Checking in on Learning: How to Use Formative Assessments for Literacy Development

     Assessments. The word itself can bring a variety of feelings and pictures to mind. For some, they might think of a traditional pencil/paper test. For others, it leads to overwhelming anxiety. Regardless of a teacher’s viewpoints on assessments, beneficial data is gained from assessing the classrooms’ students. The purpose of assessment is to support student learning and development. As educators, how do we know the right kind of assessment to use? There are formative, summative, interim, benchmark, and informal ways of assessing. The frequency and type of assessment is dependent upon the need, and for early literacy development, it is crucial that assessments are ongoing and consistent, and that is the beauty of formative assessments.

What is a formative assessment?

The goal of a formative assessment is to monitor student progress with ongoing feedback. This can happen daily, weekly, or as often as the teacher prefers (Education Week, 2017). Formative assessments are designed to show students’ strengths and weaknesses, as well as targeted areas for improvement. Formative assessments also help teacher and educational leaders see where instruction can be altered or on what skills intervention is needed. Formative assessments are considered low stakes, so often a point value or percentage is either low or not associated with the outcome (Eberly Center, 2022). What does this type of assessing look like for early literacy development?

Using Formative Assessments in the Classroom

It is important to note that formative assessments can take place in the classroom with little planning and preparation (Education Week, 2017). Specifically, we are talking about assessing literacy development for beginning learners, which would entail phonological awareness. The focus of assessing phonological awareness is to determine a student’s current level of phonological awareness and to tell if he/she is gaining development in that area (Gillon, 2018). “The emphasis in phonological awareness at the preschool level should be on monitoring early phonological awareness development to ensure that the child is acquiring the necessary skills that will build a strong foundation for school reading and writing experiences” (Gillon, 2018, p. 141). One of the perks of using formative assessments in the classroom is the ease of use and the multiple ways checking for student understanding can occur. A formative assessment can be listed in lesson plans with a specific game or exit ticket in mind, or it can be spur of the moment with a simple question of having students show thumbs up or thumbs down for their understanding of a skill. Let’s look at some examples of formative assessments that can be used for literacy development in early readers.

Formative Assessment Examples

1. Exit Tickets - Exit (or entry) tickets are a simple, yet profound way to gauge how students are feeling about their knowledge of a concept or skill. By posing a question, students use an exit ticket to write a response related to the stated question. The strategy of using exit tickets can be altered in many formats - the question can be preprinted on a recording sheet for students to write below, the question can be posted on the board or anchor chart paper, or technology can be utilized by having students respond on a shared document or site. Edutopia author, Laura Thomas, suggests to see the “big picture,” sort the exit ticket responses into three stacks: students who understand the point, those who sort of understand, and those who do not show any understanding. The size of the stacks is the teacher’s clue about the next instructional step (Thomas, 2019).

2. Quizzes and Polls - Think beyond the multiple choice quiz questions, and find out what students really know in an engaging way. Quizzes are a great way to see student understanding, but the pressure is less if it is done in a low stakes format. Using online resources, such as Kahoot, Quizlet, Plickers, or Blooklet are interactive ways for students to individually, or with a team, answer questions about their learning (Thomas, 2019). If technology is not available, have students move around the room in a Four Corners game. The teacher asks a question with four answer choices, and students move to the corner of the room that coincides with their selected answer. This also gives insight into students who are confident to think for themselves and those who follow the crowd because they are unsure of the correct answer.

3. Prove Me Wrong - The spin on this assessment is that it asks the students to think about a concept in reverse. An incorrect statement, or common misconception, is posed, and the students must prove the teacher wrong. For example, a teacher states, “Prove me wrong…pig and pog rhyme.” Students could answer verbally or in writing. Students must state their claim (correct or incorrect) and justifications for their claim against their teacher. This strategy is helpful in guiding students through anticipated misconceptions. 

4. Self Assessments - What better way to determine students’ understandings than to put the power in their own hands? Through rubrics, checklists, and partner talks, students have many opportunities to constantly self assess their learning. However, Thomas (2019) offers an innovative idea to this old trick. Using colored stacking cups is a quick visual for a teacher to check in with students and offer feedback. A green cup on top signals that the student feels set to move forward and can show mastery, a yellow cup on top represents that the student is working through some confusion, and a red cup on top indicates a student who is very confused or is in need of scaffolding. 

Other Formative Assessment Strategies

The list of formative assessment types include strategies used by veteran teachers for years and ideas created on the spot by the newest of teachers. Below are other ideas for how to administer formative assessments in the classroom.

• Hand Signals - Students use thumbs up/thumbs down, or “fist to five” to show their understanding of a topic.

• Visual Art - Release their creative sides, and have students draw a representation of new knowledge gained.

• Participation Cards - Each student has a card with red on one side and green on the other to flash to the teacher indicating confidence or lack thereof.

• Reflective Journals

• Turn and Talk

• Venn Diagrams

• Post-It Note Parking Lot - Students write what they learned on a post-it note and “park” it on the anchor chart for that lesson.

Assess Your Assessments

Whichever assessment tool chosen, be sure you assess the assessment. These types of formative assessments should add value to the classroom and drive instruction. If one method does not work or is too complicated, it is okay to dismiss it and try something new the next time. Keep in mind that the role of an assessment is to simply figure out what our students know, even if they are still in the process of learning it (Thomas, 2019).

References

Eberly Center. (2022). Formative vs Summative Assessment. Carnegie Mellon University -
Eberly Center - Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation. Retrieved November 25,
2022, from https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/formative-summative.html 

Education Week. (2017, February 17). What Is Formative Assessment? Retrieved November 25,
2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkoDWSCGIE4

Gillon, G. T. (2018). Phonological awareness: From research to practice (Second). The Guilford
Press. 

Thomas, L. (2019, April 26). 7 smart, fast ways to do formative assessment. Edutopia. Retrieved
November 25, 2022, from
https://www.edutopia.org/article/7-smart-fast-ways-do-formative-assessment/

Let's Talk About Dyslexia

Dyslexia is often talked about as if it were a sickness. Teachers and parents search for a “cure” for the reading difficulty in their children. However, a cure is nowhere to be found. Dyslexia is a lifelong condition, and it is simply a learning difference in how the reader’s brain processes language (LearnFast Education, 2014). 

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that goes far beyond letter reversals and words “bouncing” around on a page of text. It often affects spelling and writing, in addition to reading. Students with dyslexia frequently exhibit signs of attention deficit disorders, anxiety, and a lack of reading motivation. These students are also creative deep thinkers with incredible listening comprehension. Dyslexia spans from mild to severe forms, and the same intervention for one dyslexic student may not be the most effective for another (Reading Rockets, 2019).

What Causes Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is not caused by poverty, speech impairments, or developmental delays. The problem is physically located in the brain (Hudson et al., 2013). Research shows that “the brain of a person with dyslexia has a different distribution of metabolic activation than the brain of a person without reading problems when accomplishing the same language task. There is a failure of the left hemisphere rear brain systems to function properly during reading” (Hudson et al., 2013).  Simply put, there is a disorder of the language processing part of the brain. Therefore, it is imperative that educators understand best practices in assessing and assisting students who are dyslexic or show dyslexic tendencies.

Early Identification

First and foremost, early intervention is key to helping dyslexic students become successful readers. Measuring a student’s knowledge of sounds in speech, letters in words, fluent word recognition, and letter sound correspondence at the earliest stages of learning is one of the best ways to continuously monitor for warning signs of reading difficulties. Young learners should be presented with explicit and systematic instruction in phonological awareness and phonics (Hudson et al., 2013). The earlier a student can be identified with a reading difficulty, the better the child can grasp on to reading skills. Early intervention is imperative in the road to becoming literate.

Best Practices for Dyslexic Readers

Even if, as educators, we know that early intervention is vital, how do we provide good reading instruction that better helps students with dyslexia? It is important to remember that “for the most part, good teaching is good teaching. If something works with kids who struggle more to learn to read, it is likely to work with all students. If something doesn’t work for the kids who struggle more, it’s worth asking why it belongs in our whole-class instruction” (Jiban, 2021). A focus on explicit instruction in the areas of phonological awareness and decoding and phonics skills are essential in the reading classroom. The following are best practice strategies to use for struggling readers.

Orton-Gillingham Approaches

Famous educators, Orton and Gillingham, developed instructional approaches that are helpful to all readers. The main focal points of Orton-Gillingham reading instruction are:

• multisensory

• direct

• systematic and sequential

For students struggling to read, they need instruction that teaches them step by step, with one skill building upon the previous. These students need to know the how and the why of the reading process. Whichever skill is being taught, it should be presented in a variety of methods, including strategies that involve touch, sound, and kinesthetic (Positive Action Staff, 2021).

Skills to Help Dyslexic Readers

Children with dyslexia are not a homogeneous group; however, most poor readers will show phoneme awareness hardships. Reading teachers know the importance of phonological awareness skills for developing readers, so the need for phonological awareness intervention for struggling readers is firmly established. “Other aspects of spoken language, however, also make important contributions to the processing of written text. In particular, syntactic, semantic, and morphological knowledge of spoken language is brought to hear in the reading and spelling process” (Gillon, 2018, p. 85).

Syntactic Strategies

• Model correct syntax to students by restating what they say incorrectly with correct word order.

• Write words on cards and have students arrange the cards to make a complete sentence. 

• Develop basic skills that will help with fluency and phrasing, such as new sentences start with capital letters and ideas end with a period or question mark (Hanson, 2022).

Semantic Strategies

• Have students make comparisons between objects using a variety of vocabulary words.

• Play word games involving synonyms, antonyms, homophones, compound words, and word families.

• Use grouping activities where students must sort objects based on certain criteria. Students must explain their grouping. As an alternate format to this, ask students to justify and explain why something does not belong, giving reasons why (Buttriss et al., 2021).

Morphology Strategies

• Create a word matrix to map a word family.

• Use word sums, showing the structure of complex words.

• example: re + create + ing → recreating

All Students Can Read

The best practice any reading teacher can take into her classroom is the belief that all students are readers. Students who are identified as dyslexic may take a different route for their reading approach, but they will get to the same destination - a literate learner who gains new knowledge through the pages of a text.

References

Buttriss, J., & Callander, A. (2021, September 14). Activities to develop Semantic Knowledge.
Teaching Expertise. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from
https://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/activities-to-develop-semantic-knowledge/ 

Gillon, G. T. (2018). Phonological awareness: From research to practice (Second). The Guilford
Press. 

Hanson, J. (2022, May 14). How to teach syntax to kids. The Classroom | Empowering Students
in Their College Journey. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from
https://www.theclassroom.com/teach-syntax-kids-8538531.html

Hudson, R. F., High, L., & Otaiba, S. A. (2013, December 12). Dyslexia and the brain: What
does current research tell us? Reading Rockets. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from
https://www.readingrockets.org/article/dyslexia-and-brain-what-does-current-research-
tell-us

Jiban, C. (2021, March 23). Best practices in reading instruction for students with dyslexia.
Teach. Learn. Grow. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from https://www.nwea.org/blog/
2021/best-practices-in-reading-instruction-for-students-with-dyslexia/

LearnFast Education. (2014). Auditory Processing and Dyslexia. YouTube. Retrieved November
11, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O3kc0Lc7jU. 

Positive Action Staff. (2021, February 9). How to Teach Students With Dyslexia? 14
Evidence-Based Tips. Positive Action. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from
https://www.positiveaction.net/blog/how-to-teach-students-with-dyslexia 

Reading Rockets. (2019). What are some intervention fads that don’t help children with
dyslexia? YouTube. Retrieved November 11, 2022, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAZQjX58SU4. 

Shanahan, T. (2020, May 27). What should morphology instruction look like? Reading Rockets.
Retrieved November 12, 2022, from https://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-
literacy/what-should-morphology-instruction-look

Directing English Language Learners Towards Literacy Learning

         Literacy skills are the foundation of many components of learning for students from prekindergarten through their senior year in high school. While these skills are developed in the elementary and secondary classrooms, with the hopes of creating proficient readers and independent writers, there is a student population group who often silently struggle to become strong literacy learners. “More than ever, early learning settings are serving children who are growing up with more than one language in home and at school” (Supporting emergent bilingual children in early learning, n.d.). Young emergent bilingual learners have even more to learn about reading and writing if they are already not literate in their native language (Gibbons, 2015). How, as educators, can we best support these English language learners (ELLs) to feel confident to read and write in a second language?

Supporting the Home Language

First and foremost, teachers must value a student’s home language. It is of utmost importance that classroom teachers are aware of what language knowledge these students bring to the classroom and use that foundation to build upon for literacy development (Gibbons, 2015). Teachers must remember that English language learners are not lacking intelligence and knowledge; it was just provided to them in another language first. Ways to value a student’s home language include:

• Invite family members into the classroom for language support or bilingual
  shared reading.

• Create labels for items and spaces around the room in multiple languages.

• Learn cognates or familiar phrases to show students you understand they 

communicate in a different language, but language is language and they can
still convey ideas.

Vocabulary, Vocabulary, Vocabulary!

To support students’ reading and writing development, vocabulary is a key component. English language learners are often stumped by the misunderstanding of new words. Teachers of ELLs should anticipate vocabulary misconceptions and put scaffolding in place to aid in that instance. Supporting vocabulary development can look like:

• Making connections - if reading about a farm, and students have not been to a farm, ask questions of students about their experiences on a farm. Hearing other students’ connections can help create mental pictures for all learners.

• Use words in several contexts to deepen understanding. Using a Frayer Model is a beneficial way to learn new vocabulary. It includes the word, its meaning, examples, non-examples, and can have a visual representation.

• Make vocabulary visual! Incorporate pictures of unfamiliar
  words. Use descriptive words to describe the picture and the
  vocabulary word to build a bridge between the actual picture
  and a mental image for the student. Implementing gestures,
  hand motions, or movements also help with retention of new vocabulary.

• Use songs and rhymes. Repetitive singing and chanting of songs and rhymes allows students to commit a word to memory, as well as using correct grammar, pronunciation, and language sounds.

Talk It Out

Reading, writing, listening, and speaking are all interrelated language domains. Students must have opportunities to practice all four domains in order to become stronger in another. To build confidence in reading and writing, ELL students need the opportunity to practice speaking. When they become comfortable speakers, they will start to use spoken language sounds and structure to decode, comprehend, and write. Using open ended questions, sentence stems, and group work all contribute to a rich oral language environment (Ford, 2016).

Teach Comprehension Strategies

Explicit comprehension instruction is vital to ELL students. “ELs must be explicitly taught comprehension strategies to help them access the content while they are developing English proficiency” (Tutor et al., 2016, p. 10). Strategies such as: summarizing, inferring, making connections, and asking questions all need systematic instruction for students to master. Using peer discussion, collaborative activities, and before-during-after reading questions are examples of how to explicitly foster comprehension in ELL students (Tutor et al., 2016). Explicit instruction also supports scaffolding and working the child’s zone of proximal development (Gibbons, 2015).

Activities to Support Literacy Skill Development

As reading teachers know, literacy skills spiral, build on one another, and work together to create a fluent reader who makes meaning from texts. The following are an array of activities to help students in many areas of literacy development (Gibbons, 2015).

• Find out what students already know about a topic by creating a class “Mind Map” of their current background knowledge before reading a text.

• Develop a Word Wall about a topic where vocabulary can be shared and displayed.

• Use a Cloze Activity where students must fill in gaps of information about a given topic.

• Provide and model the use of graphic organizers to help students get their ideas on paper before beginning a writing prompt.

• Use visuals for predicting before reading a text. Show a photo of a situation from the text or take a picture walk for students to think about the ideas of the text.

• Use illustrations or pictures related to the story to put in sequential order during or after reading to encourage comprehension.

• Keep track of literary events and elements in a working story map.

The Impact of Best Practices

Using the aforementioned ideas and strategies are not to be seen as just another way to differentiate in the classroom. These are best practices for all students in the classroom. To some teachers, these practices might be one more step in planning a lesson or delivering instruction, but to the English language learner who is lost on his/her learning path, these techniques can be the turning point that directs their academic compass in the right direction.

References

Ford, K. (2016, February 10). 8 strategies for preschool ells' language and literacy development.
Colorín Colorado. Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://www.colorincolorado.org/
article/8-strategies-preschool-ells-language-and-literacy-development

Gibbons, P. (2015). In Scaffolding language, Scaffolding Learning: Teaching English language

learners in the mainstream classroom (pp. 169-179). essay, Heinemann.

Supporting emergent bilingual children in early learning. Education Development Center. (n.d.).
Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://www.edc.org/sites/default/files/uploads/
Supporting-Emergent-Bilingual-Children-Checklist_English.pdf

Tutor, C. R., Aceves, T., & Reese, L. (2016, November). Evidence-based practices for English
learners - CEEDAR. Innovation Configuration. Retrieved November 6, 2022, from
https://ceedar.edcuation.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/EBP-for-english-
learners.pdf