We're going to discuss the key point, the different forms of assessment and some examples.
Key point
What is the point of assessment in lesson planning? The point is that in every lesson, there should be one or more activities that allow the teacher and the learners to
evaluate the extent to which learning has taken place. This can be done more or less formally, ranging from informal Concept Check Questions to the more formal but still formative self-assessment grids, to highly formal standardised tests.
What matters is that you know what your lesson aims are and that you have one or more ways to verify the extent to which they have been fulfilled. If you do a lesson whose aim is to learn how to write a short text message to a friend but at the end of the lesson you have no idea how much your students have learned, how can you decide what to do in your next lesson or what homework to assign?
Different types of assessment
Although "assessment" is very often taken to equate testing or summative assessment (i.e. assessment of learning, often measured with grades), this does not always need to be the case. You may want to introduce
formative assessment in your classes and use the data you collect to inform your teaching. For example, you may monitor your students' performance during a task and make notes or use
exit tickets at the end of a class.
Self-assessment
A specific form of assessment that is probably under-utilised is self-assessment, in which students evaluate themselves. They will need
guidance to do this and they should always know what they are doing this for. Self-assessment can be done in many different ways: see some examples in this
article.
Assessment grids
A question we get often is where to find assessment grids for upper or lower secondary. The answer is that an assessment grid, whether it is for teacher, self or peer assessment,
needs to be designed specifically to fit your lesson. So, as much as you may draw inspiration from the work of others, it is unlikely you will be able to find assessment grids that will apply to your specific lesson, which will have specific aims.
Remember that even the CEFR self-assessment grid (p. 177 of the
CEFR document) is unlikely to be useful for your specific lesson because it refers to how learners evaluate themselves broadly and not related specifically to what they did or learned in your class.
↪ How can I learn about assessment in lesson planning?
If you need to learn more about assessment, including self, peer and teacher assessment, as well as formative, summative, diagnostic assessment and more examples, here are the specific references to where you can find out more:
