5 Fun and Effective ways to do Assessment
Whenever we hear the word assessment, the other words that pop up in our head are exams or tests or quizzes. However, this is not the universal understanding of assessment. “Assessment is an integral part of instruction, as it determines whether or not the goals of education are being met” Wiggins, G. (2018, July 15). Why Is Assessment Important? [Editorial]. Edutopia.
Assessments and feedbacks are essential to student learning. Exams or quizzes are not always sufficient indicators of check for student understanding. Assessment for learning mainly focuses on developing students’ self-evaluation abilities to make judgements about their own performance and to improve upon it. As teachers, our main goal is to provide them with ample opportunities where they have the chance to evaluate themselves and progress.
As we live in a world that is rapidly changing, our focus should not only be limited to improving basic literacy and numeracy skills. We also need to instill in our students 21st-century skills to help them think critically, analyze, explore their creativity, and communicate efficiently. So it is important to incorporate activities during assessments to ensure that these skills are being practiced.
Let me share some fun and effective ways to do assessment:
- Ask students to reflect/ Student Reflection
As you approach the end of a class, ask students to reflect on the lesson and write in points what they have learned. Ask them to add examples or write where they will apply the concept in a practical setting. This could be done with both elementary and middle school students.
2. Ask open-ended question
While we deliver a lecture or a concept to our students, it is quite helpful as well as important to ask open-ended questions. This way, it will prompt the students to write or talk. Try to avoid close-ended questions that result in yes/no answers. “ How would you solve this problem if you were in a similar situation? Or, “ There is increased pollution in your country, imagine you are the health minister of the country, how do you plan to eliminate or reduce pollution?”. These are questions that help them improve their cognitive thinking abilities.
3. Response cards
Try to introduce response cards to quickly check for the understanding of the whole class. These could be index cards or small chart papers held up by all students in the class to indicate their responses to a question or problem, presented by the teacher. It could be a timed activity where you give them a short question and within a given time they write their positive or negative response. This way you can easily note the responses of individual students and get back to them accordingly. This can also help you design an informed lesson plan to address the caveats identified through student responses.
4. Think-pair-share
This is one of the most profound activities that you may incorporate into your assessment list. After you pose a question or prompt, ask students to take a few minutes to think about it. Next, ask the students to form pairs to compare their thoughts and discuss any new insights with their partners before sharing with the whole class. This way they are learning how to think by themselves, then they learn how to discuss and collaborate with others to revisit or refine their views before communicating with everyone.
5. Ask students to prepare a separate “I understand and I don’t understand” list
After you complete a chapter or finish explaining a concept, ask students to prepare an “ I understand and don’t understand list” This way they will get a chance to do a self-evaluation. Besides, you will also get a clear idea of what your students understand and don’t understand.
Apart from these five ways, there are many ways that you may adopt in assessing your students. If you want to learn about game-based approaches you can enroll in our game-based learning course, for problem-based approaches, enroll in our problem-based learning course, and inquiry-based approaches, enroll in our inquiry-based learning online course.
One important thing to remember is, as facilitators our curriculums, lesson plans, and assessments should be purpose-driven. We must remember that students are not empty buckets, rather they are unconventional, creative beings who can flourish with little guidance and lots of specific-praises and acknowledgments. As William Butler Yeats, an Irish poet quotes, “ Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire. ”
Reference
https://www.edutopia.org/assessment-guide-importance
https://www.edutopia.org/article/7-smart-fast-ways-do-formative-assessment
https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/assesslearning/index.html
Written by
Adiba Karim, Communications Manager and Trainer at Alokito Hridoy Foundation
