As a student, I always hated tests. I studied for hours and never felt prepared. I often tested poorly even though I could have talked to the teacher for hours about the topic. Traditional assessments did not allow me to show what I truly knew about a topic. Many students still feel the same way about tests and assessments. The following suggestions offer a different way for students to showcase their knowledge about a given topic instead of performing poorly on a “one size fits all†assessment (source).
Brain dumps allow students to complete a brain dump of information in an “everything I knew about this topic but wasn’t asked†question. This allows students to tell you everything they knew, studied, and prepared but wasn’t covered on the assessment.
Add a nailed it/not sure box to questions on the assessment (for younger students this could be emojis). Adding these boxes allows students to reflect and give feedback on their answers and allows the teacher to see how confident they are in their answers in order to determine what should be covered again.
Create an explain your answer question so that students can be more focused in their response and will alleviate any confusion for poorly worded questions.
Have students create their own assessment. By creating assessments, students begin to see how difficult it is and can appreciate the assessment in order to become better test takers.
Give students a choice between taking an assessment and another way of showcasing their knowledge on a given topic (write an essay, compose a song or poem, create a piece of art, etc). Allow students to use their passions and abilities to show the amount of knowledge on a given topic.
References:
All sourced information is hyperlinked as applicable above.
TLDR (too long didn’t read):
As a student, I always hated tests. I studied for hours and never felt prepared. I often tested poorly even though I could have talked to the teacher for hours about the topic. Traditional assessments did not allow me to show what I truly knew about a topic. Many students still feel the same way about tests and assessments. The following suggestions offer a different way for students to showcase their knowledge about a given topic instead of performing poorly on a “one size fits all†assessment (source).
@hollandkaylah