Aim for the Target

Aim for the Target 

   

We are now into the third month of school with full aim of our targets. Have you ever wondered why we post learning targets for our students? Do you see it as one more thing to do, when you can just verbally inform the students what the learning will be? If so, I want to give you a different perspective today, bringing value to something you may see as insignificant. Keep in mind; lesson objectives are not necessarily student-friendly because they can be too broad and difficult to understand making the purpose confusing at times.

Learning Targets are the bull’s eye that keep our students focused and engaged in new learning.

Picture your lesson plan as a dartboard and the learning target is your bull’s eye. You begin to plan instruction with the center of the bull's eye in mind (planning from the student’s point of view) because you want your students to acquire new knowledge. Then you begin to think, “The target may be difficult to hit with mastery within the first throw, but the outer rings (the instructional support) will still provide points that will motivate my students to keep trying and, eventually, hit the bull’s eye (learning goal).” 

“Make the learning target live in a lesson so students experience it every moment of the lesson-that’s how you empower your students to really achieve that target.”  ~Susan M. Brookhart

You might be asking, “What’s the purpose of this visual?” Imagine the dartboard again, now someone hands you the dart with no explanation. You may throw the dart with no aim in mind or you may not want to throw it at all. We, as humans, are always searching for purpose, “Why am I doing this? Why do I have to do this?” If a purpose is not found and visualized, then there is a loss of interest leading to boredom, and the absence of explicit action. On the other hand, when we have a purpose in mind, it encourages us to learn the basics, be consistent, and aim for accuracy within our actions.  

I like to envision what learning was like for me and always aim to do better for my students. I post the targets as “I can…” statements to help students understand first off that there are NO “I can’t...” statements in my class. I let them know that these statements are directly connected to grade-level standards/goals to be achieved, but are simplified to help keep us on target. I want my students to realize we are capable of achieving goals, it may not be at the same pace, but we definitely have the potential to achieve if we believe. 

The target gives students the purpose for what’s being learned, it is the buy-in for focused interest within the instruction. Start with an objective, for instance in ELA, RL 4.1 objective states: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. Now take the key words and write a simplified version of the objective, "I can explain a story/the narrative by referring to details and examples from the text." In regards to math, take the 4OA.2 objective: Multiply or divide to solve word problems involving multiplicative comparison, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem, distinguishing multiplicative comparison from additive comparison.  Break the objective down depending on your focus for the day's lesson. For example, if you are focusing on multiplication, you can state, "I can solve word problems involving multiplication by using drawings." Targets will guide the learning to make connections, engaging minds and, hopefully, transforming practitioners into experts. 

If you are interested in reading to further your understanding within this topic, read reference: Brookhart, Susan M. and Moss, Connie M. Learning Targets, Helping Students Aim for Understanding in Today's Lesson. 2012, ASCD.  Happy Reading and remember to aim for the bull's eye! 

                  

Live, Love, Teach!

Hilda Sanchez