Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Assessment 1

Throughout the chapter the different forms of assessment were discussed. The two main forms were summative assessment and formative assessment. Formative assessment is a type of assessment which allows for instruction and the monitoring of progress throughout the grading period. Formative assessments provide immediate feedback and ways to improve for the individual. Summative assessment is when the teacher evaluates the students progress by using formal methods such as giving out quizzes or tests.

One question I have over the text was which form works best for students? Some forms of assessments clearly have benefits in areas where the other may lack. How do we know overall which one comes out better for students and teachers as a whole?




FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
FORMALLY ASSESSED
The teacher gives a worksheet to see who understands the knowledge.
A teacher gives a test over the chapter previous learned in the last weeks.  
INFORMALLY ASSESSED
The teacher asks students questions to see if they understand the material.

A teacher gives students a worksheet to assess their knowledge but doesn't grade it. 

2 comments:

  1. I like your question. I think one reason it is important to give formative assessments that are informal is to see what kind of assessments best reflect the learning of the individual students in your class. You can then use that information to determine which types of formal and summative assessments would be best for your class.

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  2. Of course, formative assessments would also be 'best' in the sense that they will push further learning--that is how they are defined. Those both help students learn and help teachers improve their instruction. Otherwise, I think any assessment is not good in itself, but in whether it is aligned with your learning goal and method of instruction. If it is, it is a good assessment, and if not, there is a better choice.

    In the table, I think you're a bit confused, particularly in the informal summative assessment box. We're assuming all of these assessments are graded. Just being graded does not making something formal. Formality might be a product of how much pressure is put on students who whether it is something that is a sit-down written assessment.

    In your formal formative assessment box, a worksheet could be formative or summative, but it's only summative if it pushes back on student learning (they talk about it afterward) or if the teacher uses it to change instruction.

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