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To get the most out of an assessment, you need to know what you're looking for. Using a rubric can help your students understand the assignments in your classroom, and will make your grading process clearer, faster, and more objective and consistent.

This lesson introduces students to the concept of measurement focusing on centimetres and metres. It was designed for a year 3/4 composite class, has been tested and worked well as an introductory lesson to assess students current understanding and gaps in their learning to assist in the development of future lessons.

Really, there are so many apps available it can be hard to know where to begin and once you find something that looks useful, it's difficult to assess it properly until you've download and installed it on your iPad. iPad music apps that are free can take away the risk of choosing a dud and they can be useful when book-listing apps for students on a tight budget.

Technology tools also have value beyond teaching the core curriculum. Here are our recommendations for research-proven tech tools that can enable more comprehensive assessment and better collaborative discussions. We also explore the best resources for teaching digital literacy in the classroom.

I consciously overplan the first few days. The worst possible first-day scenario is to arrive unprepared. Over the years, I've collected a number of first-day activity ideas - far too many to use. I've pared down the activities based on the following considerations: My first goal is to build classroom community, making all students feel comfortable and successful. My second goal is to establish routine. My third goal is to formatively assess students' current levels in all subject areas. It's never too early to begin thinking about parent night. I choose activities that accomplish at least two of the goals stated above.

Some great ideas here for integrating ICT to facilitate better writing and formative assessment. Any experienced English teacher knows the drill: on the dreaded due date, students bring printed copies of their essays to class, where we collect them, take them home, jot inscrutable comments in the margins, bring them back to class, return them, and then watch students promptly toss them in the recycling bin on the way out of the room. The whole cycle borders on farce. Students pretend to spend many hours writing their papers, teachers pretend to spend many hours grading them, and we all pretend like repeating this process over and over again leads to something we in education like to call "student growth."

There are 20 different 'Thinking Keys' each designed to unlock different parts of the thinking process.The use of the keys helps to develop flexible problem solving and thinking habits. The thinking keys provide a flexible and dynamic way to engage students in further learning. They are a great way to do informal assessment during the unit for measuring student understanding. The students really enjoy the range of activities that the keys enable them to choose from and subsequently produce interesting and thoughtful work.

Some great rubrics to work with here. 

Online Rubric creator. Easy to use and customisable. 

53 Ways to Check for Understanding Some useful prompts and ideas for checking student understanding when on the fly.