UDL: Action & Expression (Formative)

Assessing students as we teach is a fundamental practice of good teaching.  Simply asking students to answer a question or write about a certain topic is not always the most effective way to do this, however.  Students like all of us want to be engaged and entertained while at school so why shouldn't we as teachers make our formative assessments interesting and engaging?

For my research on this topic I went to the website for the National Center on Universal Design for Learning.  The website suggests three different ways we can formatively assess student understanding.  Each of these differ in practice so that kids can express their learning in different ways.  The first is physical action, this basically means that students differ in their ability to use the materials in a classroom.  The second was expression and communication, this is students abilities to express themselves.  The example used on the website was that a dyslexic may be able to tell a story perfectly, but may struggle to write it.  The student struggles with that particular mode of expression.  The final way we can assess student understanding was through executive functions.

What all of this means for us as educators is that we must provide multiple ways for students to perform formative assessments.  Students differ in their talents and abilities and the more options we can provide the better.  The good news about this is that thanks to technology, the sky really is the limit when it comes to formative assessments.  There are resources to quiz students, help them create neat things, and answer on the spot questions in presentations.  When these tools are utilized and given to students in a variety, we as educators can gain a better understanding of what they understand.



The URL for the National Center on Universal Design for Learning: http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines/principle2#principle2_g4

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