CREATION OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment involves gathering information and using it to enhance instruction
and learning during an instructional sequence (Lefrançois, 2013). It provides qualitative
feedback to the learner that entails non-verbal signs of approval or verbal appraisal, happiness, or
even frustration. Either way, formative assessment provides feedback that is aimed at changing
the behavior of the teacher in response to the specific learning needs of the students. The
feedback affects learning. In this paper, I will outline three ways through which I will
formatively assess learners; in alignment with a selected standard and specific instructional
objective outlined below.

Standard and Learning Objectives

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PK -6 7-12

Corporate
Trainer

Military
Trainer

Healthcare
Trainer

Other:
(type
response
here)

Name of Standards: Common Core Standards
Content Area: English Language Arts
Grade or Audience: 7 th grade
Standard: 0
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative,

CREATION OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning
and tone.
Measurable Learning Objectives/Outcomes/Targets

1. Students will be able to define a word and phrase based on its context in the text
   (remembering).
2. Students will be able to analyze the impact that an author’s word choice has on meaning
   and tone in a text (Analyzing).
3. Students will be able to discuss connotative, figurative, and technical meanings of words
   as used in the text (applying).

Formative Assessments

The first way through which I will assess the students is by asking oral questions. I will
give students a text to read, then ask them to explain how the author uses different words and
phrases figuratively in the text. Based on the responses, I will be able to tell whether students
understand how different words and phrases are used figuratively to convey a specific meaning
that helps the author communicate their ideas to the reader. According to Lefrançois (2013),
formative assessment gives feedback to the learners and teachers. Based on the responses, I will
know whether students achieve the instructional objectives; students will also be able to know
whether they understand the content based on my feedback. I will then make a decision whether
to proceed or revisit the topic depending on my evaluation of student responses.
This assessment will help me know whether students have achieved the third learning
objective, which has the application part. The objective entails enabling students to discuss
connotative, figurative, and technical meanings of words as used in the text. By asking students
questions, I will know the extent to which the objective is achieved. I will also know what I can

CREATION OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
do to further enhance my understanding. The standard requires that students determine the
meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and
technical meanings. This assessment will help me determine whether students are able to
perform these activities. The feedback that I will receive will then inform my instruction.
The second way through which I will formatively assess learners is by using EdPuzzle.
Students will watch a video that will have questions embedded in it. As they watch the video,
they will answer questions that will test their understanding of how words and phrases used in a
text impact its meaning. Using Edpuzzle, I will be able to know how individual students are
engaging with digital content. Also, when students use Edpuzzle, the teacher is able to interact
with the students and know whether they understand the content (Davis, 2015). This formative
assessment is aligned with my instructional objectives. Specifically, I will use it to check
whether on the analysis component of the objectives. I will assess whether students are able to
analyze the impact that an author’s word choice has on meaning and tone in a text. The video
will contain a text with different words and phrases, and students will be asked to explain how
the meaning of the different texts change based on the author’s choice of words. Some questions
will also check on how the tone in the texts change based on the words and phrases used by the
author.
The third way through which I will assess the students is by asking them to record a short
video of themselves answering a few questions that I will have asked them. In the video, students
will explain in two minutes the meaning of two words and two phrases that I will extract from a
text that they will have read in class. I will ask the students to explain the meaning of the words
and phrases based on their context in the text. I will use the application known as ‘Explain
Everything’ to help students record themselves answering the questions asked. This assessment

CREATION OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
will help me evaluate whether students have achieved the first instructional objective, which
checks on their ability to remember. It will also be checking on the part of the standard where
students are required to ‘determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text.’
Thus, this formative assessment aligns with both the instructional objective and the standard.

Conclusion

Overall, formative assessment is used to inform learning. The teacher and students act on
the feedback to make decisions on how to enhance learning. The three formative assessments,
which require students to answer oral questions, watch a video and answer questions embedded
in the video and record themselves explaining certain concepts of a text read in class, are aimed
at helping the teacher and students evaluate their mastery of learning content. Based on the
feedback, the teacher will either proceed or revisit some of the areas that students may not have
understood. This explains how formative assessments are assessments of learning. They inform
instruction to a large extent.

CREATION OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

References

Davis, V. (2015, January 15). Fantastic, fast formative assessment tools (Links to an external
site.) [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-fast-formative-
assessment-tools-vicki-davis
Lefrançois, G. R. (2013). Of learning and assessment. Retrieved from
https://content.ashford.edu/