Formative assessments occur during the learning process and are designed to give feedback, where their counter part summative assessments occur post learning. In the quick video below by Rick Wormeli, he very passionately describes the importance of formative assessments and how they are different from summative assessments.
One of the greatest results of formative assessments is the feed back students receive and how that helps them grow. In this link there is a 3 minute video that shows an example of how the learning cycle paired with formative assessments helps students in Mr. Kelsey's music class grow.
Formative instructional practices, or FIP, as it is referred to in this video help Beechwood Elementary School's teacher Mrs. Susie create a focus for her class and allow students to receive help based on what level they are at.
The colleague I mentioned is Scott Kinkoph, and he utilized a lot of fantastic formative assessment tools in this weeks online lecture. Below is the video, its about 30 minutes, so if it is too lengthy for you to watch I will go over the tools he uses and a few more recommended by my professor later on.
Here is the list of different digital formative assessment tools:
So how will you choose to asses your students? By observing them, by using one of these tools, or even by old fashioned pencil and paper. This is something to think about, about how you will gather vital data on each of your students to use to better their learning experience.
