Walks, Shuffles, and Snow Ball Fights As Formative Assessments

My student teacher asked how often he should use a particular formative assessment. “Using any formative assessment activity frequently will make it boring, and students will hate it,” I responded. “They won’t be invested in the assessment. The results will not be meaningful.” Variety and activity are keys to keeping students’ attentions and to make sure they demonstrate what they truly know or can do.

Agree/Disagree Walks

This popular activity can be an effective method for collecting and documenting formative assessment data. One side of the classroom is designated “Agree” and the other “Disagree.” Read statements– preferably opinion-based– regarding your content and direct students to move to the area of the room representing their positions. Accountability is achieved and assessment data collected when students record reactions on paper between each statement. Here is a simple Agree/Disagree Chart you can adapt easily for your next formative assessment:

Click Here for a printer friendly pdf of this chart.

Tip: Two variations are to have students pair-share at each side of the room and to designate areas between “Agree” and “Disagree” as “Somewhat Agree” or “Somewhat Disagree.”

Snowball Fight

Students write three to five questions about the topic to be assessed using their binder materials and readings– make sure to require “how” and “why” questions to help promote high-order thinking. Question-writers should know the answers to the questions they write. Remind students to include names on their papers, direct them to crumble papers into balls, and divide into two groups standing opposite one-another. Allow students to throw their “snowballs” at the opposing group. Limit this to one toss or time this part of the activity to no more than 10 or 15 seconds. Students retrieve a “snow ball,” answer its questions using complete sentences, write their names at the bottom of the papers, then have the questions checked by the question-writers. Collect the snowballs and evaluate responses to gather formative assessment data.

Tip: Try a paper airplane contest as a variation of this formative assessment. Students take turns throwing their planes to test flight performance. They must retrieve a plane belonging to another student and answer its questions.

The Category Shuffle

This activity requires students to categorize information and explain their decisions, which represents the analysis level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Post construction paper capital letters “A” through “D” at different points through the room. Designate each letter a category by writing a key on the board. Create a list of factual statements, vocabulary words, or anything related to the categories. Provide students with a chart like the one below these instructions and read each item on your list of content. Students move to the appropriate capital letters (categories) and provide explanations as to why they selected each category for each item of content. Collect the charts and evaluate responses to gather formative assessment data.