An Assessment Day

Today, Ann is running a Maths Assessment Workshop at the Hindmarsh EDC and expects an audience of about 120 people. She has some very clear messages about the importance of formative assessment and the role it plays in planning differentiated units of work. Here is one of the slides she will be using during the day to stimulate discussion about where teachers are right now with their assessment and the direction in which they want to go.

“If you have clear intents about what you hope students will learn and what students will bring with them to the task then it is possible to give constructive feedback as the students work. It is also possible to engage them in conversations about what they are actually learning and what they think they need to do or know next.”

“If we want to develop responsible learners then we need to engage them in self monitoring, reflection and feed forward as well as feedback”.

During the day, a number of examples of problematised situations will be discussed with a focus on teasing out the information that this type of activity provides and how problematised situations can be used for assessment as well. Here is one example, which starts with a true lie:

You know my neighbour from down the road. Well, his dog has just had a litter of 9 puppies and he told me that half of them were plain and half were spotty. Do you know, I think he’s telling me a fib, but I’m not sure. Do you think you could tell me if he is telling a fib?

Ann also has two work samples that she collected on her travels and will open up a discussion about what could be gathered from these student responses.