This ASCD Study Guide is designed to enhance your understanding and application of the information contained in Checking for Understanding, an ASCD book written by Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey and published in September 2007.

You can use the study guide before or after you have read the book, or as you finish each chapter. The study questions provided are not meant to cover all aspects of the book, but, rather, to address specific ideas that might warrant further reflection.

Most of the questions contained in this study guide are ones you can think about on your own, but you might consider pairing with a colleague or forming a study group with others who have read (or are reading) Checking for Understanding.

Chapter 1: Why Check for Understanding?

1. What are common ways that teachers check for understanding? Identify some approaches that are effective and some that are not effective. What differentiates an approach as effective or not?
2. Discuss the differences between formative and summative assessments. When is each appropriate for use in the classroom?
3. Discuss the relationship between checking for understanding and understanding by design. How do these two ideas compliment each other?
4. Discuss the relationship between checking for understanding and differentiating instruction. How do these two ideas compliment each other?
5. Discuss the relationship between checking for understanding and the goals for closing the achievement gap. How do these two ideas compliment each other?
6. In their book Breakthrough, Fullan, Hill, and Crévola (2006) suggest that we need more precision teaching and less prescriptive teaching. What does this mean? Do you agree?

Chapter 2. Using Oral Language to Check for Understanding

1. What is oral language?
2. Why would an understanding of oral language development help teachers check for understanding?
3. Discuss the misuses of oral language in the classroom.
4. As you read the chapter, update the strategy grid (below) by adding a description of the strategy in your own words and ways in which you can use this strategy to check for understanding. Share your ideas with others who use the same strategy.
   

   
   

   Strategy	Description	How I can use it ...
   Accountable Talk
   Noticing Nonverbal Clues
   Value Lineups
   Retellings
   Think-Pair-Share
   Misconception Analysis
   Whip Around

   
   
5. Observe your colleagues in the next faculty meeting. What nonverbal clues do they use to signal interest, questions, or confusion?
6. Ask one of your colleagues to retell this chapter to you and practice using the retelling rubric.
7. What are common student misconceptions in the subjects you teach? Where do these misconceptions come from and how should we address them? It is especially helpful to discuss these questions with people who teach courses similar to yours.
8. Consider the example of history teacher Ted Clausen. What type of environment needs to be created such that students can discuss incorrect responses and identify flaws in the answers?

Chapter 3: Using Questioning to Check for Understanding

1. Why has questioning been used to assess comprehension for so long?
2. What types of questions help students think and provide teachers with an opportunity to check for understanding?
3. Discuss the misuses of questioning in the classroom.
4. As you read the chapter, update the strategy grid (below) by adding a description of the strategy in your own words and ways in which you can use this strategy to check for understanding. Share your ideas with others who use the same strategy.
   

   
   

   Strategy	Description	How I can use it ...
   Constructing Effective Questions
   Providing Nonverbal Support
   Developing Authentic Questions
   Response Cards
   Hand Signals
   Audience Response Systems
   ReQuest
   Socratic Seminar

   
   
5. Consider the QUILT framework for questioning. With a peer, identify a set of questions you could ask for an upcoming unit of study.
6. Use the seven components of listening to assess the habits of your colleagues and/or your students as they talk with one another. What instruction might your students need to improve their listening? What might you do to improve yours?
7. Consider the interaction between Ms. Jacobsen and her students. What is unique about this interaction? How does she engage her students through questioning? What questions would you like to ask her?

Chapter 4: Using Writing to Check for Understanding

1. Recap your thinking thus far about the ways in which teachers can check for understanding. What happens as you write? Did you discover ideas that you didn't know you had? Did you clarify your thinking? Did you identify new questions?
2. Discuss why writing can be used as an assessment tool across the curriculum and not just in English / language arts classes.
3. Discuss the misuses of questioning in the classroom.
4. As you read the chapter, update the strategy grid (below) by adding a description of the strategy in your own words and ways in which you can use this strategy to check for understanding. Share your ideas with others who use the same strategy.
   

   
   

   Strategy	Description	How I can use it ...
   Interactive Writing
   Read, Write, Pair, Share
   Summary Writing
   RAFT

   
   
5. Collect some student writing samples and meet with a colleague to determine whether or not the students understand the content. How does their writing inform you about their thinking?
6. Discuss the difference between think-pair-share and read-write-pair-share. When would you use each? When is one more appropriate for checking for understanding?
7. Summarize, on one page or less, your thoughts about checking for understanding. What skills did you use to accomplish this task? Were you successful? If so, why? If not, why not? Consider the instructional implications of summary writing based on your experiences.
8. Write a series of RAFT prompts for your content area. Share them with colleagues and collect a variety of prompts you can use in your classroom.

Chapter 5: Using Projects and Performances to Check for Understanding

1. What are the differences between projects and performances. When could each be used in checking for understanding?
2. What projects or performances have you been involved with that were especially powerful for your own learning?
3. Discuss the misuses of projects and performances in the classroom.
4. As you read the chapter, update the strategy grid (below) by adding a description of the strategy in your own words and ways in which you can use this strategy to check for understanding. Share your ideas with others who use the same strategy.
   

   
   

   Strategy	Description	How I can use it ...
   Readers' Theatre
   Multimedia Presentations
   Electronic and Paper Portfolios
   Graphic Organizers
   Inspiration®
   Foldables™
   Dioramas
   Public Performances

   
   
5. Discuss the four design principles for projects and performances. What are examples of each that have been used in situations where you were the learner? Have you been involved with projects or performances in which these design principles were not all in place? What happened?
6. The students at Hoover High School produced videos as part of their learning project. How do you think that media and the Internet facilitate learning? What are the risks of using these types of tools?
7. Talk with your colleagues about a public performance that you could create, linked to specific content standards, that would allow students an opportunity to demonstrate their learning with a larger audience.

Chapter 6: Using Tests to Check for Understanding

1. Discuss a time when you had a formal test. How did you feel? What did you do to prepare for the exam? What types of knowledge were tapped on the test and what types of knowledge were not?
2. Discuss the history of testing in schooling. Describe the uses of tests for accountability versus instruction.
3. Discuss the misuses of tests in the classroom.
4. As you read the chapter, update the strategy grid (below) by adding a description of the strategy in your own words and ways in which you can use this strategy to check for understanding. Share your ideas with others who use the same strategy.
   

   
   

   Strategy	Description	How I can use it ...
   Multiple Choice
   Short Answer
   Dichotomous Choices
   Essays

   
   
5. Select a content standard and develop at least two different types of test items (e.g., multiple choice, short answer, dichotomous choices, and essays). Discuss how the different items demonstrate student understanding and what each fails to show.
6. Search online or in a bookstore/library for sample test items. Analyze these items for their strengths and weaknesses. Use the checklist in figure 6.2 to determine if the item meets minimum standards.

Chapter 7: Using Common Assessments and Consensus Scoring to Check for Understanding

1. Discuss the importance of using data to improve student achievement. Note how assessments are useful in planning instruction.
2. Review the protocol for using common assessments and do an inventory of your school. Which of these components are in place, or could be easily put in place? Which will require professional development and/or administrative support?
3. As you read the chapter, update the strategy grid (below) by adding a description of the strategy in your own words and ways in which you can use this strategy to check for understanding. Share your ideas with others who use the same strategy.
   

   
   

   Strategy	Description	How I can use it ...
   Pacing Guides
   Instructional Materials and Arrangements
   Common Assessments
   Consensus Scoring and Item Analysis
   Revising Pacing Guides, Assessments, Reteaching and Forming Intervention Groups

   
   

Checking for Understanding: Formative Assessment Techniques for Your Classroom was written by Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey. This 170-page, 8" x 10" book (Stock # 107023; ISBN-13: 978-1-4166-0569-0) is available from ASCD for $20.95 (ASCD member) or $26.95 (nonmember). Copyright © 2007 by ASCD. To order a copy, call ASCD at 1-800-933-2723 (in Virginia 1-703-578-9600) and press 2 for the Service Center. Or buy the book from ASCD's Online Store.