by Lee Watanabe-Crockett | Assessment
How do we measure learners’ understanding? What sets the master teacher apart from the amateur? The masters have perfected assessment for understanding, rather than simply knowledge. However, in their oft-quoted book Understanding by Design, Grant Wiggins and... 
by Lee Watanabe-Crockett | Essential Questions
For a long time we’ve advocated the use of self-reflective questions with our learners as a way for them to debrief their learning processes in the classroom in order to improve and grow. This is just as useful a practice for teachers as it is for learners, because in... 
by Lee Watanabe-Crockett | Assessment
Why we assess learning has been a philosophical discussion happening in education on many different levels. Whatever the case may be, what we do know for certain is that it is only the learners, and not the teacher, who create learning. It is the teacher’s role to... 
by Lee Watanabe-Crockett | Assessment
When we wrote our book Mindful Assessment our mission was to provide educators the world over with a singular understanding—that it is the learner, and not the teacher, who creates learning. As teachers, it’s our responsibility to learn how to guide that... 
by Lee Watanabe-Crockett | Assessment
Formative assessment problems are a fact of life and learning. FA has its challenges to be sure. Remember that no assessment method is really 100% foolproof. There’s so much to consider and so many different students. You can fix many formative assessment... 
by Lee Watanabe-Crockett | Assessment
Assessment happens every day in our classrooms, so it’s got to be as simple and effective as possible. Simple daily assessment strategies like the ones from Saga Briggs in this TeachThought article fit the bill perfectly. One of the highest goals of education is... 
by Lee Watanabe-Crockett | Assessment
Making fast formative assessments is a dream for teachers, but they also need to be accurate and informative for learners. Kids certainly need to know where they’re at with their learning and what the next steps are. However, with increasing classroom sizes and... 
by Lee Watanabe-Crockett | Assessment
Innovative formative assessment examples are part of what defines any modern classroom. They provide crucial information about what students understand and what they don’t. These ungraded assessments are also valuable guides for students. It can help them enhance... 
by Lee Watanabe-Crockett | Assessment
When it comes to teaching we must remember that it’s only the learners, not the teacher, who create learning. The teacher’s role in learning is guiding the process by responding to a learner’s performance. Ultimately the best way for that to happen is by... 
by Lee Watanabe-Crockett | Assessment
Downplaying how extraordinary kids are at any age is a huge mistake. What this means for teachers is that the classroom environment is a great place to allow students to “take the wheel” in learning. Student-led formative assessment activities can give students the...