Differentiated Assessment

In our January 2015 Pre-Service days at Graded School, teachers had the opportunity to choose two out of three workshop options. Mark Angstrom, the Middle School Vice-Principal and myself  as Instructional Coach, organized the Differentiated Assessment workshop.

Mark started by making a point about shopping malls and newspapers going out of business in this new age of Internet and how the same movement is impacting education. He stressed how teachers started by exploring the Internet as a resource and how technology and the Internet have been used in instruction. However, we still have to grow in terms of using technology to differentiate assessment.

Participants were then exposed to a Differentiated Assessment Gallery where they could browse examples and decide on a particular approach to work on with other colleagues having the same interest.

To browse through this gallery (see snapshot below), you can just move your mouse over an image to flip and see the title of the post. Clicking on the flipcard takes you to the post with examples and links.

Also by clicking on the “Label” option at the top menu you can see examples sorted by tool’s categories: animation, audio, concept mapping, eportfolios, graphic novel, infographics, khan academy, maps, sketchnoting, video and voicethread.

One specific “label” with examples is “management“. That label shows  two different examples where a website was created to host a variety of different project choices made by students on the topic. The third example shows how an emagazine project can be differentiated by students taking on different roles in an authentic magazine that works with an editorial board.

Below you see a series of links to articles related to the different approaches to assessment that were presented at the workshop:

Research

• How to Design Questions and Tasks to Assess Student Thinking
• 8 Questions Teachers Should Ask When Giving Assessments
• The Six Types of Assessment (And How They Are Changing)
• Digital Tools for Implementing Formative Assessment (Post 1)
• Digital Tools for Implementing Formative Assessment (Post 2)
• Digital Storytelling and Authentic Assessments
• Differentiation: An Overview
• The Digital Learning Farm
• Redefining Fair: Damian Cooper on Differentiation (concise version)

11 potential tools:

• Google Maps/ Google Earth
• Infographics
• Voicethread
• Public Service Announcements
• Using Graphic Novels and Comics in the Classroom
• Graphic Novel Templates
• Graphic Novel Example
• Animation
  • http://www.stykz.net/animations.php
  • http://www.bloopanimation.com/animation-for-beginners/
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykwyx9NWtb8
• ePortfolio
• Sketchnoting
• Concept Mapping
• Khan Academy
• Digital Storytelling