Formative Assessments in a Snap with Response Cards

Formative assessments are a range of formal and informal assessments that teachers use during the learning process in order to determine where their students learning is at, if teaching and instruction needs to be modified, and if instruction can be fast-forwarded to new skills that have yet to be mastered.

Formative assessments can happen in a variety of ways with the most popular being quizzes, homework, and in class participation.  It's that formative assessment through in-class participation where I've created a system that makes it quick, easy, and fun to assess and participate.

Response cards provide an interactive way for students to participate in the lesson at hand.  They have a limited number of answers on them and can be used in a variety of subjects.  The card pictured above is a universally useful response card as it fits all multiple choice and true/false questions.  I've also seen response cards that are more specific to the subject, such as elements from the list of noble gases being used in chemistry class, or a set of Spanish explorers being used in a social studies class.

This universal set of response cards come in a variety of colors and arrangements to suit many purposes.  There is a black and white set for those that don't have access to color printers.  There are single colored sets for those that have a class color they prefer, and there are two and four color sets for those that want to have team competitions in their rooms.

Give each student a card and ask them multiple choice and/or true/false questions.  Students put their finger or thumb over their answer.  When printed back to back, according to the directions provided, the same letter/word will be covered in the front as in the back and the teacher can see it no matter where they are in the room.  It provides immediate feedback to everyone in the room.

It's simple, fun, colorful, engaging for the students, and easy for the teacher.  It's formative assessment in a snap.

Pick up these Formative Assessment Response Cards in my Teachers Pay Teachers store today.

What's your favorite formative assessment tool?  Share in the comments below.

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