Using Assessment in My Classroom

Assessment is an important part of teaching. Teachers must know how well their students are doing and evaluate whether or not they have learned the content. Formative assessment often takes place during the learning process and enables the teacher to gauge how well the students are learning. The results of formative assessment allow the teacher to improve the lessons to meet the students’ needs.  Examples of formative assessment could be having the students make posters of what they learned, writing an essay on a specific aspect of the lesson, or using other mediums. Summative assessment generally takes place following a unit or lesson. This is to evaluate whether or not students met the required level of knowledge.  Examples of summative assessment are quizzes, standardized tests, etc. Both of these assessments are helpful. I would use formative assessment throughout a unit so that I could make adjustments. At the end, I would do a summative assessment in order to see where each student is at and whether or not there could be special needs. Technology can also be used to assist both of these. There are growing new technologies that can give students the chance to respond to questions, create projects, write up responses, etc.