Instructional Strategy #5

Assessment 

The fifth strategy focuses on assessing reading levels, including checking for understanding of a text. Many teachers are still trying to figure out the best methods for assessing their students remotely in a way that is accurate. Formative assessments can be very beneficially at this time, guiding teachers as they check-in on their students' progress. It is known that "Reading assessment is most useful when it provides teachers with detailed and up-to-date information about their students' reading development" (Morrow & Gambrell, 2019, p. 313). Frequent formative assessments can help teachers do just that, even without the ability to casually observe their students in the physical classroom. 

When checking on students' reading remotely, "Assessment here is "online" or in real time, and we get information about students' reading processes as they actually read" (Morrow & Gambrell, 2019, p. 315). This can be accomplished either over a live video meeting with individual students or with recorded student reading on platforms like Raz Kids or Flip Grid. Hearing and seeing a student read allows for oral reading data, and "With oral reading data, we may observe that a student is not consistently monitoring comprehension, as the student continues to read even when he or she is making meaning-changing miscues. We are able to pinpoint the problem, and we may be able to provide instruction to address a detailed, precise need based on our process-oriented reading assessment information" (Morrow & Gambrell, 2019, p. 315). 

If it is possible for the teacher to check in with the student virtually over a live video or recorded reading, "We can use the results of our assessment in a formative manner, to immediately shape our understanding of the developing reader and subsequent instruction" (Morrow & Gambrell, 2019, p. 311). 

Link to Raz Kids: 
https://www.raz-kids.com/

Using Raz Kids as a formative assessment tool: 




Link to Flip Grid: 
https://info.flipgrid.com/

Using FlipGrid as a formative assessment tool: