Famida Mohamedkhan

Questioning and Assessment Techniques

Questioning students are an important aspect of teaching and learning. Formal and summative
assessments are a way for the teacher to evaluate students' preparation on the subject at hand. It
can give the teacher a sign whether to go on with the lesson or to review some important steps
before going further. Assessing students also develops critical thinking skills and inquiry based
attitudes. It motivates students to become more engaged and involved in the lesson.
Through UTeach, I have learned different techniques to assess my students in the classroom. I
have been able to implement a couple through my teaching practice. The techniques I have used
thus far are: probing, popsicle sticks, exit tickets, whiteboards, entrance tickets, peer reviews,
building models, drawing models, and presenting projects.
In my recent problem based unit, I taught eighth graders a lesson on kinetic and potential energy.
I used popsicle sticks to make sure all the students were equally involved. I also had exit tickets
with one or two questions that the students were required to answer over the days lesson; this
was a great indication to me whether the students understood the lesson or not. They also had
discussions each day to help keep them on track and also a great way of assessing them. On the
entry document, my students were given clear expectations of what was to be handed in for
summative assessments. They were required to have 2D designs, implement a 3D model, and to
present their rollercoaster models for a grade. The three day lesson has a section labelled
"Opportunities for Formative Assessment each day". The lesson plan also includes the entry
document which states the students' requirements.
To make sure my students were not just guessing the answers when I woud ask them a question,
I would make sure to word my questions in a way that they could not say yes or no. They were
required to explain their answers thoroughly. A great example is instead of just asking my
students, did the marble go fast in your rollercoaster? I would add another question that would
require the students to reference their concepts such as kinetic and potential energy.
For my exit tickets, I asked the students questions that required them to think about what they
had learned in class that day. For the first day of my PBI lesson, the exit question was as follows:
Exit Ticket: How are you abe to articulate what you drew today in your
rollercoaster model?
For the second day of my PBI lesson, the exit question was as follows:
Exit Ticket: What do you predict makes your roller coaster work fast or not so
fast?
Each day of my PBI lesson incorporated discussions to be able to assess the students formatively.
On the last day of my PBI lesson, the class discussion was:
Why did certain roller coasters work better than the others, and why did certain
ones not work so well?