It is now independent practice time for your lesson, and to an outside observer it appears that students are silent, working hard, and grappling with task at hand.  All looks well, but how do know that students are actually mastering the material they are working on and will be ready for your planned exit ticket or mini assessment?

This is where Active Monitoring comes in.  One of the major responsibilities of a teacher during independent work is to actively gather real-time, objective-aligned data that will enable direct action when student misconceptions are identified. A more focused, strategic example of Active Monitoring, Aggressive Monitoring, can be highly effective in catching student misunderstandings and ensuring student mastery prior to the actually assessment.  In this article, we will provide a detailed overview of how to use Aggressive Monitoring in your classroom.