Bringing Homework Into Focus. Eileen Depka

Figure 1.8 Comparison of traditional teaching and flipped teaching.

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Formative Work

      Formative assessment by definition is “intimately tied to formal and informal processes in classrooms” (Marzano, 2010, p. 8). The formative assessment process includes collecting evidence of students’ knowledge and performance level, evaluating the outcome of that evidence, and responding to the data in order to meet student needs. Formative assessment can include dozens of possibilities from practice work to exit slips to fist-to-five. Exit slips often include one to three specific questions for the students to answer so that teachers can determine lesson effectiveness and student understanding. The questions are intended to get at the heart of the day’s lesson—for example, “What is one key thing you learned in class today? Provide an example or brief explanation of why it is important. What is one question that you have about the lesson?” The informal feedback procedure fist-to-five asks students to use their hands as a feedback tool—the more fingers raised, the higher the confidence level of the student.

      For the purposes of this book, formative work refers to the assignments students are given to demonstrate initial understanding or apply new concepts and skills. Formative work is traditionally thought of as homework and is likely the most prevalent of all types of work given to students. It provides students with the opportunity to practice skills or processes they are learning but have not yet mastered. Teachers and students evaluate results of the work to determine next steps in the learning process, and teachers use the results of the analysis to design the instruction and learning paths needed to master content and processes. Formative work is a meaningful part of the formative assessment cycle, which is illustrated in figure 1.9 (page 14).

      Students also have a responsibility in the formative assessment cycle. Self-reflection will assist students in evaluating the steps they need to take to improve their performance and increase understanding. Students often know how they learn best, and they are in control of the effort exuded. To support the formative process, teachers should ask the learners what they can do to increase their understanding and what help is needed from the teacher. Figure 1.10 (page 14) provides an example.

      The student identified an area in which to improve and provided specific examples. This would be a perfect opportunity for the student to become acquainted with a thesaurus. Instead of working with her current vocabulary, the student would have a way to research and use both familiar and unfamiliar words. Optionally, the student may be asked to use her reflection and the advice of the teacher to rewrite her story making the suggested changes in regard to word choice.

Figure 1.9: The formative assessment cycle.

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Figure 1.10: Reflection exercise for the formative process.

      This reflection can change depending on the focus of the lesson. Sentence structure, topic sentences, concluding paragraph, or any aspect of the piece can be evaluated in this way so that the student reflects on and makes suggestions for his or her own improvement. It is important to read through the reflections so that if misunderstandings occur, the teacher can provide clarification.

Summative Work

      When students have had ample opportunity to practice skills and have demonstrated their ability to apply them, summative work is used to provide evidence of their understanding. Students are asked to use their new abilities as they encounter new and different situations. Summative work should be assigned when teachers are confident that students are able to provide a comprehensive demonstration of their understanding. While formative work has provided opportunities for students to practice and for teachers to adjust lessons to meet the needs of individuals and the entire class, summative work verifies that students have reached the targets set for them.

      Summative work is used to assess students at any point at which they have the prerequisite skills needed to experience success. Most often these assessments take place during class time. However, students are also regularly engaged in summative projects and performances for which the work is done outside of the classroom. This factor becomes important in chapter 5 when we discuss whether or not homework should impact a report card grade.

      Summative work can evaluate a narrow set of knowledge and skills or may incorporate learning from a variety of lessons. For example, teachers can assign a cumulative project or performance task that encompasses multiple standards and extensive content from an entire semester’s worth of material. Or, consider the earlier example about the American Revolution and building background knowledge. After completing the unit, students might demonstrate their understanding of this period in history by creating a way to illustrate the causes and effects of the revolution—perhaps via a video, PowerPoint, visual display, or song. The important thing to understand is that it is not the time and place that the work is completed but the purpose of the assignment that signifies the intent of the performance. Is the work intended to be formative, to provide the students with the opportunity to learn more about a topic or practice newly introduced skills? Or is the purpose for students to demonstrate their understanding of the knowledge and skills that they have acquired? The purpose makes a difference, especially when we consider grading.

      Figure 1.11 (page 16) illustrates the difference between formative and summative work assessment.

Figure 1.11: Comparing formative and summative assessment.

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