Hi Sandra, Thanks for your post to the forum. I applaud your emphasis on encouraging critical thnking in Math and Accounting! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
In teaching accountin and math, I have students do problems in class. We do a round robin and each student takes a problem. I ask them critical thinking questions about the problem until they can identify the answer. This is a quick way to measure their progress. Another way is through the evaulation of their homework. I can quickly see if they are grasping the concept by looking at what they completed, and how they approached the problems. Additionally, I give them weekly online quizes on the terms to see if they are beginning to identify, and understand, the terminology. Finally, I like to give comprehensive "projects" where they use critical thinking along with the knowledge they learned in the course. Sandra
Hi Maggie, Thanks for your post to the forum. That frequent feedback is excellent! The workbook and reviews is also a great strategy! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Every week, at the end of each chapter/lesson, the students are given a graded assesment to see what they have retained from the chapter. They are also asked to complete a work book that correlates with the chapter which is also reviewed weekly.
Besides using a final test at the end of each subject topic; I use a " fill in the blank type questions, match the answers, you make up a question", and other thought provoking methods to assess student progress.
Hi Lori, I LOVE that idea! Thanks for sharing! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Hi Sherri, Frequent quizzes are a great way to get timely feedback on the effectiveness of our instruction. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
I believe this would qualify as a formative evaluation strategy. One of the activities that I enjoy doing with my students is the use of whiteboards. I picked up small whiteboards at the dollar store and gave each student one. Throughout my lecture, I will randomly ask a question and have the students, as quick as the can, record their answers and hold up the whiteboards. It gives me an idea of who is learning the material and also who is paying attention. The questions will often be from material that I had just covered or discussed in my lecture. It is a great way to assess the students progress.
I use online quizzes as well! I think it is a good tool for both the students and I. For the students, the quiz is timed, so they have to know the material before hand, although it is open book. Then on the instructor end, I can see who is keeping up with the material and who is falling behind. It is a great way to keep tabs on the students outside of exams.
Hi Rebecca, Thanks for your post to the forum. The skills application assessment that you are doing in the lab is very important. Assuring that students see the connection with the theory they learn in the classroom and the skills they learn in lab is ideal! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Because I am a lab instructor and only have students during lab time, I use the time to observe their skills and have them related what they are doing to what they are learning in the classroom.
We have daily labs where the student performs a task and get check off when the master the technique.
I completely agree. It has been my experience that formative assessments that allow for students to interact with one another ensures that the they do not become intimidated by any lack of understanding. Their peers often help them understand the material far better than we had ever planned.
The first formative evaluation strategy that I use is a pre-test to develop an understanding of where the student is at the beginning of class. Daily, I utilize individual written assignments or group assignments after certain lectures that allow students to demonstrate an understanding of the lesson. At least once during a 5 week course, I assign a project that requires the student to utilize creativity to demonstrate understanding of a concept. I would like to incorporate more quizzes; perhaps weekly in order to assess.
I give a daily 3-point quiz that is based on a specified topic in the assigned reading for that day. Additionally, I periodically do something called a "Pulse Check" whereby I take the "pulse" of the class regarding how the class is meeting their learning needs. It is a written assessment that addresses several questions about classroom environment, instructor teaching methods and style, etc.
Students have said they appreciate having the daily quizzes because it helps them to know what I consider to be important in the reading.
Kathy
I try to use formative learning methods throughout my session with Massage students to build on previously learned information...This approach refreshes the students understanding in some cases and may enhance it in others...
I teach students how to build speed in writing a specialized stenographic language. I use contextual examples as much as possible as ways to determine if the students are noticing points of grammar, vocabulary usage, patterns of errors in their writing, etc. I point out sound-alike words that might be confused and require more active listening skills to then take in and write distinctly differently from each other; I ask them to identify elements within sentence structures that demand the application of particular rules of grammar. I question students on the meaning of multisyllabic words that they may not be familiar with and challenge them to develop a curiosity about words in general. When students read back from stenographic notes, I am looking for error patterns that might need to be targeted, words that would benefit from briefs being suggested, etc. I try my best to be constructive in sharing my observations with them and helping them to identify best strategies of practice that will result in improvement.
Hi Thomas, Thanks for your post to the forum. Putting their learning to paper most likely also increases their retention. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Lately I have used a short written evaluation of the previous day or weeks lecture. I ask the students to write out how they would complete this task , trying to remember all the steps we discussed in the lectures. This gives me an assessment of their memory skills as well as their problem solving skills. I have found that the students seem to have better recall when they write to paper.
I will be instructing in an introductory Vet Tech course. I will be using weekly medical terminology quizzes as a form of formative evaluation throughout the course.
