Formative and Math: Gaining a Bird's-Eye View of Learning

This article discusses some of the ways Formative helps teachers get a bird's-eye view of learning in Math classrooms.

Tiffani Latrell
Formative
Quality Testing Analyst
Editorial Team
March 17, 2023
Topic

One of my formative childhood memories is this: I named my pet cockatiel “Ms. Pitts” after my second-grade teacher. Everyday in class, the human Ms. Pitts would bobble for hours at a time, tilting her head left and right and then ending with an affirmative nod as she scribbled her final notes to a student. She moved just like my bird!

Ironically, from a pedagogical standpoint, Ms. Pitts had constructed a “bird’s eye” view of class progress for herself, one that gave her specific insight into individual students. As a teacher myself, I know that this multi-student view comes at a premium. It’s hard to be like Ms. Pitts, which is why I was so grateful to discover Formative in 2019. It truly transformed my Algebra classroom into an interactive space.

The following tools truly set Formative above any other Math learning platforms.

Playbook

Reactive to Proactive

Aimed at teachers, students, trust leaders, and other educational changemakers, this comprehensive playbook details seven strategies for using Formative that will transform teaching and learning through the use of real-time feedback.

Download Now
Playbook

Reactive to Proactive

Aimed at teachers, students, trust leaders, and other educational changemakers, this comprehensive playbook details seven strategies for using Formative that will transform teaching and learning through the use of real-time feedback.

Download Now
Playbook

Reactive to Proactive

Aimed at teachers, students, trust leaders, and other educational changemakers, this comprehensive playbook details seven strategies for using Formative that will transform teaching and learning through the use of real-time feedback.

Download Now

View Responses. For a classroom with thirty unique learners, Formative’s View Responses screen scales a teacher’s ability to reach each one. Imagine leaning over every student’s shoulder at the same time you’re addressing the entire class. View Responses levels up teacher-student communication like no other, and helps build confident Math students!

When you can easily view student responses, differentiating feedback gets so much easier! Just select “Students with Similar Responses,” and send one message. Viewing responses also helps teachers do the following:

  • Write comments on student work
  • Collect data from each question’s chart summary
  • Manually adjust grading

Giving instant feedback fights the two main enemies of math students: math anxiety and a lack of confidence. Ongoing teacher-student chats, combined with paired or grouped analysis of mistakes and solutions, breeds a modern Socratic circle of learning that streamlines many facets of teaching. 

Formative Library. For Math content, the Formative library collection is filled with content from top creators including heavy hitters such as:

  • EngageNY
  • MathShell / MARS
  • Kendall Hunt’s Illustrative Mathematics (IM)
  • OpenUP

My trust was a champion of IM, and finding out I could create an assignment in literal minutes by adding items from the library was phenomenal. Library items can be filtered on Standard, Subject, or Grade; all items can be edited once you add them to a formative. 

Show Your Work. Each of Formative’s questions allow an easy Show Your Work toggle which gives students a space to enter written, drawn, or copy-and-pasted images. The diversity of question types encourages differentiated thought. With Show Your Work, students can respond to a variety of presentations in whatever fashion suits them best. It’s a real one-stop-shop for differentiating an assignment!

Webinar

Unlocking the Power of Formative Assessment

Join us live to learn about Formative’s enriched premium product features and how to develop a data-driven school culture to drive positive student outcomes, explore how to give educators a space to collaborate on student activities, and discover how to elevate and influence instruction and assessment trust-wide.

Register Now
Webinar

Unlocking the Power of Formative Assessment

Join us live to learn about Formative’s enriched premium product features and how to develop a data-driven school culture to drive positive student outcomes, explore how to give educators a space to collaborate on student activities, and discover how to elevate and influence instruction and assessment trust-wide.

Webinar

Unlocking the Power of Formative Assessment

Join us live to learn about Formative’s enriched premium product features and how to develop a data-driven school culture to drive positive student outcomes, explore how to give educators a space to collaborate on student activities, and discover how to elevate and influence instruction and assessment trust-wide.

Register Now

Formative is the “new natural” for teaching math - maybe for teaching in any modern classroom. Once you start using Formative, you’ll become your own Ms. Pitts!

Resources

Feel free to click any of the following popular links. Doing so will immediately add these Formative bundles directly to your Formative account!

Math - Open Up Resources Share Links

Math - Illustrative Mathematics Share Links

Math - MARS Tasks Share Links

Math - MARS Lessons Share Links

Math - EngageNY Share Links

Webinar

Formative Assessment as the Foundation of your Assessment System

Join experts Ryan Clark and Shawn McCusker in a 45-minute webinar, exploring the transformative power of formative assessment in the digital age. Register today to elevate your teaching and learning methodologies with Formative.

Learn More
Webinar

Formative Assessment as the Foundation of your Assessment System

Join experts Ryan Clark and Shawn McCusker in a 45-minute webinar, exploring the transformative power of formative assessment in the digital age. Register today to elevate your teaching and learning methodologies with Formative.

Learn More
Webinar

Formative Assessment as the Foundation of your Assessment System

Join experts Ryan Clark and Shawn McCusker in a 45-minute webinar, exploring the transformative power of formative assessment in the digital age. Register today to elevate your teaching and learning methodologies with Formative.

Learn More