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FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT OBSERVATION GUIDE
12 ClassBreak Games:
What to Watch & What It Tells You
Keep this sheet on your clipboard. Shift your eyes from the scoreboard to the students.
THE THREE QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF AFTER EVERY GAME
01 Who didn't I see?
If you can't recall what a student did during the game, check them directly before the week ends.
02 Which concept produced the most errors?
That concept needs re-teaching — from a different angle, not a louder repetition.
03 Who surprised me?
Students who perform differently in games vs. written tasks often have a processing issue, not a content gap.
GAME OBSERVATION GUIDE
GAME
WHAT TO WATCH
WHAT IT TELLS YOU
ACTION
True or False Warm Up
Who hesitates before answering? Hesitation on a specific category = knowledge gap there.
Consistent wrong answers on one topic type reveal a misconception, not a general gap.
Note the concept that produced the most hesitation. Re-teach from a different angle tomorrow.
Silent Count
Who initiates? Who waits? Passive students in this game often don't know the rule or lack confidence.
Students who always wait for others to go first may be unsure, not just quiet.
Follow up 1:1 with consistent waiters — check comprehension directly.
Computer v Human
Which operation types slow students down? Multiplication vs division, fractions vs decimals.
Speed gaps by operation type show exactly where fluency has and hasn't been built.
Identify the slowest operation type for the class and add it to next warm-up.
Thinking Starter
Do students attempt to explain their reasoning? Or just produce an answer?
Answer-only students may have procedural knowledge without conceptual understanding.
Ask 2–3 individual students to explain their method aloud before moving on.
Memory Warm Up
Which items from the last lesson does the class consistently forget? Which do they all recall?
Items consistently missed weren't encoded well initially — they need re-exposure.
Items missed by >50% of class = reteach. Items missed by 1–2 students = follow up 1:1.
Famous Faces
Are students reasoning toward the answer, or guessing? Listen to the questions they ask.
Reasoning quality reveals depth of subject knowledge — not just whether they know the answer.
Students who only ask surface questions may need more examples to build schema.
Discussion Starter
Who talks? Who doesn't? Who changes their answer based on what someone else says?
Students who always shift their view may lack confidence in their own understanding.
Track students who never contribute — provide structured discussion roles next session.
Debate Starter
Can students argue both sides, or do they shut down when assigned the opposing view?
Inability to argue the opposite position = surface-level understanding of the concept.
Students who can only argue one side need more exposure to complexity and counter-examples.
Public Speaker
Do students use subject vocabulary correctly in context? Or avoid it?
Avoidance of technical terms usually means the term isn't fully understood yet.
Note specific vocabulary that's being avoided — add to next word wall or retrieval activity.
Creative Usage
How far do students push the concept? Do they stick to obvious connections?
Depth of creative application correlates strongly with depth of conceptual understanding.
Students who only produce obvious connections may need more varied examples in instruction.
Number Guessing
Do students use logic to narrow the range, or guess randomly?
Random guessing = procedural fluency issue. Systematic guessing = reasoning is intact.
Teach the halving strategy explicitly if >30% of class is guessing without logic.
Weekly Celebration
What moments do students nominate as their "best" from the week? What do they omit?
What students remember and value shows what actually landed — often different from the plan.
Use responses to calibrate what's worth doing more of and what can be trimmed.
QUICK OBSERVATION NOTES — DATE: _____________ · GAME: _________________________
Students to follow up
Concept with most errors
Surprising observations
What I'll change in tomorrow's lesson
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