Back in the day, testing and assessment were as simple as multiple choice or true/false tests. A teacher’s classroom life and teaching strategies were simple: Just grade, record, and move on to the next chapter.
But in subsequent years, it’s become much more difficult for educators. We now need to undertake assessment teaching strategies that address students’ personal communication styles.
Frequent TeachHUB.com contributing writer Jacqui Murray goes about offering up alternative assessment teaching strategies in today’s centerpiece article. She begins by defining the uniting characteristics of all assessment:
- What's been learned.
- What can be transferred to other parts of the student's life.
- The student's granular understanding of the material.
- What the student understands, not what s/he parroted back to the teacher.
- Knowledge rather than facility presenting it.
Jacqui then lays out 12 fresh ways to assess learning, including:
- BrainPop
- Warmups or Exit Tickets
- Discussion Boards
- Google Forms
- And More!
Here’s how she introduces Digital Breakouts: “Digital breakouts are based on the popular breakout rooms played around the country where critical thinking and problem-solving allows participants to escape a room and unlock prizes before time runs out. When run digitally, participants follow digital clues and solve puzzles in a format somewhat like a scavenger hunt or the old-style webquest. Teachers can create their own, or use templates from others (click the heading link for any example). These are adaptable to any subject, student-centered, and teach students to work under pressure while promoting team-building.”
Jacqui sums up her article like this: “This year, assess student learning in ways that excite them. With most of the choices on this list, students won't even see them as testing. Do you have a favorite non-traditional assessment tool? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.”
