In traditional Chinese classrooms, we usually emphasize summative assessment. While, more and more educators advocate formative assessment. Actually, both types of assessment are indispensable.
Remember:
# Assessment should begin conversations with performance, not end them. (Grant Wiggins, Assessing Student Performance)
# Assessments is not just a grade for previous studies, but a door to embrace more studies and progress in the future.
So, it should not create a lot of pressure for students, but be fair, humane, acceptable, and effective.
If you are still unclear about the two types of assessment, the following two videos could help you figure out the definition, advantage, and strategies to use of each assessment.
Remember:
# Assessment should begin conversations with performance, not end them. (Grant Wiggins, Assessing Student Performance)
# Assessments is not just a grade for previous studies, but a door to embrace more studies and progress in the future.
So, it should not create a lot of pressure for students, but be fair, humane, acceptable, and effective.
If you are still unclear about the two types of assessment, the following two videos could help you figure out the definition, advantage, and strategies to use of each assessment.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0nSW3W4MW0
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjmM1iN-m-E
Assessment should be tailored, not borrowed or copied!
# Formative Assessment during the progress
Generally speaking, formative assessment is checking students' understanding in a non-evaluative way, happening in the on-going process of learning. Students could gain a better idea of what and how they have learned. Teachers could revise their teaching plan according to students' feedbacks in the assessment, to better achieve their teaching goals.
For my action plan, I decide to combine several types of formative assessment to check students' learning outcome: non-grading approach, performance approach, self-evaluation, peer-evaluation, portfolio approach, etc.
1) Students' self-evaluation and reflection on their new reading experience in revised ESL class;
2) Parents' feedback (and encouragement) on students' reading performance after school;
3) Students' confidence in communication with various people within and beyond the classroom;
4) Peer's evaluation on students' performance in collaborative projects;
5) Students' ongoing sharing of reading through various formats, writing journal, blog, writing portfolio, etc.;
6) Feedbacks from the audiences of students' activities beyond the classroom.
7) Teacher's feedbacks and suggestions to each student's performance and progress.
# Summative Assessment at the end
1) High-stake test: Making literature reading a part of the language tests.
2) Evaluation from students, teachers, and parents about students' reading abilities and habits.
Some tips:
The formative assessment made by teacher should be consistent with the summative assessment made for each particular student.
This is one thing I learned in Inside Out: Strategies for Teaching Writing (2012), "students who hear you say 'That's good. I like it.' might feel betrayed when they see a C grade if your coaching of their writing hasn't been consistently honest, developmental, and instructive - if you haven't also said something like, 'This paragraph will engage your readers more if you use action verbs.'" (p. 221).
Generally speaking, formative assessment is checking students' understanding in a non-evaluative way, happening in the on-going process of learning. Students could gain a better idea of what and how they have learned. Teachers could revise their teaching plan according to students' feedbacks in the assessment, to better achieve their teaching goals.
For my action plan, I decide to combine several types of formative assessment to check students' learning outcome: non-grading approach, performance approach, self-evaluation, peer-evaluation, portfolio approach, etc.
1) Students' self-evaluation and reflection on their new reading experience in revised ESL class;
2) Parents' feedback (and encouragement) on students' reading performance after school;
3) Students' confidence in communication with various people within and beyond the classroom;
4) Peer's evaluation on students' performance in collaborative projects;
5) Students' ongoing sharing of reading through various formats, writing journal, blog, writing portfolio, etc.;
6) Feedbacks from the audiences of students' activities beyond the classroom.
7) Teacher's feedbacks and suggestions to each student's performance and progress.
# Summative Assessment at the end
1) High-stake test: Making literature reading a part of the language tests.
2) Evaluation from students, teachers, and parents about students' reading abilities and habits.
Some tips:
The formative assessment made by teacher should be consistent with the summative assessment made for each particular student.
This is one thing I learned in Inside Out: Strategies for Teaching Writing (2012), "students who hear you say 'That's good. I like it.' might feel betrayed when they see a C grade if your coaching of their writing hasn't been consistently honest, developmental, and instructive - if you haven't also said something like, 'This paragraph will engage your readers more if you use action verbs.'" (p. 221).