Day 1
01 Welcome 02 Break 03 Model Lesson #1: U1L3 04 Break 05 Intro to CSP 06 Lesson Process 07 Transition to Asynchronous 08 Lunch 09 Binary Number Systems 10 Plugged and Unplugged 11 Break 12 The Teacher's Role 13 Intro to PLACE 14 Transition to Asynchronous
Day 2
15 Intro 16 TLO #1: U1L7 17 Break 18 Previously on... 19 TLO #2: U1L9 20 Break 21 CED 22 Transition to Asynchronous 23 Lunch 24 Asynchronous Debrief 25 Break 26 TLO #3: U1L10 27 Break 28 Role in Assessment 29 Transition to Asynchronous
Day 3
30 Intro 31 Ourselves & Our Position 32 Break 33 TLO #4: U2L2 34 Break 35 TLO #5: U2L3 36 Transition to Asynchronous 37 Lunch 38 Asynchronous Debrief 39 Addressing Unconscious Bias 40 Break 41 TLO #6: U2L4 42 Transition to Asynchronous
Day 4
43 Intro 44 TLO #7: U3L2 45 Break 46 Previously, on… U3L3 - 4 47 Break 48 TLO #8: U3L6 49 Transition to Asynchronous 50 Lunch 51 Async Debrief 52 Recruiting & Retaining Students 53 Break 54 Lesson Exploration: U3L8 55 Transition to Asynchronous
Day 5
56 Intro 57 Recruiting Students Recap 58 Mapping Equity 59 Break 60 Values and Assessment 61 Break 62 Assessment Approach 63 Transition to Asynchronous 64 Lunch 65 Async Debrief 66 Planning Your Year 67 Closing Ceremonies

Session 28: The Teacher's Role in Formative Assessment

20 minutes

discussion-based

Purpose

Participants bring in previous experiences with teaching to the workshop. We want to leverage those experiences and help participants consider how they apply their teaching expertise to CSP. One way they can do that is by using the strategies they already use to formatively assess students. Participants who are new to computer science can easily get focused on teaching the content without thinking about who is learning the content in the room. Formative assessment can support teaching and learning.

This session also helps set the tone for the next lesson planning session, and how they will be formatively assessing throughout the lesson.

Objectives

  • Participants have a list of formative assessment strategies they can use in their classrooms and in their TLO lesson.

Supplies & Prep

Room Setup:

  • Full Cohort
  • Table Groups (partners)

Facilitator Supplies:

Participant Materials:

  • Journal
  • Computers

Agenda

Brainstorming Formative Assessment Strategies (17 minutes)

Formative Assessment in the Curriculum (3 minutes)

Facilitation Guide

Brainstorming Formative Assessment Strategies (17 minutes)

Facilitator Tip

We want to push participants to think about their role as the teacher to constantly be “formatively assessing” students. Most participants will think of “exit tickets” as a formative assessment right away, but formative assessments can also include things like asking students a line of questions to understand what misconceptions they hold.

(2 minutes) Getting started

Remarks

While implementing the curriculum and building an inclusive classroom are both roles you play in the classroom, we also know another role you play is as an assessor in the classroom. Today we are going to break assessment into two different categories: summative assessment (“assessment of learning”) and formative assessment (“assessment for learning”). We know that everyone has different definitions around assessment that you may use in your schools and for some people but for our purposes today we are going to define these as follows:

  • The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning.
  • The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark. (citation: definitions from CMU)

Finally, today we are going to uncouple “assessment” and “grading,” while some assessments may be used for grading, not all are. We will have time to talk about assessment and grading at the end of the workshop, because we know that is important too.

(3 minutes) Brainstorm

Remarks

We will have time to think about summative assessment later today and again on Friday, but right now we are going to focus on formative assessment. You likely already have a set of strategies you use in your classroom to formatively assess students. Let’s brainstorm strategies you currently use. Look at the two columns. In one column put formative assessment strategies that give YOU, the teacher feedback, and in the second column, document strategies that you use that give students feedback. It is possible that some strategies go in both columns.

Facilitator Tip

Prepare to assign breakout rooms to partners.

Facilitator Tip

If this discussion feels short or quiet, suggest that participants think back to the lessons that we have explored. What formative assessments took place during those lessons?

Remarks

Let’s brainstorm strategies you currently use. Column One is for formative assessment strategies that give YOU, the teacher feedback, and the second column is for strategies that you use that give students feedback. It is possible that some strategies go in both columns.

Remarks

Before jumping into groups, let’s hear 1-2 ideas. What would you put in one of these columns?

Wait for an answer. We want to give people and idea of what goes each column.

(5 minutes) Table Discussion

Remarks

Now you will have 5 minutes to work with a partner and add more assessment opportunities to these lists. Add your items to the Share Out Slide.

(5 minutes) Share Out

Conduct a whole group share-out. Encourage participants to add any strategies they have used to the lists.

(2 minutes) Wrap Up

Remarks

Notice that some of these assessments require pre-planning (such as providing a quiz), while others can be done in the moment without any planning (such as a “thumbs up to thumbs down” instant assessment).

Formative Assessment in the Curriculum (3 minutes)

Teaching Tip

Formative Assessment Opportunities in U1:

  • Lesson 3 manipulative & Activity Sheet
  • Lesson 4 multiple “checks for understanding”
  • Lesson 7 B&W widget and challenges
  • Lessons 12 & 13 Project

(1 minute) Formative assessments built into the curriculum

Remarks

As you likely saw as you were exploring the lesson yesterday during the lesson planning time, there are some formative assessments built into the curriculum:

  • Frequent check-ins with students through discussions
  • Activity guides that can be collected and reviewed
  • Check for understanding (in Code Studio, at the end of the lesson)

There are many places where you could add your own assessments also depending on your teaching style.

(2 minutes) Wrap-up

Remarks

You may have noticed, you can be constantly formatively assessing students in the classroom. As you think about planning your lesson in your next session, consider how you might want to incorporate formative assessment in your lesson. These don’t need to be “big acts” of formative assessment, but can be little questions you plan to ask individual learners as they are working or small “thumbs up to thumbs down” assessments to know if learners need more time.