Even before you decide to do what you do in-class (action steps), you should start thinking about how you will measure whether or not your students have learned anything. You will use formative and summative assessments in conjunction with learning activities to measure your students progress.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How can I be intentional in my assessment and use the data-driven instruction cycle (assess, reflect, adjust) when I have so many students and no prep time? I don’t want to burn out.
This is a problem that most secondary and higher education teachers face. A few things that have worked for me is
- Choosing to only analyze one class per assessment (and rotate which class that is).
- Choosing not to do a deep dive analysis on every activity (pick and choose according to what you think is most important and when you have the time and energy to make changes).
- Create processes that allow you to answer a question once for several different students in several different contexts. For example, I created this FAQ in response to several students asking the same question as part of their course preparation reflection. My current students will be able to read this response to the question(s), future students will be able to read this response before they even have the question, and even students who are not in my class might benefit by looking through this FAQ.
Remember that you don’t have to make all of the changes and improvements to your instruction over night. It is a process. If you can improve a few assignments or activities each week or semester it will make a big difference several years down the road.