Effective Ways to Assess Students

During week 2, we learned how to assess students and different types of assessment. Assessment is the collection of data over time and is used for checking for understanding. Assessments always include a rubric. There different types of assessment are diagnostic, formative, and summative. 

Diagnostic assessment is used as a pre-assessment to find out what the students know.
Examples: KWL charts, brainstorming, graphic organizers, pre-tests, etc.

Formative Assessment is used when to keep track and check up on the students. 
Examples: Observation, Journal, Note-taking, Check for Understanding, Thumbs up/ thumbs down, quizzes, exit tickets, ect. 

Summative Assessment is a cumulative assessment used to measure the success of the unit and to make sure the students understood the material.
Examples: Projects, portfolios, presentations, essays, unit tests, etc. 


When I become a teacher, I will use KWL charts to get students to brainstorm about a topic before learning information. 

KWL gets students to use their prior knowledge for the K (What I Know), brainstorming skills for the W (What I Wonder), and their knowledge of what they just learned to the L (What I Learned).


I will also use exit tickets. Exit tickets are efficient in seeing what the students learned that day and seeing if they are confused or have any questions. Teachers can benefit greatly from exit tickets to see if the students are on track with understanding the material. Here's an example: 

I like this exit ticket because it gets students to think about what they learned that day. I also like the question section to see if they are confused with anything. It's really important to make sure the students are fully understanding and many students sometimes won't ask their questions so this is a good idea to get their questions out.