Beyond the test: ten innovative ways to assess secondary students. Multiple-choice tests are not the only type of assessment we should have in our classes. There are other means of assessment and other projects and assignments to assess skills beyond the scope of standardized testing.

The End of the Year Google Forms Class Survey is the perfect way to survey your secondary students about their thoughts about the course. This survey includes 22 survey questions (multiple choice and short response) that ask students about their experience, effort, comfort level, and work in the classroom. Using Google Forms as an assessment and information-gathering tool provides teachers with two distinct bonuses: first, Google Forms are completely editable. You can tailor this Form to your specific needs. For example, to make the Form more personable, switch out "teacher" with your name. Secondly, Google Forms provide teachers with real time data that is organized into colorful charts and graphs. This resource is included in my 2017 SMARTePlans Membership Bundle SMARTePlans 2017 Growing Bundle Membership for Google Drive Connect with me! The Daring English Teacher Facebook The Daring English Teacher Twitter The Daring English Teacher Pinterest The Daring English Teacher Blog #TPTtech

Quick checks for understanding that any teacher can use TODAY to improve outcomes. Low prep, low cost, high yield assessment strategies

Read about five different quick assessment strategies that will provide the teacher with insight into their students’ learning.

Grading papers takes time...too much time. This grading strategy for high school teachers is a game-changer you won't want to miss...

In view of the research indicating that approaches to teaching mathematics vary in their effectiveness, choosing the appropriate pedagogy is critical to students' mastery of essential skills and ability to apply them. SOLO Taxonomy in Mathematics makes the decision easy with SOLO Taxonomy, a simple but effective model of learning outcomes. Looking through the lens of SOLO, mathematics educators and students can focus firmly on the complexity of the learning outcome - differentiating surface, deep and conceptual levels of understanding. This knowledge then helps to identify explicit next steps and to prompt for understanding. Founded on the authors' experience in secondary mathematics departments, this book describes and explains classroom-based SOLO strategies that provide a language for explicit feedback on mathematics performance. The plentiful SOLO maps, self assessment rubrics, and examples from teachers and students offer further support in translating this exceptional model into successful teaching practice.

4 corners is a strategy for preassessing your students' background knowledge on a topic as a way to engage them before the unit. It's quick and easy to implement!

Check out these 15 high-impact formative assessment strategies to find out exactly what students understand and, more importantly, what they don't!!

Do you want to know the secondary classroom procedure I can't live without??

Hey hey! Do you remember being in college and taking a test wishing, if I just had extra time I could really learn this in detail and get a good grade? That is how children feel. I am the first to say and admit that I move in math class at the rate of a racehorse. Do I like it? Not at all. Do I have to? YES. With all of the math standards that we have to teach, our year at a glance is packed with math standards. Maybe our kids don’t understand the material right after we teach the standard. However, should we forget about their data just because we have to move on to the next? After I give the kids an assessment, I grab one of my re-teach half sheets and write down any scores less than an A. I paperclip the assignments to the back of the half sheet so I know that I need to re-assess those people. After I record their scores, I reprint a paper (for each kid) that I can use for a small group, and the assessment again. When I have extra time (I know who has extra time), I pull a […]

Why calling on students should be the LAST strategy you use to find out what they know...and how to get ALL kids involved instead.

Not all assessments need to include paper! These three formative assessment strategies involve nothing more than a simple hand gesture!

If you're looking for resources to supplement your current classroom management strategies in the secondary classroom, this is a great place to start! This product contains a nine page PDF: a teacher's guide, pause cards + blank template, reflection cards + blank template, a self-assessment + blank template, and a goal check-in + blank template. All resources are intended to help students develop the SEL competencies of self-awareness and self-management. As always, thank you for visiting my little shop! Feedback and follows are much appreciated! :) **Updated 7/17 to include blank templates in Google Slides for easier editing!**

Teaching special education students to self- assess is HARD. Visual self- assessments make it easier. Self- assessment is a skill that everyone needs. And it actually isn’t that hard to fit it in naturally throughout the school day. Many of us are required to provide self assessments for student work in state testing portfolios (hello […]

Looking for different ways to summatively assess your students? Check out the strategies in this free booklet! Hopefully, you find one or more strategies that will work with the students in your classroom! Until next time,

Keeping all students engaged during our lessons takes planning and practice. I struggled with engaging all students during my first year as a teacher. Use these FIVE student engagement strategies that work in any classroom.

These student-led conference unit check-ins can be used in any secondary classroom! Your middle school or high school students will complete the pre-conference section first and this will lead the conversation as your students will now be able to discuss their strengths, weaknesses, and goals. There are 4 check-in sheets to be used during the unit. These can be used at the beginning, the middle, and the end of a unit. How you choose to use them is completely up to you as these are editable! Once you get your free download you will receive access to the editable document. You can edit these check-ins or print them as is! _______________________________________________________________ You may also enjoy: Editable Student Data Tracking by Standard- Student Data Binder Inserts Editable Data Tracking Class & Individual Student- Teacher Data Binder Inserts

Missing Work and Late Work are major problems in the secondary classroom. Having quick assessment opportunities is important as well. In this product you will find sheets with missing work and late work slips as well as exit slips that can be used daily or weekly. The late and missing work slips ...

Routines help us accomplish our goals. Usually around this time of the year, we often start new routines with the hope of making good on our New Year’s Resolutions. This year, I’m resolving to start and revamp two of the most significant classroom routines: bellringers and exit tickets. I’ve been using both of these strategies

By Presto Plans With the pressure for secondary teachers to meet curriculum expectations in such a limited time, building a classroom community can sometimes be put on the back burner. What many teachers don’t realize is that by intentionally taking time to build a positive community in your classroom, you can ease the challenges of classroom management, improve student attitude toward learning, and create an environment where students feel welcomed and supported. Below are my 5 favorite ways to build classroom community in middle and high school. Establish a positive classroom community by having students complete short activities that encourage kindness, collaboration, teamwork, expression, and the sharing of ideas and opinions. These challenges don’t need to take up a lot of time. Have them last 5-10 minutes. They can be used daily as a bell-ringer, weekly as a fun Friday activity, or even randomly when you finish class a few minutes early! How it works: The teacher sets up a "Classroom Challenge" bulletin board display that includes 20 hidden activity prompts. Once a challenge is revealed, the teacher finds the corresponding activity, passes it out to the class, and they are ready to go! Here are a few of the prompts I include in my challenge to give you an idea of the types of activities can help build community: • Write a thank you card for someone you appreciate. • Talk for one minute to a partner about the topic you receive from your teacher. • Write a top 10 list on the topic of your choice. • Imagine you are stuck on a deserted island. Pick one book, one movie, and one other item to bring. • Play a game of 20 questions with a partner. You know that nostalgic feeling you get when you are reminiscing with your friends about times past? Bring that into your room with “Classroom Throwbacks.” Students use small cards to write down funny, interesting, and memorable moments that happen within the classroom and put it in the “Classroom Thowbacks” jar/box. You can have students fill out the cards randomly, or you can pass them out from time to time, put students in small groups, and have them fill the cards out with a couple memories. Once the throwback jar starts to accumulate some cards, you can begin sharing them in class. You might consider sharing one a week for a “Throwback Thursday” activity. Grab this free resource by clicking here. I once had a principal who left notes of appreciation (and a small treat) in teachers’ mailboxes for little things she had noticed them doing (staying late at school working, helping out at an after-school event, giving extra help at lunch etc.). It was such a small gesture, but it had a dramatic impact on the morale of the staff. Build this same kind of morale in your classroom by finding ways to celebrate your students for the things you see them doing that deserve some praise and appreciation. There are lots of ways you can do this. You can post student work in your classroom, call or email parents to brag up those students who don’t often get a pat on the back, or even have a student of the month/week display for those who deserve special recognition! I also like to keep funny cards tucked away in my desk for those occasions where a student surprises or impresses me. Ask for volunteers for “student paparazzi”. Their job is to take pictures of students in the classroom and send them to you via email to print and post. Of course, students should only take pictures when you deem it appropriate. They could take some before and after the bell rings or during a class activity (when appropriate and with permission) or at the end of the period if class finishes up a couple minutes early. When you post the pictures in your classroom, consider framing them! I pick up low-cost frames at the dollar store and put them in different locations in my classroom (on the wall, on my desk, on the desk at the front of my room, on a bookshelf). No need to go use expensive photo paper. Simply print the pictures on regular letter paper to fit the frame's size (pictures below from the classrooms of @CamilaCdipietro and @Tarafarah7) Framed photos create a home-like, family atmosphere where students feel welcomed and accepted. If you have a classroom website or social media account, you could also post the pictures there as long as you have parent media release permission forms. Providing students with an opportunity to reflect on the positive moments of the week and look forward to the next week is another way to help foster classroom community. One way you can do this is by starting a weekly tradition called “Friday 5-4-3-2-1”. Students fill out the sheet by jotting down 5 things that made them smile, 4 words to describe the week, 3 things they have planned for the weekend, 2 things they learned, and 1 goal they have. Give students a few minutes to fill it out and have them share with a partner, a small group, or have a whole class discussion. If you’d like to try this out with your students, you can download it for free here. You can also choose to make up your own 5 prompts, as a blank version is included! Just write the prompts on the board and students can fill it out. Looking for more ways to promote class community? Find more ideas below! Student-Teacher Conferences from The SuperHERO Teacher Classroom Community Bell-Ringers from The Daring English Teacher The Kindness Project from Room 213 Do you have any other ideas for fostering a positive classroom community? Click the comments button at the top of the post and share your ideas! SaveSave SaveSave

Assessing students during project based learning does NOT need to be a challenge. Click through for some FREE tips & ideas to use in your elementary classroom.

Read about several important note taking strategies to share with middle and high school students as well as how to establish expectations.

I am so excited to launch my first "series" of blog posts! It's making me feel all grown-up and blogger-like :)My first series is going to be on increasing student engagement in the classroom. Over

A blog post of tips for incorporating movement in the classroom.

In this post, you'll learn about four meaningful structures you can use to help students give each other feedback that really helps. By the way, you can sign up for the pack of four free guides featured in the upcoming photos in the free resources section of this site.

I am so happy to be back linking up with this fabulous idea. My bright idea is to give you my top 5 EASY ways to implement formative assessment in your classroom. As teachers, we are all usually very good at summative assessment - that is, assessment of learning, where we check to see if our students are reaching certain goal and standards as set by the curriculum. But we need to become better at formative assessment - that is assessment FOR learning, where we are more able to support students through the learning process and make adjustments for each individual. Thanks Classroom Chit Chat for the stick photo. Graphics - Educlips, Krista Wallden Fonts - Kimberley Geswein If you enjoyed this Bright Idea, why not follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or TeachersPayTeachers for more? And for more Bright Ideas from over 100 bloggers, take a look at the link up below! Each idea has a recommended grade level for you :) An InLinkz Link-up

I am so excited to launch my first "series" of blog posts! It's making me feel all grown-up and blogger-like :)My first series is going to be on increasing student engagement in the classroom. Over

These game-changing digital tools will help you develop a more efficient assessment system and cut your overall grading time in half. As I’m sure many fellow teachers would agree, developing an effective system of providing meaningful, individualized feedback to each of our students during the wr

Think-Pair-Share does not have to be the only strategy that you use in your classroom to engage students and assess them! Check out these 3 strategies!

Elevate classroom discussions and make every discussion meaningful with these four simple pre- and post-discussion strategies!

Design and categorize your exit tickets to improve your formative assessment strategy and improve your teaching.

How to facilitate successful Socratic Seminars in the secondary ELA

Assessment of ESL students does not have to be complicated. Here is a short overview of Bloom's taxonomy, what assessment is and ideas for ESL assessment.

Do you want to know the secondary classroom procedure I can't live without??

Learn the simple, quick strategies cognitive scientists say can boost student learning in any classroom.

You’ll probably agree with me when I say, “200% more growth than peers” is quite a stretch. Or is it? In our recent nine-week action research, students who focused on visible learning strategies outperformed their peers on district standardized tests. But that’s not all. They achieved over 200% more growth than their peers. We’ll get […]

Do you have a mountain of student writing to grade? Do you wish you had more time to give students better feedback? This little trick will help.

Want to save time while grading? Use rubrics! But, the score isn't alwasy a fair percentage. This "formula" will convert rubric scores into percentages.

We've all used exit tickets in our classroom for informal assessment, but sometimes it can become boring. Read this post to get exit ticket ideas on how you can engage students with exit slips and still assess your students!

The last few years in the world of education have brought us MANY challenges - one of those challenges being finding ways to AUTHENTICALLY assess students - especially virtually. This especially can be a challenge if you are brainstorming doing some type of alternative final exams with your high school science students.

This post is a round up of some of my favorite engaging ways to review that are student approved. These are also pretty low prep and easy to implement.

Using strategies to make thinking visible can be incredibly powerful. Their power, however, hinges almost entirely on how willing teachers are to learn about their students. Far too often, I see vi…