In Ms. Hall's seventh period ESL freshman biology class, I chose to write or pass a formative assessment probe. I thought of three different questions and printed each one on a single sheet of paper. The three questions were; 1. What is one thing that surprised you to learn in the last few weeks about genetics, what is one thing that you wish you could learn more about genetics, what was the hardest topic for you to learn or that you are still confused about ? I started the lesson by talking about what the purpose of the writing activity was. I informed them that this activity was an opportunity for them to reflect and talk about the lesson they were working on and also an opportunity for me to read what the students thought about their genetics unit. I divided the students into groups of three and then asked them to read the first question and spend 2 minutes writing as much as they could about the question in question. If students were at all confused by the question, I encouraged them to ask me about their confusion or ways to respond. After the 2 minute time interval, students passed the question and the next person would spend 2 minutes to respond to the previous person's comments or answer that new question as well. This was repeated once again so that each student had the opportunity to answer each question. The class consists of 17 students whose first language is not English. The primary languages ​​of the students in the class are Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Polish. In an essay titled Building a Foundation Through Student Conversation by Ann Rosenbury, she outlines a specific form of formative assessment called science talk and reflects on the benefits... .... middle of paper ...... teacher sees what her students know, question, and the techniques they use to make sense of the world and the classroom. This information can then be used by the teacher to differentiate instruction. The teacher can retrieve material, present alternative activities that make students more receptive in order to encourage student responsiveness and engagement. In the article An Introduction to Formative Assessment Classroom Techniques (FACTs), Page Keeley articulates the purpose and power of a classroom that frequently uses formative assessments by saying, “organizes the entire classroom around learning and informs the ways in which teachers can provide more effective learning experiences based on how they” (10). Formative assessments foster a supportive classroom community in which the thoughts of students and even teachers are encouraged and, in turn, shape the future of that classroom..