Kim Ruud

EDL 676 Assessment for Leaders

Professional Development Final Project
Formative Assessment
Rationale
This presentation is for elementary school teachers in a professional
development setting. This presentation would be appropriate for both
new and veteran teachers in a variety of roles, i.e. special education,
specialists, ELL. The purpose of this professional development session
is to have a better understanding of formative assessment and provide
teachers with resources to use in their classrooms or with the students
that they work with. This presentation would take at least an hour and
a half depending on the depth of conversations. Based on the minutes
allotted in sections, the session is 97 minutes long.
I would love to present this at the beginning of the next school year.
This PD session could be used at any time in the school year; however,
I think that this would be best utilized for teachers to have a strong
understanding before they meet their students in August. Additionally,
because it is a long session, I think it would be more appropriate for a
workday as opposed to an after school session where teachers are
often strained from their workday.
Resources
1. Some Thoughts on Assessment Quotes, From Bernice McCarthy,
Retrieved November 2015
2. Assessment Literacy/Scoring Format Self-Assessment Worksheet,
Author Unknown, Retrieved November 2015
3. Davis, V. (2015, January 5). 5 Fantastic, Fast, Formative
Assessment Tools. Retrieved January 4, 2016 from
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-fast-formative-assessment-toolsvicki-davis
4. Page 19 of Advancing Formative Assessment in Every Classroom
5. Pages 15-17 of Advancing Formative Assessment in Every
Classroom
6. Tools for Formative Assessment Techniques to Check for
Understanding Processing Activities, Compiled by K. Lambert,
OCPS Curriculum Services, 4/2012, Retrieved January 2016
Plan
1. Anticipatory Set: Educators have different opinions about
assessment depending on their own background knowledge. You all
have a sheet of paper with different quotes about assessment. Please
choose one that really stands out to you. Please be thinking about why
that quote stands out to you. Give 2-3 minutes

Please go find the quote number on the wall. With the other people
who picked the same quote (if any), discuss why you were drawn to
this. Give 3-4 minutes, until lull
Have a whole group discussion where each quote is examined.
2. Share objective:
Know: (The definition of) Formative assessment is the formal and
informal assessment procedures conducted by teachers during the
learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to
improve student learning.
Understand: The connection between formative assessment and
motivation.
Be Able to Do: Intentionally use formative assessment in your
teaching.
3. Self-Assessment on Definitions:
Participants will be asked to match the assessment definitions with a
description. The purpose of this is to clarify important terminology and
make sure there are no misconceptions about certain assessment
terms. Give participants about 5-6 minutes to complete this. After that
time, correct answers will be given and discussion is to occur over new
learning.
Take a 5-minute break.
4. Distribute:
5 Fantastic, Fast, Formative Assessment Tools to each person.
Number adults from 1-5. Everyone will read from the beginning until
formative assessment toolkit. Everyone will read the concluding
paragraph, Can You Teach Without Formative Assessment? Based
on numbers, they will read their corresponding paragraph under
Formative Assessment Toolkit Give 6-8 minutes to read.
Then, have adults explain their section to the rest of the group in
whatever way they would like in less than 5 minutes. show it on the
computer, have the whole group try it, etc. Give 8 minutes for groups
to discuss and decide how to show it to their peers.
4. Present:
Give 25 minutes
5. Say:
Now that you have read about formative assessment and have
learned some examples, I want us to think about what teachers should
intentionally plan for. What should anyone walk into the class see from

adults and students? (Reference objective, noting that teachers must

intentionally plan to use activities, give feedback, etc.)
Number adults off 1 and 2 until done. Give them 10 minutes to
generate as many ideas as possible on a white poster paper.
Group 1 will do teacher look fors (Teachers should)
Group 2 will do student look fors (Students should)
After 10 minutes, come back as a whole group and go through each
poster, debriefing and discussing. **Professional Development Session
leader can use page 19 from Advancing Formative Assessment in
Every Classroom as a guide.
6. How does this motivate students? (The why)
On white poster paper, ask the group to shout out answers to the
question What motivates your students to be successful and meet
their goals? Take a variety of answers. Teachers may say rewards
(stickers), incentives (free time), avoid punishments (loss of recess),
and fear/warnings (lowering of a grade). Once the suggestions come
to a lull, hand out the copied pages (15-17) from Advancing Formative
Assessment in Every Classroom. Reference the understand section of
your objectives. This section is titled What is the Connection Between
Formative Assessment and Motivation? Give teachers 5 minutes to
read these pages and the chart. When the five minutes are up, ask
them to pair up with someone from across the room to discuss the
differences between the poster that the group created before the
reading and what they now understand. After about 3-5 minutes have
the participants return to their seats for the whole group to debrief.
The goal is for the participants to understand that teachers should use
extrinsic rewards sparingly (or as a part of a plan that gradually
decreases) and plan to activate intrinsic motivation while providing
feedback during the formative assessment process. Correctly
implemented formative assessment alone is strongly linked to
increased intrinsic motivation.
7. Close:
Give participants handout, Tools for Formative Assessment
Techniques to Check for Understanding Processing Activities and ask
them to go through it and highlight/underline two new tools or
techniques you will try within that school week. Review objectives.