Reflections on Formative Assessments

 I've been asked to reflect on the formative assessments I use in my classroom and consider how I might change them in the future. There are two areas I want to focus on when looking for ways to improve my class routine:

1) How I can collect data in real time on the progress of my students.

2) How I can better communicate the progress of my students to my students.

The problem with number one is that my class methods rely a lot on activities and games that use sticky balls, dice, markers and whiteboards, pencil and paper, and flash cards. There's a lot of TPR and physical movement in my classrooms, because I'm teaching young learners and this has always been the best way to get them using the language actively (while keeping them interested in the class). The problem is that such activities do not lend themselves well to any method of automatically collecting data, so that I can track students' progress from class to class. 

One method I use in class is a quick "yes/no" check which I shared with my cohort. First I would say a sentence for the student, and they would give me a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down response, indicating whether or not I used to word or grammar structure correctly. This allows for me to understand in real time whether or not students are grasping the subject matter, and it has been effective in my experience. But again, there's no way for me to collect and track such data.

A possible solution would be to simply add an automated "exit ticket" activity at the end of each class. A program like Google Forms would allow me to automatically aggregate data on how my students are doing based on this ticket. That way I could track the progress of my students after each class. I will incorporate this into my class routine going forward.

For problem number 2, the biggest hurdle is the language barrier. Keeping a dialogue about more complicated topics is manageable for my strongest students, but I can't really expect young learners to be able to follow their own progress in a second language that they're still struggling to use correctly. What I'm considering is using a simple check-list system that I would show students at the beginning of a term. This would show, line by line, each skill I want them to attain by the end of a term (ex: using present continuous correctly; using contractions for "we are, they are" correctly). Each column could be a grade for that skill (needs improvement, good, excellent).

Students could be shown this at the beginning of the term and then made to understand (possibly with the help of translation from a teaching assistant) that this would be used throughout the term. It's simple, and most importantly it's visual. I could also use a simple Google Doc to track this, though it would require manual entry from me.