ACTIVATING STUDENTS AS LEARNING RESOURCESIN THE CLASSROOMPresented by:
Nancy Schwerin
Objectives: Agenda:To define
formative assessment and the players involved
To identify ways to make students learning resources for each other
To identify activities that activate students as owners of their own learning
Look at the researchParticipate in Formative
Assessment Lesson/Activity
Identify strategies to use in your discipline
Participate in Formative Assessment Lesson/Activity
More ways to include Formative Assessment in your classroom
Conclusion
What is Formative Assessment?
“Assessment carried out during the instructional process for the purpose of improving teaching or learning” (Shepard et al., 2005).
What is Formative Assessment?“Evidence about student achievement which is elicited, interpreted, and used by teachers, learners, or their peers to make decisions about the next steps instruction that are likely to be better founded, than the decisions they would have made in the absence of that evidence.” (Wiliam, p.43)
Understanding Formative Assessment
Where the learner is
going
Where the learner is right now
How to get there
Teacher
Clarifying, Sharing,
and Understand
ing Learning
Intentions
Engineering effective discussions, tasks, andactivities that elicit evidence of learning
Providingfeedback that moves learning forward
Peer Activating students as learning resources for one another
Learner Activating students as owners of their own learning
Wiliam, p. 46.
Making the Case for Students as Learning Resources for One Another
CASE STUDYParticipants •3 teachers (in 2 U.S. Schools)
• Each teacher taught four 7th grade science classes
Duration •14 week experiment•2 projects, which were each 7 weeks long
Commonality
All 3 teachers taught the same curriculum
Control Group
Once a week two of each teacher’s classes discussed what they liked and disliked about the topic of instruction
Experimental Group
Once a week two of each teacher’s classes discussed how their work was going to be assessed
Wiliam, p. 53.
Sharing Learning Intentions
01020304050607080
32 2839
53
Lower Achieving Group
Pre-TestControl Group Experiemental
Group
0
20
40
60
8059 52
68 73Higher Achieving
Group
Pre-Test
Results •Low Ach. Control Group Increased By 7 points•Low Ach. Experimental Group Increased by 25 points•High Ach. Control Group Increased by 9 points•High Ach. Experimental Group Increased by 21 points
CASE STUDY
Wiliam, p. 55.
Making the Case for Students as Learning Resources for One Another
Conclusions from Case Study:Difference in emphasis of one activity per week
yielded drastically different resultsIn the Experimental Group low achievers improved more
than 3 times that of the Control GroupIn the Experimental Group high achievers improved more
than 2 times that of the Control Group points
By talking about the expectations and the way in which work was going to be assessed, the students learned exactly what quality work looks likeLessened the gap between low and high achievers
Sharing an Active Reflection Lesson
My Original Objectives:Students will conduct two classroom observations.Students will write a detailed description of
one observed lesson.Students will write a summary of the other
observed lesson.
After describing the lessons, the student will deduce the learning intention(s) and write an objective statement using Bloom’s verbs.
Schwerin’s Observation Evaluation Activity
Put yourselves in the shoes of the students…
Directions:Find a Partner Read the student Classroom Observation Summaries.
Identify the observed Learning Objectives. Underline the Learning Objectives within the summary in blue.
Read the student Learning Objective Statements.Determine if the learning objective is academic? Explain
how this objective is connected to the subject.Circle Bloom’s Taxonomy verb(s) in red/pink.Indicate the level of each of Bloom’s verbs by writing the
level in green next to verbs.
Incorporate an Active Reflection Activity in your Classroom
Directions:Think about the units you will teach during
second semester.Collaborate with your table to generate
ideas for incorporating an active lesson reflection into your classroom.
Record your ideas on chart paper.IDEAS:
Ideas for Active Reflection Activities : Formative
AssessmentAP Calculus
Group of 4 receives their practice exam and a blank exam
They compare their answers and agree upon the best composite answer
ScienceStudents rank exemplars of lab
reportsSocial Studies/ Govnt.
Students identify the characteristics of the top 3 essays and apply these characteristics to their own essay
Wiliam, p. 39-40.
Effects of Formative Learning Assessment
What are the benefits of using an Active Reflection Activity?•Increases critical thinking•Delays emotional response to student grade•Improves student understanding of the learning intention•Provides active involvement of students in their own learning•Lessens teacher work load
Wiliam, p. 39.
Sharing Another Formative Assessment: An Active Reflection Activity
Directions:There are 3 English
Essays, of varying quality, on your table.
There is also teacher feedback concerning an essay on each strip of paper.
Match the teacher’s feedback to the appropriate essay.
•How does this activity inform teachers? •How does this activity inform students? •What do the students have to actively reflect upon?
Formative Assessment TechniquesRed /Green/Yellow Cups
Creating Green or Yellow Cup StudentsNo Hands – Don’t allow students to
choose whether or not to participate“No hands up except to ask a question.”
(Leahy, Lyon, Thompson & Wiliam, 2005)Popsicle Sticks - Selecting students at
random is a radical change in the “classroom contract.” (Brousseau, 1984)
Prior to Parting…Please Determine:How you will utilize students as learning
resources for other students during the upcoming semester?
How will you actively engage your students in their own learning during second semester?
How the activities or techniques, which you just referenced in your responses to the previous questions, will inform your instruction?
ReferencesBrousseau, Guy. Theory of Didactical Situations
in Mathematics: Didactique Des. 1984. Print. Leahy, Shioban, Christine Lyon, Marnie
Thompson, and Dylan Wiliam. Classroom Management: Day by Day, Minute by Minute. 2005. Print.
Shepard. ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING DEFINED. Print.
Wiliam, Dylan. Embedded Formative Assessment. 2011. Print.