Checking for Understanding
Ideas for effectively checking student comprehension
"Are
there any questions?" We've all said it to our students after giving
instructions. Yet, if none of the students asks a question, it doesn't mean that everyone
gets it. So how do we check for
understanding, before proceeding further? Here are three simple strategies you might try after giving instructions
to your class:
Partner Summary: Have each student turn
to a partner and take half a minute to come to agreement on what the directions are. Then have a volunteer
summarize the directions for the class. And then you can ask for questions. Better yet, say "Raise your hand
if you can think of a question someone else might have about what we're about
to do." Your overachievers will chime in
with questions, some of which will help your reticent participants (thanks to
Spence Rogers -www.peaklearning.com- for this "deferred question" strategy).
Random Response Summary: Call on Manuel to state the first step in the
instructions. Then call on Sally to say if she agrees with him or not (the
"class consultant" strategy). Then call
on George to repeat what Manuel said (the "echo" strategy). Repeat this process for each step of the
instructions. A variation is to give
each student the choice of adding to the instructions, or echoing the previous
student.
Choral Summary: Repeat the directions
leaving one critical word out, and have the class all fill in the word in
unison. For example, you say "The first thing you will do when I say "go" is
take out a piece of -----?" and the students all call out "paper!" Then you say "And once you have the paper you
need to write three things on it. The first thing to write is your ----?" They all say "name!" Then you say "And after your name you will
need to copy from the board the---?" and they say "question!" Make sure to give
the students enough information so they can succeed, and have the gap in your
speech be the last word in each sentence. To help get the response you want, put your hand to your ear when you
want students to speak their word out loud.
Have
another idea about checking for student comprehension? Please click here to email it to us and we may include it in our next newsletter.
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