Using Common Formative Assessments to Help Teachers Reflect on Their Practice

Summary

This insightful discussion hosted by Solution Tree delves into the invaluable role of common formative assessments in education. These assessments don't just identify students who are struggling or excelling, they primarily serve as tools for teachers to reflect and improve their instructional practices. The discussion contrasts formative assessments—where the teacher "tastes the soup"—with summative assessments, where feedback comes only after completion. Personal anecdotes reveal the challenges and realizations of teaching, stressing the need for collaboration and reflective practice. It highlights the importance of a supportive and collaborative educational environment that encourages teachers to utilize assessment data for instructional improvement, not just grading.

Highlights

• Formative assessments act like 'tasting the soup' for teachers, allowing them to adjust teaching methods 🍲.
• The difference between formative and summative assessments impacts how and when improvements are made 🔄.
• Common assessments are essential for reflective improvement rather than just sorting students 📈.
• Personal stories highlight how assessments and collaboration can alter teaching methods and mindsets 📝.
• Creating a safe space for vulnerability and reflection among peers is vital for educational growth 🔑.

Key Takeaways

• Common formative assessments help teachers reflect and improve their teaching practices 🧠.
• Collaboration among teachers enhances learning and instructional methods 🤝.
• Data-driven decisions improve educational outcomes for students 📊.
• Using assessments as tools for reflection is crucial in modern teaching 🤔.
• Administrators play a crucial role in fostering a safe and collaborative environment 🏫.

Overview

Common formative assessments are instrumental in promoting not just student learning, but teacher improvement. Much like a chef tasting their dish before serving it, these assessments allow teachers to gauge effectiveness and make necessary adjustments, ensuring that the teaching methods reach all students effectively.

The discussion compares formative assessments with summative ones, noting the immediate feedback opportunities that the former provides. Unlike summative assessments, which may only reveal issues post-instruction, formative assessments offer a real-time reflection platform and are crucial in the shifting paradigms of teaching practices.

Real-life analogies and stories from educators illustrate the evolution in teaching dynamics, emphasizing how assessment data can foster a more reflective and cooperative professional environment. This approach can profoundly affect educational outcomes, pushing away from merely grading students to genuinely enhancing teaching methodologies.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Common Formative Assessments The chapter discusses the failure to develop teacher-created common formative assessments. These assessments serve two primary purposes: identifying students who are struggling or excelling, and most importantly, aiding teachers in reflecting on and improving their professional and instructional practices. The chapter emphasizes the role of common assessments in enhancing teaching effectiveness.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Formative vs Summative Assessments This chapter discusses the difference between formative and summative assessments. It draws a parallel between assessments and medical exams, highlighting that while both types of assessments can identify issues, only formative assessments provide an opportunity to address and improve upon these issues. Formative assessments are depicted as a method for reflecting on and improving professional practice. The chapter further illustrates this difference by likening formative assessment to a chef tasting their dish during preparation, as opposed to summative assessment which is akin to an autopsy.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Reflective Improvement in Teaching In the chapter titled 'Reflective Improvement in Teaching,' the focus is on the concept of formative and summative assessments. Formative assessment is compared to tasting the soup while cooking, allowing for adjustments during the process. Summative assessment, on the other hand, is likened to the customer tasting the soup, evaluating the final product. The chapter highlights the challenges teams face in effectively utilizing these assessment methods, particularly in education. It emphasizes the need to not only sort and select students based on their understanding but to also take subsequent steps to address their needs. The text conveys the routine nature of identifying which students grasp the material and which do not, often without further action beyond categorization.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Personal Teaching Experience with Fractions The chapter titled 'Personal Teaching Experience with Fractions' discusses the importance of using data for reflective improvement in teaching practices. The speaker reflects on how leveraging data can help determine which instructional methods are more effective, particularly in teaching fractions. They express a wish that such data-driven decision-making tools had been available when they were a new teacher, as it was not the norm at the time to use data to facilitate instructional improvement.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Challenges and Learning in Teaching The chapter titled 'Challenges and Learning in Teaching' highlights the difficulties of transitioning to teaching a new grade level and the challenges associated with teaching complex topics such as fractions. The narrator recounts their first year as a fourth-grade teacher, receiving warnings from colleagues about the difficulty students have with fractions. Despite these challenges, there is a moment of reward when students finally understand the concept, emphasizing the fulfilling nature of teaching.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Team Collaboration and Data Reflection The chapter titled 'Team Collaboration and Data Reflection' illustrates the narrator's enthusiastic and engaging teaching experiences. The narrator vividly recalls a time in 1992 when they were a new fourth-grade teacher specializing in teaching fractions. The confidence and success in their teaching method are humorously depicted by the reference to being a 'rookie of the year' for new teachers, as if they were featured on a baseball card. The card metaphor symbolizes recognition and excellence in delivering educational content, specifically in teaching mixed fractions. The narrator's confidence and achievement in teaching are humorously emphasized by describing the 'George Jefferson walk,' indicating a sense of pride and self-assuredness in their abilities.
• 05:00 - 06:30: Vulnerability and Trust in Data Sharing The chapter discusses the importance of organizing lessons and activities in a way that makes them reusable for future occasions. The speaker describes a personal method of preserving educational materials by laminating and filing them for the next year's class. This highlights a systematic approach to teaching, where the speaker shows confidence in reusing the materials with new students, portraying the reliance on previously prepared resources and acknowledging the trust placed in those preparations. The underlying theme of the narrative appears to be about preparation, trust, and efficiency in educational practices, as well as the emotional satisfaction coming from being well-prepared and trusting oneself as an educator.
• 06:30 - 08:00: The Role of Tools and Skills in Teaching The chapter discusses the challenges and frustrations experienced by educators when using the same teaching materials and methods across different classes and years. Despite maintaining consistency in lessons, including tools like opening activities, homework, hands-on tasks, guided practice, and cooperative learning activities, the teacher reflects on instances where the delivery does not resonate with students. The text highlights the importance of adapting teaching strategies to better suit the learning needs of various groups rather than relying solely on static lesson plans. The reference to not being part of a PLC (Professional Learning Community) suggests a lack of collaborative professional development, which could aid in exchanging ideas and improving teaching methodologies.
• 09:00 - 10:00: Conclusion on Common Assessments This chapter discusses the challenges and realizations faced while teaching. The author reflects on the traditional teaching paradigm, which focuses more on progressing through units rather than on actual learning. Despite a strong personal commitment to teaching and changing the world, the author finds that retaking lessons often doesn't yield better results. Two key insights emerge from these experiences: firstly, the author has already taught the material the best way possible the first time around, leaving no room for further improvement, as metaphorically depicted by having 'nothing else' to offer.

Using Common Formative Assessments to Help Teachers Reflect on Their Practice Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 next one a failure to utilize teacher develop common formative assessments now we know those common formative assessments are designed to do two things one of course tell us which kids are struggling which ones are excelling but most importantly most importantly common assessments are designed for us to reflect on our improve on our practice our professional practice our instructional practice common assessments are designed to help
• 00:30 - 01:00 us improve our professional practice Rick mentioned it the other day reev sees com formative assessments as the same common formative assessments versus Summit of Assessments the same parallel as a physical versus an autopsy he talked about that both exams are going to tell you what's wrong but only one's going to give you a chance to do something about it common assessments are designed to help us reflect on our practice the difference between formative assessment and Summit of assessment when the cook taste the
• 01:00 - 01:30 soup that's formative assessment when the customer tastes the soup that's summative assessment and I find teams struggle most with using those two arms the arms we use most in schools that I work with we figure out which kids got it which kids didn't sort and select and figure out the next step and we stopped there you've been doing that since the beginning of time you can look at an assessment and tell us which kids got and which kids didn't in your sleep multitasking in a car on a bus on a train on a
• 01:30 - 02:00 plane the second leveraging arm is using it for reflective improvement in our instructional practice figuring out whose instructor more instruction is more effective than others in this area and with these students I look back now and wish I had this when I was a brand new teacher but this wasn't even our Paradigm to ever let data facilitate the question of Improv
• 02:00 - 02:30 movement when I was a fourth grade teacher my first year my my teammates warned me they said listen moving from third to fourth grade is tough kids really get their minds blown with fractions you got to watch that fractions unit don't get frustrated don't beat yourself up if the kids don't get it the first time around I said okay and I was ready I taught those mixed fractions that year 1992 first year teacher first year you ever see when the light comes on with kids and they get it that look I was teaching those mixed fractions and it was like the milk of knowledge was just
• 02:30 - 03:00 pouring all over them they were getting everything I was saying I was dealing baby if there was a if there was a baseball card for rookie of the like new fourth grade teachers teaching fractions in 1992 I would toal I would have been on a baseball card that year for those mixed fractions boy I tell you I got my George Jefferson walk going that year just like this about those mix
• 03:00 - 03:30 fractions and then I took those all those lessons and activities I gathered them up carefully put them in a manila folder put them in my tall file wait I laminated the folder first you get a lesson like you got to laminate that folder first right you laminate the folder first put it in my tall file cabinet for next year next year comes new group of kids right it's fractions time I don't even take my eyes off the kids like I got you
• 03:30 - 04:00 I take out that same lesson same scope and sequence same opening activities same Hands-On activities same homework same guided practice same classroom practice same Cooperative learning activity same everything same delivery same Pace I'm dealing bouncing off the kids heads like Teflon is it just me who's been there same everything the next year kids are not getting it but I'm not on a PL C
• 04:00 - 04:30 collaboration is not part of our system we have a focus on teaching not a focus on learning the focus was get through Unit 8 by may it just wasn't our Paradigm and so but you know with love in my heart and I wanted to change the world and I love teaching I did what we all do I ret talk the next day I go back and I retach and didn't get much better results found out two things one I taught it the best way I could that first time around you ever pull your your pockets inside out like this you say I got nothing else I got nothing else I got nothing else I taught it the best way I could that first time second
• 04:30 - 05:00 thing I learned is louder and slower is not reteaching so what was I left to do no place in my Paradigm did it ever say hey sit down with your teammates on a weekly basis and talk about how you might improve your instruction to meet the needs of this group of kids that just wasn't our Paradigm it may have happened by accident every once in a while but we had no system in place especially especially esally
• 05:00 - 05:30 because I taught it effectively the year before especially because I knew I was it'd be one thing if it was the first time I was teaching it and it crashed and burned but I had success last year so you know what happens what would happen at my school and our team eventually we would eventually kind of you know with love in our hearts we would kind of you know kind of a little bit start talk you know kind of sometimes start talking about the kids well you heard about that third
• 05:30 - 06:00 grade right that's how my teammates will help me feel better we help each other feel better this way well you know about that third grade that was coming up you heard about them didn't you that third grade that starts out as that kindergarten I always picture kids in kindergarten walking in like what why people looking at us like that I don't know I'm only five right so you know that third grade well you know those Williams kids you had the brother well we know the little kids who live on that side of town and the section apartments right you know
• 06:00 - 06:30 homeless kids the kids from the trailer park the kids from those apartments kids from that side of town you know the kids who speak like that you know the kids who you know those parents we would F we would start focusing on things outside our control not understanding that the answers were in the room but I had no system like that I had no system now I got a team of four I bring that assessment data to the table I'm human I'm going to start ranting and raving about last year's kids and how
• 06:30 - 07:00 they knew it and then one of my teammates is going to say oh okay okay you had your two minutes to rant let's get down to it we look at data together and I see two of my teammates kids knocked it out of the park so right there there's an opportunity for me to to reflect on my professional practice how about that that's an awesome opportunity there's a price though vulnerability based trust administrators helping to create a safe environment administrators expecting us to collaborate as opposed to encouraging us or inviting us
• 07:00 - 07:30 too you know and it's not easy putting data on the table and looking at it through the lens of instructional practice and not the kids but that's a powerful process and and that process doesn't wait for me to ask for help the data says ask for help and then how about this the kids that didn't get it in my class maybe we'll do a flexible regrouping model and those 12 kids get farmed out to my two teammates who are who who are teaching it more effectively to this group of kids
• 07:30 - 08:00 that's a powerful process what we have to be careful of is that we don't make it mean good teacher Bad Teacher because that's not what it is what I see it as is Common Assessment data will tell us if we need a tool or skill we either need another all I needed that year was a tool I could obviously deliver the instruction but I needed a tool to reach this group of kids but sometimes you know what we have to be honest we're not all great at teaching everything sometimes we need a
• 08:00 - 08:30 skill if I were teaching writing my wife loves to teach she teaches creative writing she could teach if you gave her some food coloring and like tree branches the kids would come out brilliant writers but me creative writing feels mechanical it I can't get my head wrapped around I'm the guy at the board meeting fighting for the writing textbook and I'm going to start on page one we will write today children take out a sheet of paper and a pencil let us
• 08:30 - 09:00 begin that's how I teach creative writing so I know I'm going to need a skill from my team does that make sense so you want to walk away knowing that common assessments are about improving our professional practice just not about Gathering a bunch of grades