Review, Revisit & Assess

Observation is something all teachers do. When teachers use observation for formative assessment, we observe and adjust instruction according to our observations. 

When: any point in a lesson and in any classroom setting.

Oppurtunities for strength building:

• Have a checklist with focus areas to observe.

• Look at student's process of solving a problem not just the end product. What do they understand within the concept? 

Example: 

Free PDF Classroom observation Checklist

A brief investigative probe that is used with an individual student or small group of students.

 When: any point in a lesson and in any classroom setting.

Oppurtunities for strength building:

• Look for students who demonstrate interesting techniques or initial understanding of a concept. Ask students:

  • What ideas do you have for solving?

  • What are you thinking about doing next? 

• Then record what you heard the studen say and decide on the next instructional step using the information you got from the interview. 

Example: "You mentioned that you thought you should nultiply to solve this word problem. Mathematicians try out ideas to make sure they make sense. Why don't you try out your idea and then let me know if multiplication makes sense for solving this word problem."

Ask individuals, small groups, opr large groups of students to respond to a performance-based question. Students may use manipulatives, small whiteboards for sketching, ect. to demonstrate their understanding. 

When: implemented at any time, most teachers like to use this technique as it engages students to do the math within a lesson. 

Oppurtunities for strength building:

• Pose a question (the lesson seeds on the supplemental slides would be great for this technique)

• NOtice how students respond

• Chooses students to share their thinking, choose the students you want to share based on their strengths of how they approach the problem in different ways. 

Example: A student uses only concrete ways to represent a problem, use this students example to show the concrete model. Then choose a student with a represantational model make the connection between the two strategies. Or have students walk around the room with you to show them different ways of representing the answer and help them connect their concrete way with other ways. 

These questions provide a check for understanding or proficiency at a particular hinge point in a lesson. The responses will provide information to the teachcer about the direction to go within a lesson and/or next instructional steps. They can be open-ended responses or n multiple-choice. Should be desinged for a quick response, and invite an array of responses that can inform next steps. 

When: Beginning or middle of the lesson to help the teacher decide how to group the students for instruction or at the end of the lesson to determmine instructional steps for the next day. 

Oppurtunities for strength building: 

• Helps us answer, "Are they ready to move on?"

• Match students with different understandings to provide student-to-student feedback. 

Example: Use pinch cards (student response cards) as a quick way to collect information from many students at once. 

• • PDF printable pinch cards

  • Blog and video on how to use this strategy

  • If student choices are all over the place, have them find a partner with a different answer and let them figure out the right answer. 

  • Use this in the moment check in to guide next steps in your instruction. 

PDF HInge Question implementation guide

A capstone problem or task that captures the major focus of the lesson for that day, or perhaps the last several days.  This is more robust than a closure or exit ticket, descirbed in the next section of this page. The students will need time to showcase their thinking. 

When: Towards the end of the class, but gives enough time for students to show thier thinking. 

Oppurtunites for strength building: 

• The task should have scaffolds, so that ALL students can show their level of understanding and success. 

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What- Re-engagement is using student work for the purpose of uncovering misconceptions, providing feedback on student thinking, and helping students to go deeper into the mathematics. Students have the oppurtunity to reflect on their own learning while make connections between mathematical ideas. There is a focus on metagonitive development as student analyze other student work in the search for possible mathematical misconceptions. 

Why- Re-engagement pushes students to address their conceptual understanding of a topic in order to make connections and eliminate misconceptions. Research has shown it to be more effective than re-teaching the same content, because it engages all students in a metacognitive activity with high cognitive load. 

When- Should be used when students have had some oppurtunities to learn about a topic. At some point, some students will be developping a strong understanding, while others will have significant misconceptions. A re-engagment lesson allows all students to think again about the topic, deepening their understanding through a collaborative experience. 

How- First, formatively assess students to identify common errors. Then for each common error, ask, "What might students have been thinking?" By trying to understand the students' reasoning, a teacher can identify next steps. Opportunities for re-engagement range from small scale (10 minutes) to large scale (2 class periods).