This is the second of many posts dedicated to formative
assessment activities that you could use in your classroom. In
the first post I described an activity called 3 Musketeers.
Today's activity also comes from Robin Fogarty and Brian M.
Pete, presenters both on (In)Formative Assessment. One note
before I share the activity. Robin Fogarty, Brian Pete, and
Douglas Fisher (professor of Language and Literacy at San Diego
State, and a presenter on effective group work) advise that the
most effective groups sizes are 3-4 students per group. The
groups must come up with describers, definitions, or synonyms
for the topic or term that starts with each letter of the
alphabet. Creativity points for the letters Q and X. Give a time
limit of 3 minutes. You've been teaching on a topic, let's say
it's local government, and you want to get a feel for what your
kids know about local government so far. Use ABC Graffiti as a
fun way for students to brainstorm concrete and abstract ideas
about their learning. You can use it as