Formative Assessment Models: Why is it non-countable?

In order to be an effective educator, a teacher must frequently check for student understanding. These formative assessments may take many forms, and are applicable in both in-person and online learning environments. Understanding different forms of assessment will enable teachers to easily incorporate formative assessment into their planning and practice. Here are some models I made that can used to ensure all learners in the classroom are reached.

This formative assessment includes an edTech component.

Assessment Title: Why is it non-countable?

​Grade Level: 1-5

Subject Area: English as a foreign language: language arts: countable vs non-countable nouns

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?

Student comprehension on what makes a word countable or non-countable

​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?

​On the day after students learn about countable and non-countable nouns, students will play a quiz game on Kahoot at the beginning of class to assess their comprehension on why a specific noun is non-countable. Giving examples of different types of non-countable nouns is part of the first day lesson and some of these examples will be incorporated into the Kahoot.

https://create.kahoot.it/share/why-is-it-non-countable/0ca02133-8a51-4f0b-a9f2-ddb1d4cb3ad1

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?

This assessment can be given to students in physical, hybrid, and online environments with no direct change. Only the availability of resources (computers, phones, tablets) will affect things: teacher displays Kahoot on large screen and asks students for the answers, school provides shared devices for students to use, students provide their own devices

There are several options if students with special needs are present: 1) students answer questions on a whiteboard and hold it up; 2) corners of the rooms are designated for the answers and students move to the corner representing the correct answer; 3) do a hand poll of the students to see what answer has the most votes

This activity is to be administered to students who are not native speakers. Students with a language barrier should have been sorted into an appropriate level. If a language barrier is preventing a student from understanding the activity, that falls under the teacher’s job of live assessment of students to determine if they were placed into the correct level.

Data Collection: How will you gather and record data from this formative assessment? How will you use the data to inform instruction?

Through student scores and observing how long it takes them to answer the questions, the teacher will gain a sense of how well students understand the material and can adjust the types and level of following assignments to reinforce or expand upon the lesson material as needed.

Student-Centered Learning: How will this formative assessment promote a student-centered learning environment in your classroom?

• Student examples from the previous class will be incorporated into the Kahoot.

• Some examples in the Kahoot are reflective of the students’ culture which will increase engagement as they recognize objects from daily life.

• The activity in the classroom is STT instead of TTT

• Student mastery of the material directly affects the type, content, and level of following activities.