Short Strategies

A 3-2-1 assessment (Tweed, 2009) is a strategy in which students take stock of their own learning by separating what they know from what they have yet to master. It can be used to quickly assess student understanding any time new information has been presented.

In a 3-2-1 assessment, each student writes on separate slips of paper three things learned, two things not yet understood, and one question still outstanding. When finished, students affix the slips to a bulletin board, poster, or piece of chart paper divided into columns labeled “3,” “2,” and “1.” The teacher can review the notes to construct a portrait of a class’s understanding. The results can serve as a jumping-off point for further class discussion, redirect a planned course of instruction, or alert the teacher to a topic that requires reteaching.

A 3-2-1 assessment (Tweed, 2009) is a strategy in which students take stock of their own learning by separating what they know from what they have yet to master. It can be used to quickly assess student understanding any time new information has been presented. In a 3-2-1 assessment, each student writes on separate slips of paper three things learned, two things not yet understood, and one question still outstanding. When finished, students affix the slips to a bulletin board, poster, or piece of chart paper divided into columns labeled “3,” “2,” and “1.” The teacher can review the notes to construct a portrait of a class’s understanding. The results can serve as a jumping-off point for further class discussion, redirect a planned course of instruction, or alert the teacher to a topic that requires reteaching. 

Technology Integration: Padlet, Nearpod

First developed by Wilson Taylor in the early 1950s, cloze passages contain systematically deleted words that the reader supplies as he or she works through the text. Cloze passages differ from traditional fill-in-the-blank exercises in that the procedure is applied to a passage rather than to an isolated sentence (Steinman, 2002). Because they allow the reader to rely on context to make meaning, cloze passages are a useful tool for diagnosing reading comprehension; they can also be used to introduce new content in the classroom. Cloze passages require that students draw on their background knowledge of a subject. Cloze passages also can help develop students’ critical reading skills, and they can sharpen students’ awareness of their reading process (Chatel, 2001). While traditional cloze passages delete every nth word from a passage, newer models either delete a specific type of word, or they delete certain content words (Steinman, 2002). In some cases, students are given a list of words to choose their answers from (Palumbo & Loiacono, 2009). 

When administering a cloze passage, advise students to read the entire passage before they begin to fill in the blanks. Encourage students to fill in each blank to the best of their ability, and then ask them to reread the entire passage once they have completed their work (Chatel, 2001). Newer cloze passages are typically untimed, and synonyms or related words can be considered correct 

Think-pair-share (Lyman, 1981) fosters collaboration by giving students time to develop their ideas during class discussion. There are three steps to a think-pair-share: 

1. Students independently contemplate a response to a question or prompt. 

2. Students pair up to discuss and refine their ideas. 3. Student pairs share their discussions with the entire class. 

The think-pair-share strategy is useful because it relieves individual students of the pressure of sharing ideas on the spot. Because they are sharing and exploring multiple perspectives on a common problem or issue, the collaborative discourse initiated by think-pair-share engages students in inquiry that extends their thinking and understanding. It is just this sort of collaborative discourse that research (Sawyer, 2004) shows is particularly conducive to learning 

Entrance and exit slips (Brewster & Klump, 2004) are quick in-class writing exercises frequently used to discover what students know about the day’s topic. It is a good idea to limit students’ writing by taking the term slips to heart and limiting the size of the paper on which they write, so the responses can be reviewed quickly and easily in or after class. 

In a classroom where every student has a laptop or tablet computer or in a classroom where students are adept at text messaging, consider using a classroom response system, online poll, survey application, or messaging service as the medium for the entrance or exit slip. In keeping with the idea of brevity, such services and applications can be set up to restrict the length of students’ responses. Moreover, because they are online, they can be delivered and collated instantly and analyzed nearly as fast. 

Technology Intergration: Google Forms, Socratic, Plickers

Focused listing (Angelo & Cross, 1993) is a strategy for assessing students’ recall of the most important points on a given topic. It is best used to take quick stock of what students know. The name of the strategy suggests its use in the classroom: given a topic, students list as many related ideas or facts as they can, usually in a limited amount of time. 

To ensure the topic is appropriate, Angelo and Cross (1993) recommend that teachers write their own focused lists before asking students to create theirs (p. 129). If students generate focused lists on the same topic over the course of a unit, both they and the teacher can track learning from one list to the next, both through an increasing number of relevant and appropriate items and improving relevance and appropriateness of individual items. 

Hand signals can be an effective kinesthetic tool for monitoring student understanding of a particular concept, process, or skill (Tweed, 2009). To use hand signals, ask a question with a simple yes-or-no answer or an answer that can be represented by a scale. Invite the class to respond to the question by showing signals, such as thumbs-up and thumbs-down or one to five fingers as a rating scale. If, based upon the hand signals students show, it seems most students misunderstand the concept, further elaboration or reteaching may be necessary. 

An index card assessment (Tweed, 2009) takes advantage of the small size of index cards to quickly construct a portrait of students’ understanding. On one side of a card, students write something positive in response to the day’s learning, such as a summary of the class, an interesting fact learned, or a concept that finally makes sense. On the opposite side, students identify what they do not understand by describing their confusion or asking a question. With an index card assessment, identifying the person who does not understand a concept is less important than discovering what is not understood. Therefore, consider reinforcing anonymity by creating a drop box in which students can place their index cards as they exit the classroom. Upon collecting the cards, list students’ comments and questions and use the list to identify patterns in students’ understanding. 

The line-up strategy (Baume & Baume, 1996) visually depicts students’ stances on a question or series of questions relevant to the day’s learning. The strategy encourages ownership of ideas and respect for other students’ opinions. 

Line-up works best with questions that have ambiguous or indeterminate answers. After the question is posed, students form a line that represents a continuum between one position and another. Once in line, students should discuss their positions with nearby students to determine how well their physical positions correspond to their viewpoints. 

Because it gives students time for nuanced discussion of their positions, line-up fosters discussion skills that will be necessary in more sophisticated group work. 

A misconception check is a quick strategy for assessing students’ understanding. To conduct a misconception check, present a common misconception about an important concept or idea to students. Ask students whether they agree or disagree, and have them explain their answers (Tweed, 2009). (This can be done orally or in writing.) If the concept is relatively easy to understand or students’ misconceptions about it are minor, then present the correct information to students, explaining why the misconception is wrong. If the concept is more difficult or students’ misconceptions are severe, then conduct a discussion that leads students to understand why their prior conceptions are mistaken. 

While a misconception check may take only a few minutes, it can be a powerful strategy for monitoring progress. Students draw from what they already know to better understand new information; if their prior knowledge is incorrect, their learning may be disrupted. Misconception checks are especially important at the beginning of a unit, but they can also be used any time new information is being presented. 

A muddiest point assessment (Angelo & Cross, 1993) discovers what students misunderstand about a concept or process. Frequently employed as a closing activity, the assessment is simple: each student describes a concept from the day’s instruction he or she finds “muddiest,” or least clear. The points students identify can then be used to construct a portrait of a class’s understanding and identify areas for reteaching. 

Keeley (2008) describes a Scientific Terminology Inventory Probe (STIP) as a metacognitive exercise that checks students’ familiarity with scientific terms. It is administered as both a pre- and postassessment so that, at the end of a unit, students can compare their responses and reflect upon their new understanding. 

A STIP is a basic questionnaire. In response to a term or set of terms on a form, students select one of the following responses: 

• I have never heard of this. 

• I have heard of this, but I’m not sure what it means. • I have some idea what it means.

 • I know what it means, and I can describe it.

 Keeley recommends limiting the STIP to at most twelve terms (p. 181). Including space on the form where students describe what they know about each term can provide useful information about students’ level of understanding. 

Star-and-a-wish (Harste, Woodward, & Burke, 1984) seeks to balance praise and constructive feedback on ungraded work. Writing a sentence describing something positive about students’ work—a star—as well as a sentence describing how the work could be improved—a wish—helps students see their strengths and weaknesses and motivates them to improve their work. This kind of balanced, detailed information can help all students focus their efforts effectively. The strategy can be used by teachers when reviewing student work using comments-only marking or by students when giving peer feedback. 

Team-Then-Teacher (TTT) (Jacobs, Power, & Loh, 2002) emphasizes cooperative learning by requiring that students turn to their partner(s) when questions arise before seeking help from the teacher. When TTT is consistently applied in the classroom, students working together in groups learn to first look to each other for help when they have trouble solving a problem or answering a question. In this way they learn interdependence, an important group work skill. Only when the group continues to have trouble solving the problem or the answer remains elusive do students finally turn to the teacher for help.

 As students become more responsible for their own learning, adding an extra step between the team and the teacher becomes possible. In this advanced variation of TTT, students who cannot agree turn to another group for help before turning to their teacher. 

A three-minute review (Turville, 2008) is a brief pause in a lecture or class discussion to allow student interaction. Working in pairs or small groups, students review the material that has just been covered by asking each other clarifying questions or answering questions posed by their peers. A three-minute review helps build students’ cooperative learning skills by giving them an opportunity to confer with one another before querying the teacher. 

With traffic light icons (Atkin, Black, & Coffey, 2001), students use the familiar symbol of a traffic light to represent their understanding of a concept or term. The icons serve as both selfassessments and as a way for teachers to monitor student progress. They can be used with many kinds of classroom activities, such as lectures, labs, readings, and discussions. 

Making the icons is the first step in introducing the strategy. Their construction can vary so long as the colors red, yellow, and green are used: plastic cups (Keeley, 2008) work well, as does a three-sided name tent with each side its own color. Most important is that students grasp the meaning of each color: 

• Green: I understand this very well. 

• Yellow: I understand most of this, but could use a little help. 

• Red: Help! I do not understand! 

In other words, each icon says something about what students know. During an activity, students who understand display the green icon, students who are unsure display yellow, and students who need immediate help display red. Too many greens can mean the exercise is too easy; too many reds can mean it is too hard.