Quick and Easy Assessment Strategies

For every assignment I do with my students, we must have a list of success criteria.  These criteria must be co-created by the students and myself (I can "guide" them to include criteria I want in the assignment, but they must feel that they have ownership over the list).  Because they are so invested in setting up the criteria, they are more able to accurately assess their own and other's work before handing in for teacher assessment.

Two of the strategies I use most often in my classroom for self-assessment are "glow and grow" and "traffic light comprehension".  I've discussed both these strategies briefly in some of my other blog posts, but feel they are worth a second mention.  These strategies WORK because they are quick, visual, easy for the students to comprehend and remember, and work for ANY subject area.  I've created a little freebie for each of the assessment methods, and because google docs is changing to google drive (with a price), I've uploaded them to my TpT store.

• Glow and Grow Strategy - For this strategy, students use a yellow and green highlighter to show areas on their work where they have glowed or need to grow.  I keep a bucket of yellow and green highlighters in my classroom for students to use (I actually had to use green crayons this year as we didn't have a large supply of green highlighters).  Once students have finished highlighting, I have them fill out a handout where they explain WHY they have chosen to mark certain areas as glow or grow.  I have included two handouts - one for self/teacher assessment, and one for self/peer assessment.  I have students complete this assessment strategy on their own or with a partner before they hand their work in to me.  I also allow them time to fix or improve the areas they have marked as "grow".

Click HERE or on the picture to the left to get your free copy of the "glow and grow" assessment strategy.

• Traffic Light Comprehension Strategy - For this strategy, students put a green, yellow, or red dot in the corner of their work after they complete it - whether working individually, in pairs, or in small groups.  A green dot shows they felt they completed and understood the work without any problems, a yellow dot shows they felt they had a few problems or questions about the work, and a red dot shows the students felt they had a lot of difficulty completing or understanding the work.  This quick little strategy makes such a difference for me once the work is handed in.  I can quickly group the work to see what I need to look at first (red and yellow dots) and make plans to conference with students or give some extra small group instruction.  It's amazing how accurately the students assess themselves - and it's also fun to hear them discuss what they should give themselves when working in pairs or small groups.  ;)

Click HERE or on the picture to the left to download your freebie poster for Traffic Light Comprehension.

I'm linking up to Teaching in Room 6:  Advice for New Teachers.  New teachers, my advice to you is to not feel like you have to mark every single thing the students complete.  And have them help you with assessments by trying some of the strategies above.  By having students identify areas (and potentially fixing areas) of need in their work, hopefully you'll begin to see some of the same errors disappear.  And by having them more aware of their own understanding of the work, and giving a quick visual of this understanding, you'll be able to see at a glance what students you need to work a little more with - and you'll be able to do this in a timely manner ... before it's too late and you have moved on.