Formal and Informal Assessments

Reading and learning about this chapter was interesting because I began to think of ways I do both types of assessments. Last week I touched on the fact that I have given personality tests to students, which falls under the formal assessment category. As I thought of ways I give informal assessments, I imagined every day I meet with students at my site. Each time I meet with a student I ask them how they are doing, which is a type of informal assessment through self-reporting. I do this in the hallways when I see any of my students as a quick way to check in. I also observe students in the lunch room to see how they interact with other students, if they are eating that day, and who they sit with. These observations allow me to gain a better understanding of my students as a whole, rather than by just talking with them every week, once a week. I have also done a genogram with one of my students in order to gain a better understanding of the people she would frequently mentioned, and how each one played a role in her life.