Assessments during Year 1:
"I have given eight formal assessments so far this year. One of these was a poster project on one of the six terrestrial biomes and the other seven have been 50 question tests. I usually get several questions from practice SATP exams online and then write the remainder of the questions myself. My kids get so mad at me for having 50 question tests, but I refuse to give any less because I’m trying to get their mental endurance up for the state test. My mentor, who also teaches biology, says that she thinks a lot of the kids’ problems last year were related to being so used to short tests and then having to take such a long one in May. My hope is that by the time they take the state test, taking long assessments will no longer come as a shock to them and they will feel confident and comfortable. Thumbs-up/thumbs-down is a great alternative to that. The thing I don’t like about it is that it narrows the answers down to two, so sometimes it makes it too easy, but it does allow me to assess student understanding quickly and efficiently. Thumbs-up/thumbs-down is great for stuff that could only really have two options, though. This week I am teaching acids and bases and I feel like it will be great to show a substance with its pH and have students do thumbs-up for acidic and thumbs-down for basic." Assessments during Year 2: I'll blame it on the pregnancy like I blame everything else on the pregnancy - Year 2 I got sloppy. I didn't even give thought to "informal assessments." I did them, of course, but I didn't obsess over them like I did during Year 1. I wouldn't dare do a thumbs up/thumbs down session or paddleboards or anything like that - they cheat! Every time. I can't stop them. They're going to wait and see what someone else does before they give a thumbs up/down. Which is fine. I probably would, too. No one wants to be wrong publicly and get embarrassed. I use quizzes for assessments, usually online on USA Test Prep. First of all, they're graded by the computer, so, hello, less work for me. Second of all, it does data for me - it shows me which questions were missed most and which were missed least. That tells me immediately what I need to go over again and what everyone already gets. I use Kahoot for the same exact reason. My formal assessments have all been tests this year - ain't no pregnant lady got time to sit around and grade projects. |