M-7 Acquire and Demonstrate Knowledge

Students demonstrate their knowledge through a variety of assessment tools and instructional strategies to ensure student understanding.

What does this look like in our schools and classrooms?

Use entry and exit tickets to gauge student understanding of lessons
Track student participation and response to questions using popsicle sticks, seating charts, or other methods
Use "Student Talk" time during PLCs to investigate how well students are learning material
Review student work with fellow teachers to ensure grading consistency, identify problem areas, and judge how well students are understanding the concepts
Use Interactive Notebooks to help students engage with content
Use formative assessments, checks for understanding, and frequent class discussion
Provide opportunities for application of content and learning through projects
Create and display anchor charts
Allow opportunities for other methods to demonstrate knowledge versus simply using tests
Provide hands-on learning activities that allow students to manipulative and see cause-effect relationships
Incorporate Project-Based Learning such as service learning, genius hour, Gateway projects and inquiry
Use assessment choice boards to incorporate different ways to show knowledge
Use discussion forums and backchannels to allow for student discussion and questioning

Exemplar Lessons & Strategies

How Can Technology Support this M-Powerment Strategy?

Google Forms
Surveys and Quizzes

Use for warm-ups and exit tickets with the Quiz function to self-grade
Survey students on their current understanding of content

Quizizz
Quiz game program played live or done for homework

Use to check for understanding after a lesson
Introduce new content with flipped lessons to determine baseline for learning

Today's Meet
Live-time discussion board with archive summaries

Use as a backchannel during direct instruction to collect questions
Use during class discussion or Socratic Seminars to give all students a voice

For Future Reading, Exploration, & Learning

Educational Articles

Check out these additional research-based articles and books related to this M-Powerment Strategy.

Fantastic, Fast Formative Assessment Tools - Edutopia
Teaching a Class With Big Ability Differences - Edutopia
Is Your Classroom Academically Safe? - Cult of Pedagogy
Exit Tickets: Checking for Understanding - Edutopia
Just-in-Time Support with Scaffolding - Ed Leadership
32 Research-Based Instructional Strategies - TeachThought
Why Talk is Important in Classrooms - ASCD
Dipsticks: Effective Ways to Check for Understanding - Edutopia

Self-Paced PD

To explore more about this strategy, check out some of the sessions that have been offered at previous Summer Institutes related to this strategy. Each one contains lots of strategies you can implement and resources you can use to improve your practice.

Instructional Coach-Created Resources

Newsletters and contests created by our Instructional Coaches and School Library Media Coordinators have lots of resources and ideas you can implement. Here are a few that relate to this strategy.