that during class, students are practicing the TEKS by applying the learning standard to a self-selected text. Usually, students can choose between using their independent reading book, our class novel, or a text they are reading as part of a book club. I find that by allowing students choice over what text to use, they are more engaged in the work and they have a higher level of understanding and performance. However, I also realize that it is important for students to apply the skills we are learning to a new, never-before-seen text, since that is what they will be expected to do on the STAAR test. By designing exit ticket assessments that match the rigor and language of the STAAR exam, I am preparing my students for success on a daily basis.
Each day, students take a daily exit ticket to show their understanding of what we learned in class. Most exit tickets consist of one or two paragraphs and two to three STAAR aligned questions. I grade the exit tickets each afternoon and use the data to do several things. First, I update my Exit Ticket Tracker, which is an Excel spreadsheet that keeps track of individual student performance across each week. This helps me identify patterns in performance, whether they be good or bad. Second, I update the Exit Ticket Mastery section of our white board. This is class-level data that shows students what percentage of their class mastered the previous day's exit ticket. Students can see if their class increased, decreased, or stayed the same, and they often compete with their class's personal record and with the other classes. Finally, I use this data to identify which students I should pull for a quick check-in or small group session to review the previous day's material.
Class-level exit ticket data is posted on our white board and updated daily. Most exit tickets are between 2 and 3 questions, so I display the percentages for how many students missed no questions (2/2), one question (1/2), or both questions (0/2). I also use this space to post quiz and test averages.
This spreadsheet helps me track individual exit ticket performance by day. I record each student's weekly average as a grade. This tracker helps me monitor individual student progress and guide my decision making as the teacher. If I see a lot of red or yellow cells after a day of teaching, I know that I need to spend some time the next day addressing misconceptions and/or reteaching the material in a different way.
Another type of formative assessment is layered into my daily exit ticket structure. Each time students turn in an exit ticket, they rate their level of understanding, ranging from Novice to Expert. This activity guides students to examine their own thinking and requires them to reflect on their understanding of the material. This routine also helps me see how confident students are feeling about the material. If students who are missing all of the questions are rating themselves as "Experts," there could be some confusion or misconceptions about the material. On the flip side, if students who rate themselves as "Novices" are getting all of the answers correct, those students might just be making lucky guesses and not actually understanding the material. These self-assessments are an additional piece of data that I take into account when pulling students aside to review material.
This student has clearly mastered the material in our character unit because she got all questions right and rated her level of understanding as "Expert."
This sign hangs above our turn-in tray to remind students of the different levels of understanding.
However, this student needs to be pulled for small group because he missed all of the questions but is still rating his level of understanding as "Proficient."
Our exit ticket turn-in tray is color-coded and labeled with the levels of understanding.
Because I place so much emphasis on independent reading, it is important that I have structures in place to hold students accountable for the reading they do for homework and in class. Status of the Class is a quick formative check that I do each day to gather data on what individual students are reading and where they are in their book. Each morning during independent reading time, I walk around and ask each student what they are reading, and what page they are on. This helps me identify which students are making progress in their books, and which students are not. If a student is supposed to read 30 minutes per night, and they have only progressed two pages in their book, then I know they probably did not complete their reading homework. I could then pull this student to have a quick conversation about why they are not completing their reading. Status of the Class also helps me identify which students are not finishing books but rather bouncing from text to text. When I see that happening, I pull the student for an individual reading conference and work together to recommend books and strategies that will help the student finish a book. Finally, Status of the Class helps me identify trends in what individual students are reading, which makes it easier for me to make personalized book recommendations and build our classroom library to reflect student interests. Status of the Class is a unique type of assessment that helps me identify each student's reading habits and design a differentiated reading environment that responds to student needs and interests.
This student has a clear pattern of finishing books before starting another one. In addition, I can see that this student really enjoys the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and I can use that knowledge to recommend similar books.
This student is not always finishing books before moving to the next one--he has already quit two books. I would pull this student in for an individual reading conference and discuss why he's quitting books, and how he can choose books that he has a higher chance of completing.