Reflective Essay On Formative Assessment

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During my teaching career, assessment has played a critical role in ensuring that my students’ learning needs are being addressed. In particular, assessment for learning has provide me with on-going information as to how my students are understanding new concepts.

When I first started teaching, the importance of assessment as a part of the teaching and learning process was not considered a priority. However, when I was introduced to formative assessment through the WNCP document (2010), I realized how essential it was to continually monitor student learning using various techniques.

It was then that I also received my own personal exposure to formative assessment while working as a curriculum developer with Inuit Elders. I was bestowed with the honour of leading a
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In addition, when I noted that one student was having particular trouble due to gaps in his learning, I created some differentiated instructional strategies for him. Without using some of these formative assessment techniques, I would not have known that some students were struggling in order to apply remediation in a timely fashion.

Based on my personal experiences using formative assessment, I feel that all teachers would benefit from incorporation of assessment for learning techniques into their daily teaching repertoire. Such assessments are not onerous, or difficult, to implement and the information they provide on student learning is invaluable. The key point is that this information allows a teacher to refine their planning such that the needs of all learners are best

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