Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
Print Version What Are CATs? Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are generally simple, non-graded, anonymous, in-class activities designed to give you and your students useful feedback on the teaching-learning process as it is happening. Examples of CATs include the following. The Background Knowledge Probe is a short, simple questionnaire given to students at the start of a course, or before the introduction of a new unit, lesson or topic. It is designed to uncover students’ pre-conceptions.The Minute Paper tests how students are gaining knowledge, or not. Why Should I Use CATs? CATs can be used to improve the teaching and learning that occurs in a class. How Should I Use CATs? Results from CATs can guide teachers in fine-tuning their teaching strategies to better meet student needs. Where Can I Find More CATs? The standard references on CATs is Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, 2nd edition, by Thomas A.
Digital Differentiation
This is part of a Digital Differentiation model, my way i of weaving a web of flexible tools together for teaching and learning. To keep the model relevant, frequent updates are required, as new tools and trends emerge. To access the most current resources, please click on the tab at the top of this blog: Digital Differentiation - Current Updating Ten months ago I published a Digital Differentiation model on this blog. Technology is a tool that can be used to help teachers facilitate learning experiences that address the diverse learning needs of all students and help them develop 21st Century Skills, an idea supported by the Common Core. At it's most basic level, digital tools can be used to help students find, understand and use information. The goal is to design student-driven learning experiences that are fueled by standards-based Essential Questions and facilitated by digital tools to provide students with flexible learning paths. 3 Components: Essential Questions Flexible Learning Paths
3 Classroom Tools to Measure Student Learning
Formative assessment is vital to teachers in any classroom environment. Teachers have been formatively assessing students for years, because we must know what our students know in order to help them understand what they do not know. Do you know what I mean?! Fortunately, many classrooms are charging into the 21st century with technology initiatives. Whether your technology program has created a 1:1 environment, a BYOD system, or you have access to only a few devices in your classroom, these three tech tools will help you engage your students while simultaneously gauging their understanding of concepts. Kahoot! Kahoot! When ready to begin the game, the teacher simply posts the game pin on the whiteboard. We've used Kahoot! Formative As its name implies, Formative, is another wonderful formative assessment tool. Teachers can assign these assessments by sending students a link or creating classrooms through a process nearly identical to that of a learning management system. Padlet
Using Classroom Assessment Techniques-Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation
Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are a set of specific activities that instructors can use to quickly gauge students’ comprehension. They are generally used to assess students’ understanding of material in the current course, but with minor modifications they can also be used to gauge students’ knowledge coming into a course or program. CATs are meant to provide immediate feedback about the entire class’s level of understanding, not individual students’. The instructor can use this feedback to inform instruction, such as speeding up or slowing the pace of a lecture or explicitly addressing areas of confusion. Asking Appropriate Questions in CATs Examples of appropriate questions you can ask in the CAT format: How familiar are students with important names, events, and places in history that they will need to know as background in order to understand the lectures and readings (e.g. in anthropology, literature, political science)? Using Specific Types of CATs Minute Paper Muddiest Point
Differentiation Is...
So, how would you define differentiated instruction? In her newly revised book, The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners, 2nd Edition, Carol Ann Tomlinson discusses the meaning of differentiation and how teachers can modify their instruction to engage all students. The book highlights key principles of differentiation, including: An invitational learning environment that encourages and supports learningQuality curriculumAssessment that informs teaching and learningInstruction that responds to student variance Take a look at the infographic below that highlights some of the best and worst practices for differentiation in today’s classrooms. Want to read more?
Free Resources and Tools for "Authentic" Assessment
The key to innovations in assessment and curriculum planning are trust, transparency, and collaboration -- and providing the professional development and training teachers need to succeed. Credit: Tom LeGoff Note: The School of the Future is part of a network of New York schools that develops and uses its own assessment techniques, referred to as DYOs. The school also uses Tasks on Demand, or unannounced assessments that do not provide supports for the students, in order to measure their learning at regular intervals. Resources On This Page: Do Your Own (DYO) Assessment Examples, Rubrics, Data, and Data Analysis Examples of criteria used in authentic assessment Back to Top Skills Spirals and Tracking Sheets Ideas for moving curriculum into a circular pattern and tracking performance to expose students to a wide variety of topics over and over again as the material gets more challenging SOF's Instuctional Tools for Teachers Tools for Developing a High School Humanities Project -- Persepolis
34 Assessment Strategies for Each Stage of the Journey [Infographic]
When it comes to developing assessment strategies, teachers often ask themselves these three questions: when, why, and most importantly, how? In the past we’ve talked a lot about the kinds of assessment strategies and activities that not only enhance learning, but help your learners lead their own way. In addition, we speak at great length about how to master your own assessment strategies in the best-selling book Mindful Assessment. Now it’s time to let someone else chime in, and who better than An Ethical Island’s Mia MacMeekin with this useful infographic called I Need Assessment Ideas! Pre-assessment: Pre-assessment helps to differentiate instruction. As we explain in Mindful Assessment, the best assessment strategies for learners are formative in nature. Where am I going? The activities that Mia suggests in her infographic below have tremendously useful formative assessment applications.
Book Trailers and the Common Core Standards
--------- Students use technology & digital media strategically and capably.-- Common Core Standards. From the Common Core Key Points on Media and Technology: "Just as media and technology are integrated in school and life in the twenty‐first century, skillsrelated to media use (both critical analysis and production of media) are integrated throughout the standards"How To Make A Book Trailer Book Trailer Presentation [ used at FAME Conference]
