Group mini poster for assessment

Before we moved on too much, I wanted to quickly assess my students' understanding of how to write ionic compound formulas.  So far, the students had done an interactive notebook page, made models with the styrofoam balls, played with ion dice and did a game, "Let's Get Married the Ion Way!"

I wanted to see how accurately they were able to make ionic compounds and where their misconceptions/ mistakes were being made.  I gave each table group a 11x17 sheet of paper and asked them to each chose a colour that had to be different than other members of their table group.  I then asked them to chose 1 metal and 1 nonmetal to react (voice and choice!).  I told them that they had to use the paper to show me evidence that they knew how to make a correct ionic formula.  Each student could only use their colour.  The students could discuss with each other- I am a strong believer in students learning together.  My students are more engaged and thinking deeper than if I had given them a worksheet, I could move around the table groups listening to their conversations to see where I needed to step in, and it took far less time than assigning and marking a worksheet.  Because they each used a different colour on the paper, I could easily look at the end product to see what each student was thinking, how they contributed and who needed some extra intervention.  The next day, the students that demonstrated a strong understanding moved on to independent work and the others who had not contributed much or who had misunderstandings sat with me and did some review work together.