FORMATIVE
Assessment
Formative assessments are ongoing-assessments, meaning that they are given throughout the course of a year to immediately adjust instruction. These assessments are especially helpful because educators can use them frequently throughout the instructional block to make quick adjustments in their own practices to ensure student success. Formative assessments take many forms, and are used more often than any other assessment in order to inform instructional changes. In my classroom, I utilize formative assessments on a daily basis to check student understandings of the content at hand and quickly identify misunderstandings in order to quickly clarify information for students. Below, you will find examples of how I utilize formative assessments within my classroom to inform instruction and future planning.
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Self Monitoring: Utilizing Proficiency Scales
I often facilitate metacognitive thinking by having students reflect on how they are feeling about the lesson. Students are asked to think about and communicate where they are in regards to the skill or content that we are working on that day through an anonymous vote, this ensures that students are continually engaging in their own learning and growth. I use that data to inform small group instruction for the next day's activities, as well as to gather anecdotal evidence informing me of how much longer I might need to implement lessons based on that content before moving on to the next unit. If the majority of students raise their hands when I say one or two, I know that I'll need to continue lessons on that content. If most of them raise their hands when I say three or four, I know that I can administer the quiz or end of unit assignment soon with students able to demonstrate mastery of the content or skill.
Quick Writes: Continuing Analysis of Writing Strengths
Writing standards become relatively complex once students reach fifth grade. Therefore, it is imperative that I am constantly analyzing strengths and weaknesses of my student's writing in order to inform future instruction so that my students can achieve success in writing. For the following quick writes, I was able to identify misconceptions of content as well as of what students understand about the conventions of an essay. Hover over the picture to read about my analysis of each students' progress.
This student is learning English as a second language, and also receives Special Education services. From reading her work, I can tell that she does not grasp the conventions or structure of sentences in English. She was able to pull relevant information from the article we used, so when I speak with her Special Education teacher, I will communicate that she would really benefit from analyzing the structure of a sentence before given another writing task. As I analyze further assignments, I will keep her sentence structures on my radar so that I can model for her what they should look like when necessary.
This student demonstrates an understanding of our organizational structure, but is missing the mandatory fifth grade expectation of introducing a topic with an opinion statement. She goes straight into the Evidence and Elaboration portion of the OREEO structure, which means that I will need to have a one on one conference with her during our intervention block to explain that she needs to introduce her opinion before getting to the proverbial "meat" of the essay.
This student demonstrates an understanding of the content that we read about, but does not show that he comprehends, or can use, our opinion writing organizational tool that we call the OREEO structure (Opinion, Reason, Evidence, Elaboration, Opinion). During the next opinion writing prompt, I will pull him and practice using the structure for more interest level opinion questions so that he can practice using it without worrying about complicated content.
This student does not demonstrate an understanding of the writing prompt, the OREEO opinion writing structure, or the conventions of an essay. He will need a reteach, focusing on practicing using the aforementioned structure, as well as the difference between conversational writing and writing for an essay. He will be in my small group pull during the writing block every Tuesday for the next few weeks to ensure mastery of opinion and narrative writing expectations.
Weekly Quizzes: Word Study
Word Study quizzes are important for the mastery of fifth grade expectations, as my students are expected to know many Greek and Latin prefixes, suffixes, and roots. I am very intentional in my reflection of said quizzes to ensure that students fully grasp the practice of breaking down word parts to determine meaning. Throughout the year, the word study quizzes will build upon themselves in order to facilitate mastery of the definition of each word part. Hover over the images below for my analysis of each assessment.
Second Word Study Quiz of the Year
This student demonstrated an understanding of the definitions of each prefix, but was unable to create an original sentence using the latter prefix, PRO. He will need additional supports with demonstrating an understanding of any of the five "pro" words in a sentence in order to do well on next weeks' quiz
Although this student was not able to spell all of the words on his quiz correctly, he demonstrated an understanding of the definition of both prefixes, as well as being able to write a sentence that used a "pro" word correctly. He will need additional supports in phonics and spelling out words using his understanding of phonemes.
Fifth Word Study Quiz of the Year
This student has grown in his ability to create original sentences that are relevant to the prefix of the week. He has also made progress in his handwriting and writing stamina. Going forward, I need to ensure that he can restate the definition of the word he chose to demonstrate his own comprehension.
This student has also progressed in his handwriting and writing stamina, but does not understand how to create an original sentence with a word that contains our weekly prefix. Instead, he created his own word to use in a sentence. Going forward, I need to model crafting a sentence with a real word.
This student demonstrated understanding of each prefix definition, but struggled to use the correct meaning of the "pro" word for the sentence portion. Instead of creating a sentence with a word we'd discussed, she guessed and used her background knowledge to create a new sentence. She'll need additional supports with word attack strategies in order for her to understand the difference between guessing and using known words and actually breaking them down to determine meaning.
This student demonstrates understanding of the definition of their given prefixes, but like the above student, creates her own word with the weeks' prefix instead of using a real word that contains the prefix. She will also benefit from my modeling of the creation of a sentence with a real word.
This student showed that she understands the definition of the two prefixes, but was unable to use the quiz structure or create a sentence demonstrating understanding of a "pro" word. She will need practice and to see modeling of the expectations of the structure of the aforementioned sentence.
This student showed that she understands the definition of the two prefixes, but was unable to use the quiz structure or create a sentence demonstrating understanding of a "pro" word. She will need practice and to see modeling of the expectations of the structure of the aforementioned sentence.
This student has progressed in her understanding of the prefix definitions. She also demonstrates understanding in creating sentences with the weeks' prefix. Going forward, she will receive the core instruction and build on her understanding of Greek and Latin prefixes.
Reflecting on Data to Make Instructional Adjustments
When assessing a student's comprehension of content, it is imperative that teachers provide multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate mastery. In our two week evidence and reasoning unit, I administered an assessment at the end of the first week and utilized the data from students' initial understandings about how authors use reasons and evidence to inform how I taught the information in the second half of the unit. The following pictures demonstrate how I adjusted assignments after analyzing student data.
Week One - Knowledge
This passage was given to students to independently read and annotate. Because we were working on identifying the author's main point as well as reasons, evidence, facts, opinion, and biases, I created the acronym PREFOB for students to memorize and use in analysis of each passage they were given. The passage on the left shows a student identifying the Point by circling it. They identified reasons with straight lines, and pieces of evidence with a squiggly line. This person demonstrated understanding of all three, and is ready to move into the application week.
The students below are on the right track to demonstrating mastery in identifying the point, reasons, evidence, facts, and opinions of a passage (also referred to as PREFOB), and just need a little more clarification to complete the knowledge portion of the unit. Hover over each image to see how I utilize formative assessment.
This student identified the correct point, reasons, and evidence. She was not able to identify an example of an opinion, which makes me think that she just didn't have time, because she spent so much time writing the evidence for her two identified reasons. In the future, I need to remind her to keep her answers short so that she is able to complete the task at hand.
This student was able to connect their reasons and evidence effectively and efficiently. However, he was not able to identify the point of the passage, and instead chose a sentence that he had a positive connection to. He needs to be pulled into small group during the application week so that he understands how the reason and evidence must be directly connected to, and in support of, the author's point. He also struggled with identifying a fact, and instead chose a sentence that he thought had a positive connotation. After he received this paper back with the question, he said "oh yeah, dogs can't talk so that can't be proven, I guess".
This student struggles with independent work, so I pulled him while the other students independently completed their PREFOB organizers. He and I read the passage together, and after some prompting, he was able to verbally explain the point, one reason, and one piece of evidence. After he demonstrated comprehension verbally, I asked him to write everything that we'd discussed on his paper. This paper shows that he will still need supports with written communication, but this is a step in the right direction, as this student struggles with confidence and often does not complete assignments at all. Going forward, I need to utilize instructional time when the other students are working to pull him one on one and ensure that he has felt success with ideas before I set him free to independently work.
WEEK ONE
Reflection
Overall, the majority of my students were able to demonstrate understanding of how to identify and analyze the reasons and evidence that an author uses to support their point. However, they were not able to identify the point as quickly as I had hoped in order to meet the standard with success. In order to proactively combat that issue for the second week, I will provide students with the author's point at the beginning of the lesson, as the fifth grade standard does not require students to be able to identify the point. In making this change, I am ensuring that students will be able to focus on how an author uses reasons and evidence to support their point, instead of spending instructional time trying to identify the point itself. I also noticed that students struggled with the structure of the PREFOB elements when putting them in standard lines on the paper. In order to avoid that issue in the future, I will have students create a graphic organizer for the next week in order to provide them with a more effective method of organizing their thoughts.
Week Two - Application
In the second week, students apply their understanding of how authors use reasons and evidence to support their points by reading three texts and analyzing the reasons and evidence used in each. I provide scaffolds by reading the first text with students and populating my own graphic organizer with the point, two reasons, and two pieces of evidence to show students an exemplar of the expectations. They in turn read the second and third texts collaboratively, and populate their own graphic organizers with information from the second and third texts.
This student was able to identify two reasons to support each point. Again, I utilized formative data from our knowledge week by providing students with the point so that they could use all instructional time to identify and analyze the reasons and evidence that authors use to support their point. He was also able to connect pieces of evidence from the text to the reasons that he identified. One aspect that he needs to work on is using quotations correctly when explaining what a text says. This seems to be a pattern throughout the class, so I will need to implement more lessons on how to use a quote, including using quotation marks and where to place the punctuation. The next unit is on character traits, so I'll use that formative assessment and add quotation notes into my lesson plans in order to provide students with that needed practice.
This student has an individual education plan and therefore needs additional supports when working on grade level content. By providing him with both a graphic organizer as well as one on one support when he feels stuck or frustrated, I am ensuring that he can meet fifth grade standards with success. Initially, he was overwhelmed with the task of finding two reasons for the second text, so I gave him the option to only identify one. For the third text, he was able to identify both required reasons and pieces of evidence. Going forward, formative data tells me that he is fully capable of identifying the required amount of reasons and evidence, so I will challenge him to do so in the future.
WEEK TWO
Reflection
Over the two week period of our reasons and evidence unit, students were able to define, take notes on, and practice analyzing how authors use reasons and evidence to prove their point. Upon reflection of formative assessments, I adapted my instruction in week one in order to best meet the needs of all learners. By providing my students with the point of each text at the beginning of the lessons, I ensured that students were able to instead focus on identifying and analyzing the reasons and pieces of evidence that authors use to prove their point. I also changed the structure of the work that students were expected to complete, and instead provided them with a graphic organizer to populate with information from the text. In doing so, I gave them the supports that they needed in order to be successful in meeting fifth grade standards.
In summation, utilizing formative assessment consists of constant reflection, adjustment, and implementation on my part. In utilizing as many pieces of data as possible, I am ensuring that all future planning is both strategic and meaningful, and that everything my students do in my classroom has a relevant and intentional purpose that will support their success in the fifth grade and beyond.