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This is a great little interactive program that lets you express learning objectives on the Bloom Taxonomy pyramid by selecting one of the objectives and then being presented with the correct verbage, which pops into a simple text editor. Copy into a word processor and print, or copy to your lesson plan. This is very practical, but the teacher needs to keep in mind that language practice doesn't always fall neatly into a Bloom characteristic.

"Today the lecture system is the preferred teaching style used by 89% of science professors. Indeed, lecture is a comfortable format for many instructors and a non-threatening one for students. It is low cost, easy to control, and an excellent method for organizing course content. However, many of us are becoming more aware that during lecture students are not actively engaged with the topic, they don�t seem to listen for very long, and their retention of concepts is minimal. Studies show that students are not attentive 40% of the time they are in class and that although attention is high for the first 15 minutes, it declines rapidly until the final 10 minutes of class. " K. Timberlake makes a good case for student-centered strategies, such as group work, and mini-lectures, peer presentations, and formative assessment.

R. Stannard shows how to create flashcards in any language for this site.

"Formative assessment: you've heard about it, you've read the research, and you've probably tried it out in your classroom. "Whether you're a formative assessment newbie or a veteran, these techniques can help spice up how you check for understanding in the classroom. They range from the classics, like exit slips, to ideas you may have never thought to try. "This post was inspired by Todd Finley's big, printable list, "53 Ways To Check For Understanding"." Interesting ideas for formative assessment that also involve the students in their own assessment.

R. Stannard shows how to use Quizlet and find ready-made sets in the interface. Quizlet also works inside Edmodo and can be used for tests and assessments. He also recommends that you teach students how to use Quizlet themselves, so as to review concepts and vocabulary for themselves.

"For most students, assessment can be a bit of a mystery, which is really unfortunate given how much a student's future depends on how a teacher assesses his or her achievement. In Ontario, we've been working hard to make assessment explicit to students and parents. One of the expectations is that educators and students co-construct success criteria and rubrics so that students have a thorough understanding of what is expected of them." Shows how a class of 6th-graders creates their own holistic rubrics for a difficult class project using ideas from the Ontario Achievement Chart.

"an articulation of four major perspectives on assessment: associative, constructivist, social constructivist, and situative (see the diagram below). This is an excellent report, full of examples, case studies, and practical guides." The site links to a pdf guide to Technology-enhanced assessment and feedback.

This is a really nice example of how students use a podcast to present a project and self-evaluate their own speaking.

Yeh uses a podcast to listen to and comment on students' speeches.

These are three ways to hear from students what they think about the class and how things are going for them. Well worth consideration as alternative assessment procedures. From Vicki Davis on Edutopia

"What is qualitative formative assessment? Some call it anecdotal or informal assessment. However, such designations imply passivity -- as if certain things were captured accidentally. I believe the word "formative" should always be included with the word assessment because all feedback mechanisms should help shape and improve the person (or situation) being assessed. Wedging the word "qualitative" into my terminology differentiates it from the analytic or survey-based measures that some associate with the term formative assessment." Richards discusses using mobile tools for on the spot assessment in a variety of ways.

From R. Byrne: "Creating and delivering quizzes and tests online offers a number of advantages over paper-based quizzes and tests. Many online quiz services allow you to create quizzes that give your students instant feedback. Some of the services provide the option to include picture and video prompts in your quizzes. And all of these services save you the hassle of printing your quizzes. "

"Here, four ways to offer feedback that really makes a difference, drawn from research in psychology and cognitive science:" These include: 1.Supply information about what the learner is doing, rather than praise or criticism. 2. Take care in how feedback is presented so it doesn't reduce motivation. Have learners be involved in analyzing their own performance. 3. Orient feedback to goals. 4. use feedback to develop metacognitive skills.

These tools help you ensure on the fly that students understand what you are teaching.

"Interactive, Collaborative, Crowd-powered Video Learning" MIT is using Crowdy to label and insert questions in segments of video to increase learning efficiency. Stats can be collected from learners' answers.

An excellent video of the teacher and students using the lesson plan, this lesson from the Teaching Channel walks you through preparation for a writing assignment. It was developed through an EQuIP Peer Review Panel to ensure alignment with the Common Core standards, and was created by teachers and administrators working with the Massachusetts Dept of Elementary and Secondary Ed Model Curriculum Project. It uses a "Smart Chart" to deepen student understanding of rhetorical devices and has students collaborate in a ranking activity. Has links to a place where you can submit your own lessons for a free EQuIP panel review, and links to other related lesson plans.

"Part of the strength of the TELL Project is its built-in ability for teachers to self-determine how well they currently meet the criteria defined in the Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning Framework, relative to the growth they would like to make. To assist teachers in this aspect of reflective practice, TELL makes available self-assessment documents that allows an educator to pause and consider their current practice to identify possible areas of professional growth." The subtitle of this article is that "People don't learn from experiences, they learn from reflecting on their experiences." Has downloadable worksheet to help you find out if you have a safe and supportive learning environment.

This pdf has some good ways to check for understanding while in the process of reading a longer work.

Adaptive learning games that you or your students can create and share. A great many games and quizzes are already to use on the site and will give you ideas for quick assessments. Similar in some respects to Quizlet.

"The joy and engagement inherent in making are undeniable, but we also want to be clear about the overall learning outcomes of maker education, which is where assessment plays a crucial role. "Assessing maker education allows us to point to evidence and practices that support learning to be more meaningful. It also allows teaching to be more youth-centered, and young people to have more agency in their learning. And assessing maker education asks us to consider a student's growth and evolution over time."