Formative assessments are an excellent way of gauging how well students understand
the material being presented to them. This particular form of assessment is a
great way to drive instruction. When there is
part of the content that a majority of the students do not understand then it
allows the teacher to modify teaching strategies to aid in the students'
comprehension. "In the end—if learning is to take hold—the
teacher has to hand over the cognitive work to the student who,
in turn, needs to assume responsibility for getting it right" (Roskos, 2012, p. 536). Part of formative assessments
requires the students to take responsibility for their comprehension. The
student needs to be held accountable for maintaining his/her goals and
self-assessments. A teacher can aid in helping a student achieve this by providing
useful feedback. For example, Roskos states, "Your story map
of Little Red Riding Hood is coming along; it shows the forest
and Grandma’s house, but I don’t see how the wolf got to Grandma’s
house. That’s important because…. And there are no people on this
map…so who might you add? How would you check for that?" (2012, p.
538). Using formative assessments allows teachers to make adjustments quickly
to meet the needs of the students, which is ultimately most important.
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