Backward design seemed so straightforward as a sound, fundamental, common sense strategy when reading about. However, today I was caught off guard and a bit alarmed when creating the unit on formative assessment. Not once did I think of the Backward Design as an established framework that I could use for this activity. Instead I incorporated it as primary literature or vocabulary that I believed to be crucial to the formative assessment concept. It wasn’t until our discussion did I realize that I had completely overlooked Backward Design as a reliable framework to design a unit. Not only did my overall understanding of Backward Design grow , but the usefulness/utility exposed itself in a perfect Ah-ha moment! Designing courses/units shouldn’t be confusing or overwhelming, but exciting in the revealing sense of transparency, connections, and purposeful design!
Describing the most salient features of formative assessment to a science colleague would revolve primarily on a positive feedback loop between students and teachers characterized by its ongoing, dynamic, and progressive nature. It is a learning that is always learning by continuous evaluation of a student’s progress toward a desired goal where new information is gathered and added to guide decisions for future teaching and learning.
I am happy to hear about your "Ah-ha!" moment. I wanted the in-class activity to (1) help you see how Backward Design works and (2) show me your thinking about formative assessment. I think it was successful for #1, but not necessarily #2 because we ran out of time. Hence the second prompt you wrote about! :) I like how you highlight the process component of formative assessment. You mention both the student and the teacher. I think we have a good idea of the role of formative assessment for the teacher, but what about the student?
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