Do you use quizzes as end points, or just the beginning?

Often we use a quiz, topic test or even an assessment task as an end point. How much have the students learnt? Have the students understood the content? We then quickly move on to the next dot point or the next unit. To compound this, students get their quiz back, see their mark and then make judgments about themselves as people "I did really well" "I'm good at this" or "I'm no good at school" rather than focus on the learning.
Consider the impact that we can have on our student's learning if we can challenge students to assess their own progress. After completing a quiz or test, consider giving no marks to the student, but just feedback. What if the students answer questions such as those below:

• After completing the quiz, how confident are you about the content in the unit?
• How hard did you find the quiz? Very easy / easy / hard / very hard
• Which parts of the content do you think you are still a little rusty on?
• Which parts do you feel as though you have sufficiently mastered?
• How prepared did you feel for the quiz?
• What are some specific questions that you have about the content?
• Is there anything that you'd like to investigate further?

We can use many assessment for learning tools to get quick feedback in the process of teaching, whether it be mini-whiteboards, getting student to write a big answer on their iPad and hold it up, putting a post-it on the board when they leave the room or use digital tools such as Formative or Kahoot.  But, consider how we can reform the summative assessment to focus on learning and progress.

As Year 12 commence their Trial HSC Examinations, consider and disucss with colleagues how you will hand back the papers to your students to get the biggest impact from the significant amount of work by students and teachers that goes in to preparing, sitting for and then marking the Trials.

Looking for a new assessment for learning tool? Consider Answer Pad.

More information on Assessment for Learning tools can be found on the Commonsensemedia Graphite blog - https://www.commonsense.org/education/blog/the-best-formative-assessment-tools-tips-and-lessons