Formative assessment is an important part of the classroom and I have discovered the power of technology in the process of formative assessment. I have discovered that through video and photos my students and I can engage in a cycle of assessment together. For example, my students have been working in literature circle groups and to assess their oral reading I decided to use video to assess their reading skills. Instead of this assessment process taking five weeks where I had to visit each group and hear each student read it was done in one afternoon.
My students recorded videos of one another reading in their literature circle groups and I then uploaded those videos to Fresh Grade. I was then able to make comments on their reading based on the videos at a time when I was able to be relaxed and focused on the task. Before sitting down to listen to or assess my students reading, I had my students log onto Fresh Grade and reflect on their reading and participation in literature circle groups. I learned much more about my students, their reading abilities, and their participation in literature circles by reading their comments and listening to their videos.
I have found that Fresh Grade is an excellent platform for engaging with parents on an ongoing basis. I have shared pictures of their children learning and participating in classroom activities such as art. Parents can then have an opportunity to discuss school with their children in a meaningful and specific way.
I have used technology in other ways such as student response systems, using iPad’s to create an ongoing math project, and blogging online. I have also used a classroom blog space to help students complete a science project. This blog provides them with safe, limited, accurate websites from which to do their research. They are gaining and demonstrating an ongoing skill, researching.