Student-Generated Questions

• Nearly every topic in school is tested with some sort of exam or quiz. You can use this to your advantage as an educator by asking your students to come up with their own set of test questions based on their knowledge of a particular subject. Writing the questions will force students to think about the course and its topics as well as their understanding. You can use the questions as a barometer for how effective your teaching methods are, and you can conduct a class discussion over popular topics.
  
  

Suggestion Box

• When people think of a suggestion box, they may think of the type found in business settings. However, an anonymous suggestion box can be an excellent classroom assessment technique. Encourage students to drop suggestions for new teaching methods, different activities, feedback on lessons or topics they would like to see covered. This can give you real-time feedback on how your students rate your teaching performance.
  
  

One-Minute Papers

• At the end of the day or a class period, ask your students to write a brief essay about the most important thing they learned during that session. Students should include the thing they understood the most as well as the thing they understood the least. These essays are not graded but are instead used to show you what areas you covered well and what areas may need a different approach. This assignment can be conducted once or twice a week.
  
  

Third-Party Help

• Several companies specialize in classroom assessment techniques. A school administrator or principal may elect to have one of these companies come to the school to provide a thorough assessment of each teacher and his students. Traditionally, representatives from these companies will sit down with each class and walk through a series of exercises and questions to get an idea of how the students perceive their teacher. The teacher is not present for these activities but will receive feedback once they are complete.