Strategies for conducting quick formative assessments are nice to have as part of your teacher toolkit. Whether you want to gauge your students’ understanding of a concept or whether you are looking to take the temperature of the room with regard to certain topic, quick formative assessments can help provide you with the information that you need to make decisions about the next steps in the learning process. A strategy that you can use to formatively assess students in a large group setting is called “Four Corners.”
“Four Corners” is relatively simple. Start by identifying each corner of the room as corresponding to a particular response to a prompt. If you want to use multiple-choice style prompts, for instance, you can identify each corner of the room as A, B, C, and D. You can use other types of prompts as well. For example, you could have students rate their agreement with a statement and have each corner of the room correspond to “strongly agree,” “agree,” “disagree,” and “strongly disagree.” The strategy allows for a variety of different response types. The key is that students have to make a choice about their answer from a set of possible responses. You may wish to consider making some signs (that have the various responses) to post in the room so that students remember which corner corresponds to which answer.
Once the room has been set up, state or post a prompt that the students need to respond to. The strategy works particularly well for prompts that do not necessarily have a single correct answer. This helps to avoid the potential problem of group think or of having students simply follow the crowd to a “correct” answer. To signal their answers, students should get up and physically move to the corner of the room that corresponds to their responses. At this point, you can start to see where the students are at with regard to the question. To extend the activity, you can engage students in a discussion about why they answered the way that they did. You could have students pair up with someone in the same corner (or in a different corner) and discuss their thoughts in small groups.
After students have finished responding to and discussing the prompt, you can then provide another prompt and repeat the process. Feel free to ask as many questions as appropriate for the particular concept that you are working on.
“Four Corners” is a great activity to use as a formative assessment. As an instructor, you can literally watch students answer the questions, and you can use their responses to spark discussion and to make decisions about what needs to happen next instructionally. The activity is also a great way to get students moving in the classroom and to engage students who are kinesthetic learners.
Here are some examples of prompts that illustrate the use of the “Four Corners” strategy.
PROMPT: “I feel confident in my ability to write a clear thesis statement for a 5-paragraph essay.”
RESPONSES: Strongly Agree – Agree – Disagree – Strongly Disagree
PROMPT: “The most important issue in the upcoming presidential election is…”
RESPONSES: A. Economy – B. Immigration – C. Healthcare – D. Tax Reform
PROMPT: “Which problem-solving strategy do you use most often when solving a word problem?”
RESPONSES: A. Guessing-and-Checking – B. Solving an Equation – C. Looking for a Pattern – D. Sketching a Diagram
PROMPT: “Rate your understanding of the concept that we just reviewed.”
RESPONSES: A. I’ve got it! – B. I have a question or two. – C. I’m confused. – D. I’m totally lost.
“Four Corners” is a flexible formative assessment strategy that can be used in a variety of ways. It is relatively simple to organize and plan for, and it provides quick information about where students are at with regard to a particular concept or skill. The strategy can be used to spark discussion and to engage students in kinesthetic learning. Having a variety of assessment strategies in your teaching toolkit is important for keeping instruction fresh and engaging for students, and “Four Corners” is one of those tools that can help you liven up the classroom while gathering important information about student learning. Note - you can also use this as an icebreaker activity - see the section on Inclusive Icebreakers for more information!