Having Fun with Formative Assessment

Having students answer questions individually can be a good way to see who is struggling and who is not, but this type of assessment doesn't have to be confined to "going around the room" or asking students down the line. This process can be gamified and made fun/competitive. For this, I use powerpoint games.

My power point games almost all come from Tekhnologic, and the best part is they are free to download! They are suitable for a range of ages and are easy to use!

Please check out this brilliant post and his other post about powerpoint games "10 more powerpoint games." They are brilliant, timesaving, and my students love them.

When I play the dungeon quiz with my classes, we turn off all the lights and draw the curtains to get that dark dungeon-y feeling, then we open them all up when we make it out the other side. This quiz has different characters which can represent different types of questions. My favorites are grammar and English usage.

I find jeopardy a great way to get my older (read: less enthusiastic) students to actually get competitive while reviewing materials. Plus I can see which categories students are having trouble with and revise my materials accordingly.

If you're looking for a way to liven your classroom, I highly recommend powerpoint games.