Thread by @phys_educator

💯 Formative assessment increases the amount of learning that happens in your lessons & shrinks the gap between low- and high-achieving students

🧑‍🍳 But how can we bake it into our teaching?

👇 A thread that walks you through how I structure my #physed lessons to achieve this.

📗 Let's start off with a quick definition:

💯 Formative assessment refers to "frequent and ongoing ways to check students’ progress towards mastery."

📣 H/T @rickwormeli2

⚾️ The lesson I'm about to walk you through is from my Striking & Fielding Games unit. I run this unit as part of my G6 #physed curriculum.

🎯 The unit is built around the following @SHAPE_America grade-level outcomes.

👉 You can learn all about it here: thephysicaleducator.com/2020/11/23/the…

🗺 Based on those outcomes, I created a Learning Roadmap (qualitative rubric) for the unit.

🎯 This specific lesson focuses on the outcomes highlighted here (w/ emphasis on striking the ball to open space).

👉 Learn more about Learning Roadmaps here: thephysicaleducator.com/2020/01/21/how…

👀 Here is a visual overview of the different elements that went into this lesson.

✍️ Some details on the lesson:

#️⃣ This is the second lesson in the unit.
👥 Students: 28-30
⏰ Duration: 75min

🤿 Let's dive into the lesson:

⚡️ INSTANT ACTIVITY

⚾️ I had students start off by playing catch in small groups.

👉 Throwing/catching weren't assessed in the unit but were essential for "performing the correct defensive play"

💬 Catch gave kids a chance to get comfortable & me time to check in w/ everyone.

💡 WHAT/WHY/HOW

💬 I then brought everyone in to introduce the lesson with a What/Why/How discussion.

💡 What are we learning today?
🎯 Why are we learning it?
🔍 How will we know we have learned it?

👉 Learn more about What/Why/How discussions: thephysicaleducator.com/2014/11/24/wha…

👥 WALK & TALK

🚶 To help students activate prior knowledge, I had them pair up and engage in a Walk & Talk discussion.

👉 The focus: "What are the offensive and defensive goals in striking and fielding games?"

🎩 H/T to @andyvasily for teaching me about Walk & Talks!

🧲 ASSESSMENT MAGNETS

💭 Following our Walk & Talk debrief, I invited students to self-assess their ability to strike the ball to open space.

📍 They did so by placing their magnet under the Learning Roadmap level that best described their current level of mastery.

👉 PS: You can learn more about how these assessment magnets work and how I use them in my teaching by checking out the following blog post:

🔗 Plickers Assessment Magnets thephysicaleducator.com/2017/05/03/pli…

⚾️ RACE TO THE BASES (Build One)

💬 Now it's time to play! I break down Race To The Bases by introducing the first build of the game.

🏏 Students are then grouped and sent off to their playing areas. Once there, they may begin to play.

💬 TACTICAL TALK

👀 While students are playing the game in small groups, I'm visiting each group and engaging in tactical talk.

🎯 The goal: to prod students' understanding, elicit responses that help me know where they are at and provide "just-in-time" instruction.

📈 Working group-by-group helps me maximize activity/practice time.

📉 It also reduces the chances of me only hearing from certain students as engagement is higher in small group conversations.

⚾️ As I visit each group, I also introduce build two of the game.

📋 SPACE SHEET

💬 Once each group has had time to grapple with build two, I bring everyone in to review what came out of the Tactical Talks we had.

💯 I also introduce the Space Sheet: a self-assessment tool designed to help students make sense of their performance/progress.

⚾️ RACE TO THE BASES (Build Three)

🏏 Students are then invited to go back to their play area and explore the third build of the game.

✍️ As they do so, they complete their "Space Sheet" assessment (which I will collect, scan, and add to their digital portfolios later)

👉 PS: You can learn more about how I create/maintain digital portfolios in the following blog post.

⬇️ Side note: if the gifs in the post don't load, just click on them and they'll open in a new tab.

🔗 Physical Education Student Portfolios: thephysicaleducator.com/2017/02/21/cre…

🥵 While the students are learning & playing, I'm working my butt off!

📣 Providing feedback
🛠 Adding modifications where needed
💬 Engaging in more tactical talk
💯 Updating my gradebook

👉 Learn more about how I maintain my #physed gradebooks here: thephysicaleducator.com/2019/09/15/mea…

🧲 ASSESSMENT MAGNETS

📈 Towards the end of the lesson (but really at any time) students are invited once again to update their assessment magnets.

🎉 The act of physically moving a magnet towards the right (even if you don't change levels) is so satisfying for the kids!

🖥 GOOGLE CLASSROOM EXIT CARD

📝 Finally, after I've debriefed the class & sent them on their way, I followed up w/ an exit card in the form of a Google Form shared via Classroom.

💡 I used this to see if students understand the tactics explored in class.

🎉 That's it for this lesson walkthrough!

🤯 The lesson was designed with learning at the heart of every element and multiple venues for formative assessment:

🎯 Learning Targets
🧲 Assessment Magnets
💬 Tactical Talk
📋 Self-Assessment Sheets
💯 Gradebooks
📝 Exit Cards

📈 By increasing the number and variety of formative assessment opportunities in the lesson, we can maximize student learning.

🧁 And by being intentional with how we bake it all in, we ensure that students have meaningful experiences in #physed.

⚾️ Want to bring this unit to your program? Find all of the resources I created for it in my Striking & Fielding Games Teacher Pack. This includes:

⚾️ Game Sheets
💯 Assessment Tools
🗺 Learning Roadmap
📦 Unpacked Outcomes
📱 Numbers Gradebook

🔗 Link: thephysicaleducator.com/shop/striking-…

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