Have you started to hear more about Learning Targets at your site?
Do you wonder what they are, why should you do them, how to write them, how to implement learning targets or maybe why are they important to my individual classroom?
Administrators, site coaches, District mentors, and Spotlight teachers have been asked to read the book, "Learning Targets" by Connie Moss and Susan Brookhart. This may be why you are starting to hear more about them this year.
My school site has been writing daily learning targets for the past eight years as part of the daily routine for students. If you are asked to start implementing learning targets then I would encourage you to go slowly and be reflective in how you might improve this skill. For me, it is a skill that has be developed over time because it entails a great deal more than just writing a statement on the board for students to read.
The purpose of a learning target is to describe what a student will be able to do at the end of the lesson. It is essentially taking your entire lesson plan for the period and condensing it down to a one sentence statement written in student friendly language. Most learning targets start with the phrase, "I can . . ."
You can find plenty of examples for "I can . . ." statements by doing a Google search. The question, though, which one are you going to use for your lesson today?
Here are some general thoughts that may help you to start implementing learning targets in your classroom:
1. Keep the learning target simple and in student friendly language
Ask yourself, what is the one concept/skill/topic that you want each of your students to learn during the class period? Put the idea into a "I can . . ." statement that is written so students can understand it (or come to understand it).
My focus is math so some examples could be:
"I can find the slope between two points."
"I can find the unit rate with complex fractions."
"I can determine the decimal approximation for an irrational number."
"I can present my final project product using my speaking voice."
What could a simple learning target look like in Science, Language Arts, PE (yes, even outside), foreign language, band, Social Studies, AVID, coding, etc.?
2. Refer to the learning target at least three times during the lesson
Students want to know what they will be learning for the period. The learning target gives them a focus and goal to achieve for the period.
I would suggest that you visit the learning target at the beginning of the lesson, once in the middle of the lesson reminding students what their purpose is for the day, and once at the end of the lesson.
3. Ask students to self reflect on the learning targetThe way I have students self reflect is by using a ranking system like this:
4 - I understand today's lesson and can teach it to someone who was absent today
3 - I understand today's lesson but cannot teach it yet
2 - I understand some of today's lesson but still need time to improve
1 - I have no idea what happened today
At the end of the lesson, I have students write down the number that best reflects their achievement of the learning target. I use this system because it keeps students accountable to the learning target in a very low risk environment.
Is there more to learning targets? Oh yes, but let's start at the beginning. I have had plenty of missteps along the way as I implemented learning targets into my classroom culture. But the foundation of learning targets starts with the above three steps - write an I can statement, visit it during the class period, and have students reflect on their learning. For those of you who have been reading my blog, you know that my focus is a Growth Mindset for my students - learning targets are just another opportunity for my students to ask themselves are they growing during a class period.
Next month, I will talk more about learning targets and how I gather other data to determine if my data coincides with students' self reflection scores.
Teaching and still loving it,
Kevin Stott
De Anza Middle School
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