Sticky note assessment tools
4 assessment tips that make use of sticky notes
1. The sticky starter
Give each student a sticky note as they walk into your room; on the board have the instructions “Tell me one thing you know about ‘X'”.Then ask learners to share with a peer, then share with the class. This is a great way of gauging the existing knowledge in your room when you begin a new topic!
2. The mid-lesson sticky plenary
Pause the lesson and hand out sticky notes (you might use different colours to the starter if you did the starter activity). On the sticky note, ask learners to choose one of the key terms from the lesson and write a short definition of it. Insist students (where possible) use an example in their definition to demonstrate their depth of understanding.
3. Sticky peer assessment
(You might make use of the print-on sticky note idea here for this)
Give students sticky notes pre-printed with set criteria on them, ask them to review a peer’s work and leave the sticky note on their work with various boxes ticked, or their own notes added depending on how you structure it.
4. The final sticky plenary
“You can leave the room once you can explain X to me.”
I saw someone use this sentence in an interview lesson some years ago, and it’s always stuck with me.
Hand out a large sticky note and ask learners to write down as much as they know about the topic they have studied as they can possibly squeeze onto the note (while still being readable). Add to this a set number of key terms they should aim to use, or diagrams etc., and you can really play with the level of challenge here! Students I’ve done this with love trying to cram every fact onto the notes in imaginative ways (and of course don’t forget the back of the sticky note!).
Go sticky note crazy!
