TIM: Hi, and welcome to Tech Tips From Teachers.
On this episode, we'll be looking
at apps that are great for formative assessment
in the classroom.
Our guest for this episode is Emily Tombes
from San Jose, California.
Emily has a master's degree in elementary education
from the University of Virginia, and is currently a second grade
teacher.
As part of her role, she helps to lead the curriculum
and assessment design programs for her entire school,
and previously she taught third grade
at a charter school that adhered to an adaptive learning model.
So Emily, tell us a little bit about why technology's
important in the classroom.
EMILY TOMBES: Technology makes collaborating
with my coworkers really easy.
I use Google Docs for planning, and I
am able to communicate what I'm working on with my coworkers,
and we're able to share a lot of that information online.
It helps out with planning, and making sure
that we are able to share data regarding the students,
and how they've scored on tests, how they're doing on projects,
and we're able to communicate with one another about that.
So technology makes it a lot easier
for me to work with my coworkers and collaborate
with them, and also to plan.
TIM: Cool.
And what about formative assessment?
Why is that something that's critical in the classroom?
EMILY TOMBES: Yeah, so formative assessment
is really important for two key reasons for me.
It's a planning tool.
When I give my kids a test or a quick little check
for understanding, I'm able to tell really quickly
whether they're understanding what I'm giving them.
So I'm able to use it for planning
and make sure that I know what my next steps are as a teacher.
And also so that can differentiate
for the specific needs of my students in my class.
TIM: In speaking with teachers about apps
that are great for formative assessment,
we came upon a few major themes.
It's important that these apps are
easy to manage and implement, that they
have strong reporting, and that they help to foster discussion
among students.
So Emily, why is it so critical that an app is
easy for a teacher to manage?
EMILY TOMBES: As a teacher, my time is really sacred.
There's a lot that I need to do in the day.
When I have an app that is easy to manage,
I can use that app to help me create quick formative
assessments and quick checks for understanding,
so that I don't have to spend a whole lot of time
creating those things on my own.
TIM: And what about that data piece.
Why is reporting so important?
EMILY TOMBES: When I have really solid data,
I can use it for two purposes.
I use it for planning.
I can use it to see what my students did really well with,
what they need a little bit of support and review on,
and if I need to go back and totally re-teach something.
So when I get data back from those students,
I can tell what I need to do as a teacher.
I can also look at it for differentiation purposes.
So I can tell which kids in my class
did really well on a certain skill, which kids might need
a little-- just a little bit of extra support,
and which kids need to be in a small group with me
or with an intervention specialist.
TIM: Gotcha.
And then what about with discussion?
Why is that something that you'd want to include in your class?
EMILY TOMBES: Yeah, this is one of my favorite components
of really building a solid formative assessment.
Because when I see the discussion piece of an answer,
I'm able to look at the gray area of where a kid was-- what
their thought process was as they were coming up
with an answer.
So when I see their discussion, I
can tell how they got to their answer, maybe
some misconceptions that they might have,
and what I can target my instruction
towards the next time I review a certain skill.
So if I have the students discussing something,
it's a lot easier for me to tell what their thought process was,
and what I can be reviewing as a teacher.
TIM: Emily, let's take a look at some apps that are really
great for formative assessment.
EMILY TOMBES: Yeah, so the first one I want to look at
is Socrative.
And Socrative is great because it's really easy
to implement and to manage.
As a teacher, one of my favorite things
is that there's no student logins needed.
Students can just join the teacher's classroom
based on the unique code that I receive as a teacher.
The other thing I really like about it
is that I can create formative assessments
in a lot of different ways.
They also have some games that can really
engage the kids in the process of doing
this formative assessment.
They can sort of compete with one another.
TIM: Tell us about Exit Ticket.
EMILY TOMBES: Yeah, so Exit Ticket's
great because it gives me the opportunity
to use that strong reporting.
I get to look at the Exit Ticket formats
to decide how my kids did on their assessments.
I can look at very different dashboards
and tell how they're being successful with certain things,
and what they still need to review.
It gives me a chance to give assessments either
in the middle of the lesson.
I can do something called a check for understanding,
where I look to see if the kids are understanding
my teaching as I'm going through the lesson.
But I can also build more traditional Exit Tickets
at the end of the lesson, and give them a final chance
to show me what they learned.
TIM: And what's valuable about Verso?
EMILY TOMBES: It gives students an opportunity
to watch a video, or look at a task
and respond to a task in a discussion format.
So they log in and they write their responses
in more conversational tone.
They can "like" each other's comments.
They can comment on one another's comments,
and it just allows that discussion piece to continue.
It does offer me accountability as a teacher
so I can log in and see which students
are posting the discussions.
And I get a chance to see which students are participating,
which students might need a little push in class
to participate more.
In the formative assessment component,
it allows me, as the teacher, to see
what parts are very present in their discussions,
and what components I need to go back and really
push them to be thinking about, as they're
posting their answers and posting their comments.
TIM: Emily, thanks so much for joining us today.
EMILY TOMBES: Thanks for having me.
It was great to be here.
TIM: And to recap, a few things to keep in mind
for formative assessment apps.
It's important that they're easy to manage and implement,
that they have strong reporting, and that they
help to foster discussion among students.
For more episodes of Tech Tips From Teachers,
check out the Google Developers' YouTube channel.
Thanks.