Unit 6: Managing Challenging Student Behavior
Activity 1: Different Types of Assessments
In this task we worked as a group to make a coggle page which you can view here.
Activity 2: Reviewing Formative Assessments
In this task we needed to watch and annotate several videos of teachers teaching.
Activity 3: Designing Formative Assessments
Formative Assessment 1
Assessment Title
Traffic Lights
Grade Level
5
Subject Area
English
Skills or Content Knowledge: What information or ideas will be evaluated with this formative assessment? In other words, what data are you aiming to gather?
I am aiming to gather, in real time, an understanding of how confident my students are (both as a whole and individually) at writing their unique alternative ending to the start of a short story that we read.
I will be able to see which students are able to write the ending to the short story independently, and which need support. The traffic lights will allow me to provide all students the support that they require, when they require it.
On a class-wide level, I’ll be able to see if a large portion of students are doing well or struggling. It will allow me to get instant feedback as to my students’ understanding as well as allow them to self-assess themselves. For example if I initially see a sea of red cups, I’ll know that my explanation wasn’t effective enough and we need to regroup and provide more examples.
I will utilize the results from this assessment to inform my teaching on the fly. I’ll be able to adapt my plan based on students’ feedback. Furthermore, in the future. I will be able to self-reflect and see if I explained the topic well enough (not too many red cups) or if perhaps the task was not challenging enough (all green cups)
Assessment Description/Link: What activity or technology (app, tool, etc.) will students use to demonstrate their knowledge or skills? In other words, how will students provide data?
Students each have three cups on their desks: one red, one yellow and one green. If they display the red cup, it means they are confused and need support. If they display the yellow cup, it means they need a little support. If they display green, it means they understand well and are open to assist classmates.
Traffic lights will tell me how the class is progressing as a whole on the writing task. Based on the colour of the majority of students, I will be able to adjust my teaching on the fly. It will also allow me to work with individual students who indicate that they need more help and allow students to collaborate with each other (ie. students know they can ask those with green for help.
Modifications & Adjustments: How will you administer this formative assessment in an online, hybrid, and physical learning environment? How will you make this accessible to students with language barriers and those with special needs?
Online: The traffic light system can still be done online in a number of ways:
Hybrid: Traffic lights could be adapted to be used both online and in the classroom in a hybrid learning environment. Students in class could use the physical cups, while those online could use the different emojis and symbols that I discussed above.
Alternatives in the Physical Learning Environment: Where cups are not available, use things that are already in the classroom, such as empty desk = green, pencil case on table = yellow and two crossed pens = red).
While I like to use traffic lights during a longer hands-on activity, it can also be used at the end of the class as a review. You can draw traffic lights on the board and ask students to come to the front with a sticker and post it on the color that matches their self-assessment of how much they understood in the lesson (green = understood everything, yellow = understood somethings, red = didn’t understand much). These can be anonymous or students can write their names on the stickers.
ELL: The great thing about this formative assessment is that it crosses language barriers, so English Language Learners do not need the assessment modified for them in any way.
Special Needs: Depending on the student, some modifications may need to be made:
Data Collection: How will you gather and record data from this formative assessment? How will you use the data to inform instruction?
I will collect data in real time through observation. That is the great thing about this traffic light formative assessment: it is super fast. Unlike other forms of assessment, this allows me to see immediately who needs help and when they need it. It also allows other students to collaborate effectively by helping classmates who they can see need assistance.
Furthermore, when used in the review stage of class (with stickers) it lets me see two things:
Student-Centered Learning: How will this formative assessment promote a student-centered learning environment in your classroom?
The traffic lights formative assessment goes hand in hand with creating a student-centered learning environment. It hands power back to the students and allows them to be autonomous, self-powered learners. Unlike in traditional assessment where the teacher tells them of their progress and ability, traffic lights forces students to make insights and self-assess their own progress and ability and to ask for help if they need it.
Furthermore, this kind of assessment also allows for natural collaboration to occur. Students who have a green cup are indicating they understand and are willing to help those who need help. They can look for students with a yellow or red cup and know those students will happily receive their help. And vice-versa, students with red or yellow cups, will know which students they can turn to to ask for help.
I really like using traffic lights on longer, more hands-on tasks where students have multiple things to be doing. This way, if they are completely stuck on one thing (shown by displaying a red cup), they can keep working on another part of the project until I (or another student) is ready to help them.
Traffic Lights Example:
Formative Assessment 2
Assessment Title
KWL chart
Grade Level
5
Subject Area
English
Skills or Content Knowledge: What information or ideas will be evaluated with this formative assessment? In other words, what data are you aiming to gather?
At the start of our PBL class ( ‘Journey to Mars’), I want to learn what students already know about Mars and what they want to know about Mars. There’s no point teaching students something that they already know, however I don’t know what they do and don’t know, so a KWL chart will help me to see what they know.
I will utilize the results from this assessment to inform my teaching in the future by finding out what students are interested in learning (the W on the chart). This can help shape the driving question for the entire project. For example if I had planned to ask the question, ‘Is there water on Mars?’ but students already knew the answer, the question could be reshaped as ‘How do we know there is water on Mars?’ or ‘What form does the water on Mars take?’. Or if I found that many students are interested in SpaceX rather than NASA, I could include more about SpaceX in the project so they feel like they are being listened to.
Assessment Description/Link: What activity or technology (app, tool, etc.) will students use to demonstrate their knowledge or skills? In other words, how will students provide data?
I will use a KWL chart in the first lesson of my PBL class. After a class discussion about Mars, each student will fill out their own KWL chart to be handed in to me at the end of the lesson. They will fill out the K (What I know about Mars) and W (What I want to know about Mars) in the first lesson. I will read these at the end of the class and make notes about common things students wanted to learn about and who wanted to learn about what. Then I can make teachable moments happen, seemingly organically. For example, we were already going to learn about the largest volcano on Mars (Olympus Mons), however one student showed knowledge about it in the chart. When I introduce the volcano, I elicit that student to help. Or if another student has a question about it, I bring up that it was that student that wanted to know.
Finally, at the end of the project, I would get students to fill out the ‘L’ part of the KWL chart. This is a kind of self-assessment which allows learners to see the progress they have made across the unit. I would them collect the KWL charts again and see what students had learned and what questions still remained.
Modifications & Adjustments: How will you administer this formative assessment in an online, hybrid, and physical learning environment? How will you make this accessible to students with language barriers and those with special needs?
Online: The KWL chart can be used online with little-to-no modifications. I would just need to ensure that students emailed them to me after class, or that they saved/uploaded them on a shared drive.
Hybrid: The KWL chart can be done with little changes in a hybrid learning environment. Students in the classroom could either work on iPads to match those learners online, or students in class could hand it in to the teacher and those online could submit it digitally. There are several other strategies that would work too, but it is largely dependent on three things: 1. The technology available, 2. The students needs and 3. The teachers/students preferred approach.
Another approach is to do the KWL chart as a class, to ensure all students complete the work and have a chance to contribute.
Alternatives in the Physical Learning Environment: It’s important to have a class discussion before starting the KWL chart so students all have something they can write in the K section and so that the W section consists of deeper questions. An alternative is to have students fill out the chart in pairs or groups. By telling students they all must know something for it to end up in the K column, this allows for peer-teaching to happen.
The KWL chart can also be done as a class for younger learners. We can sit on the floor like in an informal meeting and have a discussion in front of a large KWL poster board. When interesting points are made, we can add it to the appropriate column on the KWL poster board. Then, at the end of the unit, we can review what we learned as a class by referring back to the same KWL poster board from the start.
ELL: I will translate difficult vocabulary into the mother language of ELLs. Also I will allow them to use an iPad to translate their ideas into English so that they are able to show me the true scope of their knowledge. WIthout this, I may assume they don’t know a lot about the topic, when in reality they just aren’t able to fully convey the depth of their knowledge in English.
Special Needs: Depending on the student, some modifications may need to be made:
Data Collection: How will you gather and record data from this formative assessment? How will you use the data to inform instruction?
The data that I gather when I collect the KWL charts will shape the rest of the entire project in several ways. It will allow me to:
Student-Centered Learning: How will this formative assessment promote a student-centered learning environment in your classroom?
KWL charts promote a student-centered classroom because it allows an entire project ro be based around what students want to learn, rather than what the teacher decides to teach them. It hands the power back over to the students and lets them see they have a stake in what goes on in the classroom. Also, students are much more likely to want to learn the answers to the questions which they themselves posed, rather than to random ones the teacher assignment. The KWL charts let learners see that their teacher cares about them and listens to them. It allows the teacher to facilitate the direction of the learning, rather than be the driving force. This hands over autonomy to the students.
Finally, it promotes a student centered classroom through self-assessment. Using the KWL charts, learners are fully aware of the questions that they want to find answers to and know they are in charge of doing so (with the teacher there to help, not to lead).
KWL chart example
K
What I know about Mars.
W
What I want to know about Mars.
L
What I have learned about Mars.
Formative Assessment 3
Assessment Title
Kahoot!
Grade Level
5
Subject Area
English
Skills or Content Knowledge: What information or ideas will be evaluated with this formative assessment? In other words, what data are you aiming to gather?
I want to see how much my students understood the short story that they read called ‘King Canute’s day at the beach’. I also want to check their understanding of the vocabulary that was used in the story that we practiced. I hope to gather data that shows me how students as a whole comprehended the story and vocabulary and also how students on an individual level did so.
The results of this Kahoot quiz can help guide me know where to go next. For example, I am interested in getting feedback to see if there were any areas of the story in which there was a large misunderstanding. If there is, I will know that I need to re-read the story with students, perhaps scaffolding it in a different way to ensure understanding. It can also let me know if students understood the new vocabulary in the story and if they have an understanding of what those words mean. If the class as a whole doesn’t we’ll need to review. If some individual students do not, I’ll need to work with them individually to help them to understand.
Assessment Description/Link: What activity or technology (app, tool, etc.) will students use to demonstrate their knowledge or skills? In other words, how will students provide data?
Kahoot is a really fun and engaging online tool which provides near-instantaneous feedback to both teachers and students. It works like a simple multiple choice test, but with a twist. It is gamified in order to make it fun for students to play. Students will each have an iPad and be given the link to join the Kahoot quiz (students must use their real names). This data will all be collated and the feedback displayed to both teacher and students on a TV in the classroom.
Modifications & Adjustments: How will you administer this formative assessment in an online, hybrid, and physical learning environment? How will you make this accessible to students with language barriers and those with special needs?
Online: Kahoot lends itself very well to online use. Students are able to use their computer or phone etc. to join the quiz. I assume students will be able to join as they are using a device to join the virtual classroom.
Hybrid: Students can also play Kahoot in pairs. This means that the students have to arrive at a consensus before choosing a final answer. I like playing Kahoot in pairs as it means a discussion is taking place and students are having to justify their answers. What's more, is that it allows weaker students to learn from their peers (whom they listen to more than their teachers) and stronger students to solidify their knowledge through explaining their reasoning.
Alternatives in the Physical Learning Environment: Where technology isn’t available, there is a similar app called Quizizz which allows the whole class to compete as one team. Not all students might have access to an electronic device at school, but Quizizz requires just one device.
Also you can prepare the quizzes to play offline where lack of internet connectivity is an issue.
For schools with no technology, students can create their own quizzes similar to game shows like Who Wants to be a Millionaire, or Jeopardy. This way the formative assessment is still taking place, but it’s fun and engaging too. It’s important to remember that students learn better when they are having fun, so student engagement should play some factor in assessment too.
ELL: I would provide translations for difficult words for ELLs. In addition to this, I would place the ELL with a partner if I felt it was needed. For some questions I would make no adjustments as I want to get an understanding of the ELLs comprehension of certain things. Finally, I would make sure that the Kahoot app itself is available in the student’s mother tongue if they are having difficulty using it in English. If it isn’t, I’d help them set up the app before class or get a buddy to assist them.
Data Collection: How will you gather and record data from this formative assessment? How will you use the data to inform instruction?
This will let me know how each individual student is performing in the class. I will be able to know which students need more help and where they need that help. Furthermore, I will be able to see how the class performed as a whole and direct my teaching strategy based on it. For example, if many students get the 4th, 5th and 8th questions wrong, I know that I will need to review the vocabulary again. Kahoot is really good at giving detailed data and lets the teacher collect exact percentages about how many students in the class got each question correct.
Student-Centered Learning: How will this formative assessment promote a student-centered learning environment in your classroom?
Student-centered learning is widely agreed upon as the best method for learning to take place, and as such, it’s important that teachers use tools such as Kahoot in order to make their lessons student-centered. Kahoot is a student centered kind of formative assessment as it allows each student to submit their answers when they are ready and all get different feedback for the same quiz. Furthermore, allowing students to create their own Kahoot quizzes to give to their peers is a great student-centered approach to teaching and formative assessment. Kahoot also increases student engagement in the classroom by gamifying a traditional multiple choice quiz and transposing it into a fun and engaging tool suitable for the 21st century.
Kahoot: https://kahoot.it/challenge/08876321?challenge-id=dcd5c7ba-9d24-46ab-9db6-0ef3c7fe780c_1632117156091
Gamepin: 08876321
Assessment Title
Traffic Lights
Grade Level
5
Subject Area
English
Skills or Content Knowledge: What information or ideas will be evaluated with this formative assessment? In other words, what data are you aiming to gather?
I am aiming to gather, in real time, an understanding of how confident my students are (both as a whole and individually) at writing their unique alternative ending to the start of a short story that we read.
I will be able to see which students are able to write the ending to the short story independently, and which need support. The traffic lights will allow me to provide all students the support that they require, when they require it.
On a class-wide level, I’ll be able to see if a large portion of students are doing well or struggling. It will allow me to get instant feedback as to my students’ understanding as well as allow them to self-assess themselves. For example if I initially see a sea of red cups, I’ll know that my explanation wasn’t effective enough and we need to regroup and provide more examples.
I will utilize the results from this assessment to inform my teaching on the fly. I’ll be able to adapt my plan based on students’ feedback. Furthermore, in the future. I will be able to self-reflect and see if I explained the topic well enough (not too many red cups) or if perhaps the task was not challenging enough (all green cups)
Assessment Description/Link: What activity or technology (app, tool, etc.) will students use to demonstrate their knowledge or skills? In other words, how will students provide data?
Students each have three cups on their desks: one red, one yellow and one green. If they display the red cup, it means they are confused and need support. If they display the yellow cup, it means they need a little support. If they display green, it means they understand well and are open to assist classmates.
Traffic lights will tell me how the class is progressing as a whole on the writing task. Based on the colour of the majority of students, I will be able to adjust my teaching on the fly. It will also allow me to work with individual students who indicate that they need more help and allow students to collaborate with each other (ie. students know they can ask those with green for help.
Modifications & Adjustments: How will you administer this formative assessment in an online, hybrid, and physical learning environment? How will you make this accessible to students with language barriers and those with special needs?
Online: The traffic light system can still be done online in a number of ways:
- Students can physically have the three cups and do the activity similar to in person.
- You can ask students to display a different emoji on zoom to show the three levels (e.g. a smiley face, an ‘ok’ symbol and a hand up symbol).
- Students can raise their hands with a different amount of fingers to show you how they are feeling. Eg 1 finger = green, 2 = yellow and 3 = red.
Hybrid: Traffic lights could be adapted to be used both online and in the classroom in a hybrid learning environment. Students in class could use the physical cups, while those online could use the different emojis and symbols that I discussed above.
Alternatives in the Physical Learning Environment: Where cups are not available, use things that are already in the classroom, such as empty desk = green, pencil case on table = yellow and two crossed pens = red).
While I like to use traffic lights during a longer hands-on activity, it can also be used at the end of the class as a review. You can draw traffic lights on the board and ask students to come to the front with a sticker and post it on the color that matches their self-assessment of how much they understood in the lesson (green = understood everything, yellow = understood somethings, red = didn’t understand much). These can be anonymous or students can write their names on the stickers.
ELL: The great thing about this formative assessment is that it crosses language barriers, so English Language Learners do not need the assessment modified for them in any way.
Special Needs: Depending on the student, some modifications may need to be made:
- If the student can not self-assess themselves, assign them a buddy to peer-assess and decide when help is needed.
- For students who need constant help, but may be embarrassed about constantly being seen by others to need help, change the meaning of the colors for them so only they and the teacher know.
- For students with physical limitations, cups can be replaced by stickers etc.
Data Collection: How will you gather and record data from this formative assessment? How will you use the data to inform instruction?
I will collect data in real time through observation. That is the great thing about this traffic light formative assessment: it is super fast. Unlike other forms of assessment, this allows me to see immediately who needs help and when they need it. It also allows other students to collaborate effectively by helping classmates who they can see need assistance.
Furthermore, when used in the review stage of class (with stickers) it lets me see two things:
- How the class as a whole self-assesses their understanding. I can work out if the lesson was too easy or too difficult on the whole.
- Which individuals need more support and which individuals possibly need to be extended.
Student-Centered Learning: How will this formative assessment promote a student-centered learning environment in your classroom?
The traffic lights formative assessment goes hand in hand with creating a student-centered learning environment. It hands power back to the students and allows them to be autonomous, self-powered learners. Unlike in traditional assessment where the teacher tells them of their progress and ability, traffic lights forces students to make insights and self-assess their own progress and ability and to ask for help if they need it.
Furthermore, this kind of assessment also allows for natural collaboration to occur. Students who have a green cup are indicating they understand and are willing to help those who need help. They can look for students with a yellow or red cup and know those students will happily receive their help. And vice-versa, students with red or yellow cups, will know which students they can turn to to ask for help.
I really like using traffic lights on longer, more hands-on tasks where students have multiple things to be doing. This way, if they are completely stuck on one thing (shown by displaying a red cup), they can keep working on another part of the project until I (or another student) is ready to help them.
Traffic Lights Example:
Formative Assessment 2
Assessment Title
KWL chart
Grade Level
5
Subject Area
English
Skills or Content Knowledge: What information or ideas will be evaluated with this formative assessment? In other words, what data are you aiming to gather?
At the start of our PBL class ( ‘Journey to Mars’), I want to learn what students already know about Mars and what they want to know about Mars. There’s no point teaching students something that they already know, however I don’t know what they do and don’t know, so a KWL chart will help me to see what they know.
I will utilize the results from this assessment to inform my teaching in the future by finding out what students are interested in learning (the W on the chart). This can help shape the driving question for the entire project. For example if I had planned to ask the question, ‘Is there water on Mars?’ but students already knew the answer, the question could be reshaped as ‘How do we know there is water on Mars?’ or ‘What form does the water on Mars take?’. Or if I found that many students are interested in SpaceX rather than NASA, I could include more about SpaceX in the project so they feel like they are being listened to.
Assessment Description/Link: What activity or technology (app, tool, etc.) will students use to demonstrate their knowledge or skills? In other words, how will students provide data?
I will use a KWL chart in the first lesson of my PBL class. After a class discussion about Mars, each student will fill out their own KWL chart to be handed in to me at the end of the lesson. They will fill out the K (What I know about Mars) and W (What I want to know about Mars) in the first lesson. I will read these at the end of the class and make notes about common things students wanted to learn about and who wanted to learn about what. Then I can make teachable moments happen, seemingly organically. For example, we were already going to learn about the largest volcano on Mars (Olympus Mons), however one student showed knowledge about it in the chart. When I introduce the volcano, I elicit that student to help. Or if another student has a question about it, I bring up that it was that student that wanted to know.
Finally, at the end of the project, I would get students to fill out the ‘L’ part of the KWL chart. This is a kind of self-assessment which allows learners to see the progress they have made across the unit. I would them collect the KWL charts again and see what students had learned and what questions still remained.
Modifications & Adjustments: How will you administer this formative assessment in an online, hybrid, and physical learning environment? How will you make this accessible to students with language barriers and those with special needs?
Online: The KWL chart can be used online with little-to-no modifications. I would just need to ensure that students emailed them to me after class, or that they saved/uploaded them on a shared drive.
Hybrid: The KWL chart can be done with little changes in a hybrid learning environment. Students in the classroom could either work on iPads to match those learners online, or students in class could hand it in to the teacher and those online could submit it digitally. There are several other strategies that would work too, but it is largely dependent on three things: 1. The technology available, 2. The students needs and 3. The teachers/students preferred approach.
Another approach is to do the KWL chart as a class, to ensure all students complete the work and have a chance to contribute.
Alternatives in the Physical Learning Environment: It’s important to have a class discussion before starting the KWL chart so students all have something they can write in the K section and so that the W section consists of deeper questions. An alternative is to have students fill out the chart in pairs or groups. By telling students they all must know something for it to end up in the K column, this allows for peer-teaching to happen.
The KWL chart can also be done as a class for younger learners. We can sit on the floor like in an informal meeting and have a discussion in front of a large KWL poster board. When interesting points are made, we can add it to the appropriate column on the KWL poster board. Then, at the end of the unit, we can review what we learned as a class by referring back to the same KWL poster board from the start.
ELL: I will translate difficult vocabulary into the mother language of ELLs. Also I will allow them to use an iPad to translate their ideas into English so that they are able to show me the true scope of their knowledge. WIthout this, I may assume they don’t know a lot about the topic, when in reality they just aren’t able to fully convey the depth of their knowledge in English.
Special Needs: Depending on the student, some modifications may need to be made:
- Some special needs students may need to complete the KWL chart orally and have the teacher (or a partner) fill in the details on the paper chart later.
- Some special needs students may find it difficult to complete the task in one setting, so the chart would be broken up into smaller pieces or completed across two or more lessons.
- Some special needs students may feel bad about not having much to put in the K column. In such a case, allow them a day to prepare for the activity.
Data Collection: How will you gather and record data from this formative assessment? How will you use the data to inform instruction?
The data that I gather when I collect the KWL charts will shape the rest of the entire project in several ways. It will allow me to:
- Know which individual students know a lot and which know little. This will allow me to know who to offer more support to and who to try to push farther with extension activities.
- Know what students as a whole want to learn about. This way we can get the students interested in the lesson and we know that students learn more effectively when they are passionate about and invested in a topic.
- See what students already know and adjust my lessons based on this. I won’t need to cover things they already know as in depth as I had planned and I will need to cover things that I may have presumed they knew, but based on their KWL charts, they don’t.
- Review students learning across the entire project by analysing their KWL charts at the end of the project. I will compare their initial chart to their final one to see if they met the learning objectives and to see which questions still remain unanswered.
Student-Centered Learning: How will this formative assessment promote a student-centered learning environment in your classroom?
KWL charts promote a student-centered classroom because it allows an entire project ro be based around what students want to learn, rather than what the teacher decides to teach them. It hands the power back over to the students and lets them see they have a stake in what goes on in the classroom. Also, students are much more likely to want to learn the answers to the questions which they themselves posed, rather than to random ones the teacher assignment. The KWL charts let learners see that their teacher cares about them and listens to them. It allows the teacher to facilitate the direction of the learning, rather than be the driving force. This hands over autonomy to the students.
Finally, it promotes a student centered classroom through self-assessment. Using the KWL charts, learners are fully aware of the questions that they want to find answers to and know they are in charge of doing so (with the teacher there to help, not to lead).
KWL chart example
K
What I know about Mars.
W
What I want to know about Mars.
L
What I have learned about Mars.
Formative Assessment 3
Assessment Title
Kahoot!
Grade Level
5
Subject Area
English
Skills or Content Knowledge: What information or ideas will be evaluated with this formative assessment? In other words, what data are you aiming to gather?
I want to see how much my students understood the short story that they read called ‘King Canute’s day at the beach’. I also want to check their understanding of the vocabulary that was used in the story that we practiced. I hope to gather data that shows me how students as a whole comprehended the story and vocabulary and also how students on an individual level did so.
The results of this Kahoot quiz can help guide me know where to go next. For example, I am interested in getting feedback to see if there were any areas of the story in which there was a large misunderstanding. If there is, I will know that I need to re-read the story with students, perhaps scaffolding it in a different way to ensure understanding. It can also let me know if students understood the new vocabulary in the story and if they have an understanding of what those words mean. If the class as a whole doesn’t we’ll need to review. If some individual students do not, I’ll need to work with them individually to help them to understand.
Assessment Description/Link: What activity or technology (app, tool, etc.) will students use to demonstrate their knowledge or skills? In other words, how will students provide data?
Kahoot is a really fun and engaging online tool which provides near-instantaneous feedback to both teachers and students. It works like a simple multiple choice test, but with a twist. It is gamified in order to make it fun for students to play. Students will each have an iPad and be given the link to join the Kahoot quiz (students must use their real names). This data will all be collated and the feedback displayed to both teacher and students on a TV in the classroom.
Modifications & Adjustments: How will you administer this formative assessment in an online, hybrid, and physical learning environment? How will you make this accessible to students with language barriers and those with special needs?
Online: Kahoot lends itself very well to online use. Students are able to use their computer or phone etc. to join the quiz. I assume students will be able to join as they are using a device to join the virtual classroom.
Hybrid: Students can also play Kahoot in pairs. This means that the students have to arrive at a consensus before choosing a final answer. I like playing Kahoot in pairs as it means a discussion is taking place and students are having to justify their answers. What's more, is that it allows weaker students to learn from their peers (whom they listen to more than their teachers) and stronger students to solidify their knowledge through explaining their reasoning.
Alternatives in the Physical Learning Environment: Where technology isn’t available, there is a similar app called Quizizz which allows the whole class to compete as one team. Not all students might have access to an electronic device at school, but Quizizz requires just one device.
Also you can prepare the quizzes to play offline where lack of internet connectivity is an issue.
For schools with no technology, students can create their own quizzes similar to game shows like Who Wants to be a Millionaire, or Jeopardy. This way the formative assessment is still taking place, but it’s fun and engaging too. It’s important to remember that students learn better when they are having fun, so student engagement should play some factor in assessment too.
ELL: I would provide translations for difficult words for ELLs. In addition to this, I would place the ELL with a partner if I felt it was needed. For some questions I would make no adjustments as I want to get an understanding of the ELLs comprehension of certain things. Finally, I would make sure that the Kahoot app itself is available in the student’s mother tongue if they are having difficulty using it in English. If it isn’t, I’d help them set up the app before class or get a buddy to assist them.
- Special Needs: The formative assessment may need to be adapted for students with special needs. For example:
- Break up the questions into smaller, more manageable chunks.
- Allowing more time per question
- Adding audiovisual elements such as pictures or videos.
- Allow some students to take the quiz as an open book exam style (looking at notes).
- Ensure a healthy attitude towards failure. It’s just a quiz and it’s meant to be fun! Make sure students have a growth mindset and can realise that making mistakes is the best way to learn.
Data Collection: How will you gather and record data from this formative assessment? How will you use the data to inform instruction?
This will let me know how each individual student is performing in the class. I will be able to know which students need more help and where they need that help. Furthermore, I will be able to see how the class performed as a whole and direct my teaching strategy based on it. For example, if many students get the 4th, 5th and 8th questions wrong, I know that I will need to review the vocabulary again. Kahoot is really good at giving detailed data and lets the teacher collect exact percentages about how many students in the class got each question correct.
Student-Centered Learning: How will this formative assessment promote a student-centered learning environment in your classroom?
Student-centered learning is widely agreed upon as the best method for learning to take place, and as such, it’s important that teachers use tools such as Kahoot in order to make their lessons student-centered. Kahoot is a student centered kind of formative assessment as it allows each student to submit their answers when they are ready and all get different feedback for the same quiz. Furthermore, allowing students to create their own Kahoot quizzes to give to their peers is a great student-centered approach to teaching and formative assessment. Kahoot also increases student engagement in the classroom by gamifying a traditional multiple choice quiz and transposing it into a fun and engaging tool suitable for the 21st century.
Kahoot: https://kahoot.it/challenge/08876321?challenge-id=dcd5c7ba-9d24-46ab-9db6-0ef3c7fe780c_1632117156091
Gamepin: 08876321