Using informal assessment to guide instruction

Mayor's Commission on Literacy- Basic Tutor Training

As a tutor, youll embed informal assessment into your tutoring sessions.

Mayor's Commission on Literacy- Basic Tutor Training

We sometimes find ourselves assessing mastery with "Does that make sense?"

However
Mayor's Commission on Literacy- Basic Tutor Training

It is better practice to ask direct, open ended questions. These will provide a much clearer evaluation of the learning and instruction.

Mayor's Commission on Literacy- Basic Tutor Training

Consider this scenario: You and your learner spent the tutoring session reviewing the formulas for area and circumference of a circle.

Area = x r2

Mayor's Commission on Literacy- Basic Tutor Training

If you wanted to conduct an informal assessment of learning you could ask:

Explain the difference between area and circumference? What is the relationship between area and circumference? Develop a problem to find area. Develop a problem to find circumference.

Mayor's Commission on Literacy- Basic Tutor Training

How would the responses from the student differ from asking, Does this make sense? Explain the difference between area and circumference? What is the relationship between area and circumference? Develop a problem to find area. Develop a problem to find circumference.

Mayor's Commission on Literacy- Basic Tutor Training

How would your understanding of what the student knows differ from asking one of these questions rather than, Does this make sense?
Explain the difference between area and circumference? What is the relationship between area and circumference? Develop a problem to find area. Develop a problem to find circumference.

Mayor's Commission on Literacy- Basic Tutor Training

Now, its your turn.

Think about your case study and what skills the student needs to reach his/her goal. Imagine you just spent a lesson teaching one of those skills. What open-ended questions could you ask to informally assess what the student has learned?

Mayor's Commission on Literacy- Basic Tutor Training