My Favorite Formative Assessment

If you were to do a walk-through of my classroom you would likely believe my favorit formative assessment to be Fist to Five. Multiple times during a period I will poll students on their performance and affective status. That process is quite explicit.  It would take an exceptionally insightful evaluator to identify my favorite form of formative assessment. It is listening. Yes, of course it is important to really hear what students are asking and what their questions convey about their understanding when they ask direct questions of the teacher. But, I'm talking about listening when those students don't think the teacher is listening. Sometimes just after I've set them to a cooperative task I duck into the chemistry prep room and sit at my desk at the door to the classroom. I just listen. I find out if they really know what they are supposed to do. I hear students explain concepts and guide others through procedures. It tells me about both types of students simultaneously. I usually don't even have to hide for them to reveal themselves. I have found there to be a perception unique to teenagers. They seem to believe that when they are speaking to another teen they are conversing in a language foreign to those over 20. It is amazing what they will say within my earshot or even when I am working adjacent to their lab station.