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So What Do They Really Know?: Assessment That Informs Teaching and Learning
So What Do They Really Know? Cris Tovani explores the complex issue of monitoring, assessing, and grading students' thinking and performance with fairness and fidelity. Like all teachers, Cris struggles to balance her student-centered instruction with school system mandates. Her recommendations are realistic and practical; she understands that what isn't manageable isn't sustainable. Cris describes the systems and structure she uses in her own classroom and shows teachers how to use assessments to monitor student growth and provide targeted feedback that enables students to master content goals. She also shares ways to bring students into the assessment cycle so they can monitor their own learning, maximizing motivation and engagement. So What Do They Really Know? includes a wealth of Lessons from Cris's classroomTemplates showing how teachers can use the workshop model to assess and differentiate instructionStudent work, including samples from linguistically diverse learners, struggling readers, and college-bound seniorsAnchor charts of student thinkingIdeas on how to give feedbackGuidelines that explain how conferring is different from monitoringSuggestions for assessing learning and differentiating instruction during conferencesAdvice for managing ongoing assessmentCris's willingness to share her own struggles continues to be a hallmark of her work. Teachers will recognize their own students and the challenges they face as they join Cris on the journey to figure out how to raise student achievement.
165 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2011
24 people are currently reading
448 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
April 28, 2012
I loved all the ideas in this book, and I'm excited to incorporate some into my course next year. I would have liked to see more about how she translates the work her students do into grades. I struggle with how to boil down all the work my students do into one letter. Thanks for all the thinking about assessment.
February 13, 2022
I read this one for my SS methods course that I'm taking in graduate school. I think that this is one of the best textbooks that I've had for a class ever.
June 26, 2011
A must-read for middle school and high school teachers interested in assessment that informs teaching and learning.
Some notes...
*Tovani uses Conversation Calendars with her students. These calendars allow teacher and students to "talk back and forth". It gives data quickly and helps build the teacher-student relationship. As the year progresses, the Conversation Calendar can be used to assess curricular understanding. An example of the calendar is provided in the Appendix.
*Another useful resource in the Appendix is the Inner-Voice Sheet. Students are asked to record the conversation in their heads as they are reading.
*Tovani discusses the importance of teaching students to annotate text. "Annotating is a written record of how readers think as they read instead of after they read." (p.87)
*Good quote: "The more ways students have to think about text, the more proficient at reading they will become." (p. 87)
*LOVE this quote: "What was educationally significant but hard to measure has been replaced by what is educationally insignificant and easy to measure. So now we measure how well we've taught what isn't worth learning." -Art Costa, founding director of the Institute for Habits of the Mind
*Tovani writes about her own grading practices and how her beliefs support them...Three categories when assigning points: attempt and completion; growth and improvement; mastery and understanding.
This wonderful resource has many core beliefs and ideas to guide teachers' teaching and students' learning.
Some notes...
*Tovani uses Conversation Calendars with her students. These calendars allow teacher and students to "talk back and forth". It gives data quickly and helps build the teacher-student relationship. As the year progresses, the Conversation Calendar can be used to assess curricular understanding. An example of the calendar is provided in the Appendix.
*Another useful resource in the Appendix is the Inner-Voice Sheet. Students are asked to record the conversation in their heads as they are reading.
*Tovani discusses the importance of teaching students to annotate text. "Annotating is a written record of how readers think as they read instead of after they read." (p.87)
*Good quote: "The more ways students have to think about text, the more proficient at reading they will become." (p. 87)
*LOVE this quote: "What was educationally significant but hard to measure has been replaced by what is educationally insignificant and easy to measure. So now we measure how well we've taught what isn't worth learning." -Art Costa, founding director of the Institute for Habits of the Mind
*Tovani writes about her own grading practices and how her beliefs support them...Three categories when assigning points: attempt and completion; growth and improvement; mastery and understanding.
This wonderful resource has many core beliefs and ideas to guide teachers' teaching and students' learning.
December 24, 2011
Oh, my. Do I love this woman! Tovani IS a teacher...her stories are grounded in her practice. She talks about things that really happen. This book is all about assessment...she and I both groan and wince when we hear the word "assessment". But she has made it work by concentrating on what she can control -- formative assessment of what's important to her and her students.
I appreciated her ideas for self reflection and the conversations she has with her students with her stickies...
She challenges all teachers to ground our assessment in our beliefs about teaching and learning, in our beliefs about our kids and their capabilities.
she signed my book: "I want to teach with you." Great line, I'm sure she signs all books this way. But, man, do I want to teach with her. She loves her students, she loves teaching...she is a master teacher.
I'll be working on making my own beliefs about assessment public.
I appreciated her ideas for self reflection and the conversations she has with her students with her stickies...
She challenges all teachers to ground our assessment in our beliefs about teaching and learning, in our beliefs about our kids and their capabilities.
she signed my book: "I want to teach with you." Great line, I'm sure she signs all books this way. But, man, do I want to teach with her. She loves her students, she loves teaching...she is a master teacher.
I'll be working on making my own beliefs about assessment public.
January 13, 2012
A good resource to have on hand when starting conversations regarding formative assessment within the learning community. Nice talking points regarding this intervention/strategy. Cris spends some time in the book talking about the importance of knowing the students in that room.
A super resource if you have ever heard Chris present as the book serves as a nice, tangible reminder of her excellent points and suggestions made during these presentations.
A super resource if you have ever heard Chris present as the book serves as a nice, tangible reminder of her excellent points and suggestions made during these presentations.
April 11, 2012
I like Cris Tovani because she teaches in a way that I can see myself teach. I like how personalized her approach is. Reading this book was a good reminder of what I need to be doing each day to tailor my instruction to the students in my class and not the calender. I am excited to incorperate her conversation calenders into my co-taught classes. I also really liked the idea of inner voice sheets to accompany SSR instead of a reading log.
February 14, 2020
I’ve been part of a training series with Chris Tovani this school year, and have learned so much from her. I love her reading strategies including inner-voice practice and questioning the text more often. I’m inspired to turn the kids loose to do their own discovering with complex texts rather than spoon-feeding them information.
July 15, 2011
Good discussion of formative and summative assessments. Reading this book has inspired me to rethink some of my daily practices, namely how I "take status" when instead I could use the time conferring with students and the way I use sticky notes, logs, and exit tickets.
January 30, 2019
Good for a new teacher but nothing new for seasoned educators.
May 23, 2018
Whew. Ok.
The big, brilliant takeaway from the book is that teachers should constantly be doing informal assessments and use those assessments to alter their course to the needs of the students.
The good: it’s a good idea. It’s important. I believe in it.
The bad: oh boy. There’s so much to discuss. Most of the book is a repetition of the same idea, over and over. I feel like I just read the same chapter five or six times in a row. In addition, Tovani sometimes uses a very condescending tone. She quotes from principals and other teachers who have asked her questions or given comments and gives her reply in a highly “so there, look at me, I’m so brilliant and you’re not” kind of a tone before changing topic.
One example is on page 141. There is a teacher who believes that in order to learn responsibility, her students must turn in all work on time. This is a common thought in American education, so it is understandable how she would come to this conclusion. Instead of understanding and having an open discussion, Tovani writes, “In all honestly, I’d prefer to teach responsibility to my daughter rather than leaving it up to the twenty-three-year-old algebra teacher with the tattoo peeking out from her midriff.” I agree with Tovani that deadlines are not as important as understanding material. However, I do not think that her condescending, holier-than-thou attitude is doing her any favors.
TLDR; good ideas from an author/teacher who needs to be more humble.
The big, brilliant takeaway from the book is that teachers should constantly be doing informal assessments and use those assessments to alter their course to the needs of the students.
The good: it’s a good idea. It’s important. I believe in it.
The bad: oh boy. There’s so much to discuss. Most of the book is a repetition of the same idea, over and over. I feel like I just read the same chapter five or six times in a row. In addition, Tovani sometimes uses a very condescending tone. She quotes from principals and other teachers who have asked her questions or given comments and gives her reply in a highly “so there, look at me, I’m so brilliant and you’re not” kind of a tone before changing topic.
One example is on page 141. There is a teacher who believes that in order to learn responsibility, her students must turn in all work on time. This is a common thought in American education, so it is understandable how she would come to this conclusion. Instead of understanding and having an open discussion, Tovani writes, “In all honestly, I’d prefer to teach responsibility to my daughter rather than leaving it up to the twenty-three-year-old algebra teacher with the tattoo peeking out from her midriff.” I agree with Tovani that deadlines are not as important as understanding material. However, I do not think that her condescending, holier-than-thou attitude is doing her any favors.
TLDR; good ideas from an author/teacher who needs to be more humble.
July 18, 2017
Cris Tovani's books are so genuine and practical. "So What" demonstrates for teachers that teaching reading can be simple and complex at the same time. Simple in that you don't need a lot of bells and whistles and activities-just a few tried and true ones that you can keep coming back to. Complex in that students need your careful eye on their progress at every step so that you can direct feedback in a student centered way. I'm giving this book to our new reading teacher--it's a must read for any new interventionist!
March 13, 2022
Fantastic read for everyone - not just instructors and students. Read as assigned reading for classwork on becoming a reading specialist, but learned SO MUCH about myself as a learner and about how to be the most effective (supportive, transformative, engaging) instructor for students of any age.
Tovani stuff this book full of skills, strategies, and tools to use as a reader, and still makes it compulsively readable. Decades of experience and research have formed her thinking, and it shows.
Will read again and again. It's already changed how I read & think about my own reading.
Tovani stuff this book full of skills, strategies, and tools to use as a reader, and still makes it compulsively readable. Decades of experience and research have formed her thinking, and it shows.
Will read again and again. It's already changed how I read & think about my own reading.
September 28, 2019
After reading this text, I have bookmarked many techniques to put into practice. There are a wealth of experiences that relate to the voices and circumstances I see with my students, as well as resources that I can utilize to better assess student understanding. I recommend this book to any educator.
May 8, 2019
Tovani presents some excellent strategies for helping to understand what your students know and can do without a traditional "assessment"
Would definitely recommend to my English teacher pals...
Would definitely recommend to my English teacher pals...
July 27, 2011
Though there's repetition from Tovani's earlier books, this book focuses squarely on assessment, an Achille's heel for more than one English teacher, and shows you how Tovani's thinking has evolved over the years. It incorporates the reading strategy approach (see Pearson et al.) she has helped make famous, as well as the workshop approach Nancie Atwell made famous (ironic, in its way, as Atwell has criticized the reading strategy approach).
I like how Tovani shows a workshop being used for reading and how writing plays a key role in it. She gives a nod to Samantha Bennett (That Workshop Book) and shows how you can divide the time of a workshop, starting with essential question, followed by mini-lesson, work time, "catch and release" break, more work time, and debriefing. During work time -- and this is key -- the teacher does not shuffle around and look over shoulders OR, God forbid, sit at her desk and check e-mails (admit it, you've all seen it done). Tovani shows the importance of conferring and gathering data. THIS is assessment, and it not only drives the next lesson, it often determines the "catch and release" pause that very day.
Formative assessment rules the day in this book. If you're a big summative assessment English teacher, you're wasting your weekend grading and writing all of those comments. By then it's too late and it's all for naught. Comments should help students to get smarter and are best used to give them another shot at it along the way. Thus Tovani endorses conferring notes, conversation calendars, annotated texts, double-entry diaries, students' surveys and responses, exit tickets, inner voice sheets, writing samples and drafts, silent reading response sheets, work folders, discussion records, and response journals. Most, though not all, are shown in this book. Overall, it's a smart blending of much of the latest thinking in reading research. Furthermore, if assessment has been a bear (and I don't mean Yogi) for you, you owe it a look.
I like how Tovani shows a workshop being used for reading and how writing plays a key role in it. She gives a nod to Samantha Bennett (That Workshop Book) and shows how you can divide the time of a workshop, starting with essential question, followed by mini-lesson, work time, "catch and release" break, more work time, and debriefing. During work time -- and this is key -- the teacher does not shuffle around and look over shoulders OR, God forbid, sit at her desk and check e-mails (admit it, you've all seen it done). Tovani shows the importance of conferring and gathering data. THIS is assessment, and it not only drives the next lesson, it often determines the "catch and release" pause that very day.
Formative assessment rules the day in this book. If you're a big summative assessment English teacher, you're wasting your weekend grading and writing all of those comments. By then it's too late and it's all for naught. Comments should help students to get smarter and are best used to give them another shot at it along the way. Thus Tovani endorses conferring notes, conversation calendars, annotated texts, double-entry diaries, students' surveys and responses, exit tickets, inner voice sheets, writing samples and drafts, silent reading response sheets, work folders, discussion records, and response journals. Most, though not all, are shown in this book. Overall, it's a smart blending of much of the latest thinking in reading research. Furthermore, if assessment has been a bear (and I don't mean Yogi) for you, you owe it a look.
November 2, 2022
This book had some great ideas that are easy to implement. I definitely feel like some logistics are missing (especially in the grading section), but I found some things I want to use (I love the inner voice sheet). A lot of this wasn't super revolutionary to me, but it was a good reminder to use assessment in small ways to guide your teaching.
June 11, 2013
I gave this book three stars only because I didn't find her message to be that provocative or particularly earth-shattering. Though after typing that I realize that perhaps that is why it should earn higher scores.
This book features good solid advice, but not enough variations on that theme. Essentially, she discusses how to structure a class so that you can find out what a kid knows right then and there and react. I think this is something that good teachers do or strive to do.
The workshop division of time in a class period was interesting, but for a block schedule. No discussion of how it might change in a regular class period. Or whether it would change at all. I felt this was a major shortcoming of this book.
Another slight concern: This was written in 2011 and all the activities are paper-based. NOT a problem, but I find that I am moving towards a paperless classroom. I think that this poses a new challenge for collecting annotations--a challenge that I have not solved yet.
This book features good solid advice, but not enough variations on that theme. Essentially, she discusses how to structure a class so that you can find out what a kid knows right then and there and react. I think this is something that good teachers do or strive to do.
The workshop division of time in a class period was interesting, but for a block schedule. No discussion of how it might change in a regular class period. Or whether it would change at all. I felt this was a major shortcoming of this book.
Another slight concern: This was written in 2011 and all the activities are paper-based. NOT a problem, but I find that I am moving towards a paperless classroom. I think that this poses a new challenge for collecting annotations--a challenge that I have not solved yet.
November 11, 2011
This was a refreshing and empowering read. Nothing in it was completely earth-shattering, but I enjoyed the student examples (especially a text-conversation between student and teacher about the Great Gatsby) and practicality.
Highlights:
Discussion of workshop model and where to embed assessment
Great examples of how annotation is formative assessment
Examples of how annotation can be used in all disciplines
Learning targets with formative assessment techniques
Clarification of "Hard vs. Rigorous"
Issues:
Tovani's workshop and intervention centers on whole-class novels (three per year). There is still plenty of choice (non-fiction articles and choice novels). Many of the examples, though, are from whole-class novels.
Discussion of grading is from a points-based mindset (instead of proficiency scoring or standards-based grading). Tovani believes students "won't engage in the process" if points aren't attached to the work.
Highlights:
Discussion of workshop model and where to embed assessment
Great examples of how annotation is formative assessment
Examples of how annotation can be used in all disciplines
Learning targets with formative assessment techniques
Clarification of "Hard vs. Rigorous"
Issues:
Tovani's workshop and intervention centers on whole-class novels (three per year). There is still plenty of choice (non-fiction articles and choice novels). Many of the examples, though, are from whole-class novels.
Discussion of grading is from a points-based mindset (instead of proficiency scoring or standards-based grading). Tovani believes students "won't engage in the process" if points aren't attached to the work.
July 5, 2012
Cris provides some great teaching and assessment strategies from her own real-world classroom. The focus here is on reading, not writing (bummer), and the students are mainly lacking basic skills. At times, I thought, My students wouldn't need to do this!, but Tovani's do. I guess I should be grateful to have the student I do have.
Anyway, there's still lots of good stuff here, and I'll be returning to my copy, which I marked up (er...annotated) with my notes and reactions. I think Cris would be proud of me.
Still, Tovani loses a point for not revealing how she actually grades all the essays she assigns her students. She never really talks about that process, except that she and her students look at early drafts a lot in class, so she doesn't have to spend as much on the final draft. But I wants the deets, Cris. I want the deets!
Anyway, there's still lots of good stuff here, and I'll be returning to my copy, which I marked up (er...annotated) with my notes and reactions. I think Cris would be proud of me.
Still, Tovani loses a point for not revealing how she actually grades all the essays she assigns her students. She never really talks about that process, except that she and her students look at early drafts a lot in class, so she doesn't have to spend as much on the final draft. But I wants the deets, Cris. I want the deets!
May 17, 2014
This book offers practical advice for formative assessment in the classroom. It contains chapters about effective grading practices, diciplinary literacy, annotations, and feedback just to name a few. Her core teaching beliefs align with mine as well. For example, I believe books can change your life and that it is so importatnt to know my students individually. I have tried a few of Tovani's strategies such as the conversation diary. I loved this strategy in particular because I could clarify misconceptions in novels my students were reading. I love the theory of "just in time" teaching. I would highly recommend this book for any educator looking to improve their instruction in a practical and effective way.
February 20, 2015
Tovani is a teacher-practitioner, so her advice and expertise is grounded in experience in actual literacy classrooms. I read selections from this book on how to establish classroom community and culture, how to assess adolescent motivation, and how to run conferences within a workshop model. Each chapter is supplemented with real-world artifacts to illustrate Tovani's recommendations. An Appendix features some of the tools and strategies mentioned in the book, including the Conversation Calendar, which I have implemented in my undergraduate courses. My only complaint is the lack of an index, a problem I have noticed in many practitioner-oriented volumes from publishers like Stenhouse. Teachers need a way to quickly locate a concept or strategy after-the-fact.
May 15, 2012
I love it when I read a book that forces me to look at what I do in my classroom, and I say to myself: I gotta make some changes. Tovani has simple solutions to some of the things I struggle with on a daily basis. My favorite chapter is five: Annotations: a Trustworthy Source of Data. Getting students to show me their thinking is my new challenge. Most of my kids hate to annotate, but if I frame the request differently-- asking for "pieces of thinking," I am pretty sure I can get better information about where my students are at, and I can more effectively plan mini-lessons that will help move my students' learning forward.
June 2, 2012
Great book on developing and using formative assessment. Many of the classroom examples are high school, but the processes hold true for teachers of all levels. I love how Cris reminds us that good assessments help us to gather data about our students as learners AND as people. My favorite line (of many): "Teaching them how to become better readers, writers, and thinkers depends upon creating a positive environment where kids are willing to do the work." Great discussion on "hard" versus "rigor". I know I'll be referring to this book again and again in my work with teachers and kids.
June 5, 2012
This book built on a view I already had of assessment--that it must take place in everyday encounters and not be restricted to tests--and gave me new ways to make it happen next time I am in the English classroom. I appreciated the insight that you need to give students continual assessment as they are working on an assignment; they aren't going to value those comments you spent three hours marking on their essay, because there's nothing left that they can fix: they've already failed. Tovani gives concrete suggestions on what to use as assessment--student annotations, class notes jotted by the teacher--so that the teacher isn't swamped by grading.
December 28, 2013
Best book I've read on formative assessment in the context of literacy since Peter Johnston's work (Knowing Literacy, Choice Words, Opening Minds). I read Cris' first two books while teaching 5th/6th. They were foundational texts for my literacy instruction, especially in strategy instruction and teaching reading across content areas. This newest addition is very practical. Cris describes both the ups and downs of her classroom experiences. It's affirming to read about an expert teacher struggling with tough students and inflexible colleagues. It makes her successes, which are many, seem that much more genuine.
July 19, 2011
I appreciate Tovani's thinking on assessment. She makes it fluid and relevant to her teaching. She does a lot with annotating and working in progress, but students need to have a deeper purpose for reading than to show how they're reading. I did steal a little from her in terms of how she sets up her class periods to maximize the effect of assessment. Ultimately, it was a good book to read while I was thinking about my classroom. I got a lot of ideas while reading, whether they were intended or not.
July 31, 2011
Cris Tovani is always inspiring, and this book did not disappoint! As she says herself in the book, she doesn't have a bunch of new tricks here, but offers her tried and true strategies that she uses, although she presents them in the light of assessment and uses them to inform instruction which is what assessment should do anyway. I've been rethinking how I assess students lately and was excited to see my thinking presented here. I guess I felt validated! So not earth shattering, but definitely helpful in terms of rethinking what I already do.
January 28, 2014
Chris' conversational style supports the classroom stories she shares of the constant and fluid use of formative assessment in her classroom. Strategies and techniques that are natural ways to elicit evidence of where students are in their learning turn out to be formative assessment. Chris' descriptions make it easy to see and hear what is happening when the transition between instruction and assessment is seamless.
January 23, 2016
Excellent book on assessment. Very readable, full of little tidbits and the essence of assessment distilled into quotable gems. She covers the difference between formative and summative assessments and describes how she uses conferring and written feedback to assess her reading workshop with high school students. Lots of focus on the older learners, but there are piece in here that work for teachers of any grade level.
July 29, 2012
Cris has done it again. Written another practical book for teachers. This one is all about assessing students to be able to help them grow and improve. 5 of 5 stars is going out to this dynamic book!! Now I'm going to go back and look through her other one that I've already read-Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews