Formative and Summative Assessments

This week, I learned about different types of assessment: formative and summative. I already knew some about them, so this was not news to me. My philosophy on assessment is that assessments come in many shapes and forms. Attending school to become an educator has taught me that learning does not always have to come from reading and studying the books, it comes from the application of yourself. This is why I love teaching because I actually get the chance to apply my knowledge to further understand things rather than just trying to memorize terms. I was previously a nursing major, but I switched to teaching and I now see why. It is hard to grasp content if you cannot apply yourself. Back on topic, there needs to be a variety of assessments: observation, quizzes, feedback, a chance to rework an assignment, etc. I got this from Rick Wormeli. What I just described were all formative assessments. Summative assessments can be final projects, final exams, SATs, anything that has high point value and the assessment is over content students have already learned.

My impressions about the 2 formative assessment technologies (PearDeck and EduCanon) were that they are easy to use and interactive for students and teachers. To explain what they are, PearDeck is an interactive presentation tool in which students or teachers could use. EduCanon is online learning environment where teachers provide interactive video lessons, so basically like live chat or a pre-recording. These forms of technology are not trying to drive teachers away from using summative assessments, but just use more formative assessments, too. Students cannot learn from a test that is taken at the end of the year, but it does show where students stand when advancing to the next grade level. They need feedback during the school year, so they can improve themselves and so teachers know where their students' comprehension stands. Scott Kinkoph expressed this in his video about supporting formative assessment, but did not take the importance away form summative assessments. As a teacher, I have to make it an everyday goal to include formative assessments in my classroom because it has proven to not only increase test scores, but also improve student engagement and comprehension. Formative assessments need to be used as much, if not more than summative assessments, but they both need to be used.