Summary of "Formative Assessments: Why, When & Top 5 Examples"

Summary of “Formative Assessments: Why, When & Top 5 Examples”

Main Ideas and Concepts

Purpose of Formative Assessments:

Teachers need to identify when students do not understand the material.
Students often have misconceptions or get lost during lessons.
Poor teaching ignores student understanding, leading to confusion and lack of learning.
Master teachers use formative assessments to make informed decisions about reteaching, adjusting methods, assigning extra work, or moving forward.

When to Use Formative Assessments:

Formative assessments should be used continuously and integrated throughout the lesson.
The cycle follows: teach → assess → teach → assess, repeatedly.
Assessments should be quick and comfortable for students to respond to.
The goal is to assess understanding firmly during the teaching process, not just at the end.

Top 5 Examples of Formative Assessments

Hand Signal 1 to 5 Used for whole-class assessment, students rate their understanding on a scale from 1 (completely lost) to 5 (mastery) using fingers. This allows quick, visual feedback from many students at once.
Brainstorming Conducted before introducing a new topic to gauge students’ prior knowledge. For example, listing predator-prey relationships on the board. It also helps students learn from each other’s ideas.
Exit Tickets Used at the end of a lesson, students answer an essential question on a small slip of paper within 2-3 minutes. This helps track understanding of the lesson’s overall objective and standards.
Think, Pair, Share A three-step process:
- Think: Students individually think about a question with adequate wait time.
- Pair: Students pair up (preferably teacher-assigned partners) to discuss their thoughts.
- Share: Students share their answers with the class; the teacher provides corrections publicly. This method promotes collaboration and 21st-century skills.
Individual Whiteboards Each student receives a whiteboard and marker. The teacher asks questions, and students write answers on their boards. The teacher can quickly assess each student’s response and provide immediate correction, allowing simultaneous assessment and reteaching.

Additional Notes

Formative assessments should be quick and seamlessly integrated into teaching.
The ultimate goal is to enhance student understanding and inform teaching decisions.
The video encourages subscribing to the channel and emphasizes a community of educators.

Speakers/Sources Featured

The video appears to be narrated by a single presenter (likely the channel host), who explains the concepts and examples of formative assessments. No other speakers or sources are explicitly identified in the subtitles.