Krajcik Chapter 9

In this article they explain assessments: both summative and formative, as a future teacher I must be able to use both assessments while teaching.

"If used effectively, both formative and summative assessments can inform classroom practices and help students learn. Formative assessments are those that help teachers make day-to-day decisions about instruction or help students learn. These assessments are used in the context of instruction to assess prior knowledge and are also embedded into instruction to guide teaching and learning. Summative assessments occur at the end of a unit of instruction or time period (such as upon completing a grade level) to determine achievement, issue grades,promote students, or demonstrate accountability."

The National Science Education Standards have these three guiding questions to base assessments on:

1. Where are you trying to go?

2. Where are you now?

3. How can you get there?

I believe that these three guiding questions are a great base for every lesson, and they should be thought about when teaching any students. Even though a teacher may have a specific goal in mind for the lesson being taught, they need to be open in adapting the lesson to answer (or assist when needed) any questions or ideas the students have while completing the lesson. Even though this may need extra time to complete, they need to take the time to cover the questions asked or ideas brought up. This can mean doing it in class, or guiding the students outside of class.