Building Relationships

Building Relationships

This is my fourth year teaching kindergarten and it has been one interesting year. In case you have never taught kindergarten, these students come to school with very different prior experiences. Some students attended some type of schooling such as daycare, preschool, and/ or TK. Some students stayed at home with a parent or guardian. These experiences make a huge impact on how they deal with attending kindergarten. This year, I discovered that most of my class did not have any prior school experience and lacked basic skills. They did not know how to hold a pencil, use scissors, write their name, and/ or communicate their needs with others. The beginning of the year was a challenge for me. I began to feel frustrated when they could not complete simple tasks on their own. I had to stop, change my mindset, and seek resources for guidance. I needed help with connecting with my students because they were afraid of me, did not trust me, and did not like me.

Building a trusting relationship

August in kindergarten was rough. I had students running, crying, pouting, and screaming that they were hungry and/ or wanted to go home. I even had one student cry in Spanish, “I can’t be here! I have to go home! I need to see my dog!” It wasn’t just for 5 or 10 minutes, this went on ALL DAY LONG! From start to finish. I left every day with a headache. I had to remind myself that most of these students have not been away from home and are scared of me because I am a stranger that their parents dropped them off with. I follow many teachers on Pinterest and Instagram. One teacher posted about how she built relationships with her students. She explained that she told them that they were not placed in her class, she chose them. She stated that she told her students how special they were and when she saw a picture of them, she told the office staff that they had to be in her class and that she loved each one of them. This is how she laid down the foundation for her students. I decided to try it out with my students this year.

How to begin?

The first few weeks are focused on getting the students to survive each day, understand routines and procedures, and go home happy. When they began to show that they were adjusting, I told my students how much I loved each one of them and how special they are. I said something special about each student. I then told them that they were not given to me, I chose them. I saw their picture in their file and asked them to be in my class. I could not believe how wide their eyes got and how big their smiles were. Their reactions made me wonder how often they heard stuff like that. This began to build the road to a trusting and loving relationship. Kindergarteners want to please adults in their life, they don’t know any different. I remind them often of how much I love them and want them in my class. I have a morning greeting outside my door where students chose how to say hello to me. I love when they chose the hug greeting because it shows they feel safe with me. I also tell them that when they are absent, I get sad because I missed them. Today, when students return from an absence, they will ask if I was sad that they were gone. They like it when I tell them I was. Once trust and love are built, behavior concerns are minimal and academics will start to grow.

Benefits from building trusting relationships

I love the quote, “You attract more bees with honey than vinegar.” This quote rings true in education, especially in kindergarten. Once these students felt loved and cared for, the behavior concerns started to lessen. Aside from the few students that we get every year, but there is always more behind it. I reminded students that even though they may not know something now, with time and practice they will get it. I love the phrase, “I don’t know it, yet.” I encourage them that every day we learn something new and it is okay to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. I constantly call out my mistakes so that they see that everyone, including adults make mistakes too.  We set academic and behavior goals. Once a student meets a goal, I shower them with praise and special treats. If a student misses a goal, I remind them of how far they have come and that it’s okay to need more time to learn. Since implementing my new strategies, many of my students have grown so much in their academics. They want to show they can do it because they feel loved and cared for. Behavior issues have fallen because I communicate how it makes me feel when they do not follow our expectations. There are good days and bad days, but with these new methods in place, the good outweighs the bad. I am looking forward to the end of the year to see how much they have grown.

Sincerely,

Maricella Mesa

Collaborative Conversations with Kagan

Collaborative conversations when done though the proper cooperative learning structures (aka Kagan), can be soooo incredibly powerful for student learning! Powerful AND engaging! My students absolutely love doing collaborative discussions. And you may be thinking, "How is this effective? How is letting the kids talk in groups not a waste of time?" Well I'm gonna show you just how effective it is!

To start, you want to make sure you've constructed appropriate collaborative learning groups.  Meaning you want to have an even mix of High, Low, Medium, GATE, EL, EO students, etc.  This keeps the groups well balanced and supports differentiation of instruction for students at all levels.  They are all able to contribute and learn at their own level, while accessing the same content classroom wide.  This is very important to maximize learning. (To learn more about Cooperative Learning structures, see my previous blog posts here: Cooperative Learning Structures  and also here: More on Cooperative Learning Structures/Kagan)

Once you've  created these evenly balanced groups, you want facilitate team building activities.  These are non-academic activities that help students to get to know each other, and to understand the importance of working together as a team, establishing each of their strength's etc.  These activities could be something like building something, creating something, building words out of letters, etc.  This piece is extremely important to help foster student's sense of belonging, and comfort-ability working with each other.  If you skip this essential step, you will probably not get full participation from ALL of your students within their table groups. (see my previous blog for more info in Team Building here: Team Building with Kagan)

Now you're ready to start collaborative, higher level academic discussions! I also teach the students "accountable talk" sentence frames, so that they know how to have a discussion.  Often times I use the Essential Question from the Wonders ELA curriculum that week as the focus point of the discussion, as well as the reading comprehension skills taught that week.  Or, I have students annotate the text before the discussion and have them use their annotations to guide their discussions.  Often times, I will incorporate all of the above into one lesson/discussion.  I also use the Kagan Software with the random selector tools, to choose students at random to share out after each discussion any random selector software, or even just equity sticks will work!).  The students are taught that they can share their idea or one discussed at their table.  I find that my students are VERY  excited to share their peers' ideas just as much as they are their own.  Through establishing these cooperative learning groups and academic talk, my students are VERY VERY good at complimenting each other, giving each other positive feedback, helping out their peers when in need.  Its really endearing and super cute to watch them.

I  have seen my students year after year, make huge gains and growth in their reading comprehension skills as well as test scores.  Structuring these academic discussions in the correct manner helps facilitate students reading, writing, and research skills, in addition to helping strengthen their speaking and listening skills.  These types of discussions also help students develop a strong understanding of being able to site the text in order to support an original thought or idea of their own.  I encourage you to start using these collaborative discussions in your classroom right away! 

Collaboratively Learning,

Megan Brown

megan.brown@omsd.net

Don't Ignore, Restore Part 2

Don’t Ignore, Restore Part 2

Last month I wrote about restorative practices and how they are directly tied to building relationships in the classroom. The practice lets your students know that you care and want to help them become better learners every day! I started with positive reinforcement to remind us that we should always begin with the care and love, before proceeding to target the negative behaviors. Kids are looking to feel loved and cared for, because as Dr. Jessica Stephens states, “There is no such thing as a “bad kid”- just angry, hurt, tired, scared, confused, impulsive ones expressing their feelings and needs the only way they know how. We owe it to every single one of them to always remember that.”

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~Maya Angelou 

Restorative Practice aims to build classroom community supported by clear agreements and fostering authentic conversations to create a positive environment within and out of the classroom. You may be thinking, well this approach may not work for all students and you are probably right, but just because it does not work for 1 or 2 students, doesn’t mean it’s not working for the many more. I previously stated, in last month’s blog, that students need to have buy-in, feel like they have a voice, and feel valued to engage on the learning road. I’m telling you it’s not an easy road to success right away, because, like all good things in this world, this will take time, consistency, and trust from all involved.

“The road to success is always under construction.” ~Author Unknown

I want my students to understand that “We” as a classroom community” are all in this together and we will find what works when problems occur. I want my students to understand that I will not give up on them. I need my students to know that we are stronger together. We will work through the good times and the bad times. Here are a few examples of what happens in my class for preventative measures or corrective instruction.

Classroom Ideas:  

a)      I begin the year with a “Classroom Contract” where students team up to set our classroom expectations to collaborate and lead with positivity. We then sign the contract to ensure we all understand the expectations and plan to uphold them for the whole school year.

b)      I hold monthly Community Circle- Talk, Talk, Talk… Discuss Topics of Positive Characteristics

c)      Skit Reflection- Give the topic on Positive Characteristics and have students create skits (with a small group) to perform in front of the class. Students will demonstrate how positive interactions affect our feelings, compared to negative interactions affecting our feelings.

d)      If a student does not follow the expectations, I hold a Teacher and Student Conference to discuss the problem with these questions: What went wrong? Did I take some thinking time, before I reacted? What are some ways I could have reacted in a positive way? If it happens again, what are some steps I can take to make better choices?

e)      Conference with Parent and Child- if the behavior continues, then get to know your student more, by meeting with parents and student early on, when behavior occurs. I want to understand what is going on at home and get to know my student better.

When understanding and compassion take place in your classroom, you are empowering strong children that will feel loved and valued. Once that is taking place, there is a magical feeling in the classroom that goes beyond the learning; it’s the heart of family community that will not only lookout for one’s success, but for the success of all.  

Live, Love, Teach!

Hilda Sanchez

Increasing Achievement Through Relationships

Increasing Achievement Through Relationships

The month of December is exhausting! There is sugar in the air and so much to do in such a short time. I am beyond overwhelmed with being faced continuously with classroom projects, decorations, and adorable bulletin boards on social media. I start to wonder... Am I a fun-enough teacher? Do I do enough? How do all of these teachers do it? But then I stop.. and listen. My students are so happy. They tell me that they love school and that I am the best teacher in the world. We have built a mutual relationship because I just adore them. We have this relationship not because I have the best-themed room or best bulletin boards it is because we have a connection. My students know that I believe in them. My students know I respect them and want them to grow socially, emotionally and academically. We must believe as teachers that each student has the ability to grow and be successful no matter where they begin. They have the power to do so with our guidance and support.

The thing I know for sure is that if you want to build a growth-minded classroom, it's imperative that we spend time building relationships with our students. Students with a fixed-mindset are anxious and fearful about making mistakes in front of their teacher and classmates. They are afraid to fail so they avoid challenges and give up quickly. Stepping away from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset takes vulnerability. As their teacher, you need to be that person they feel safe enough around to show that vulnerability. A teacher who trusts and respects them, wants the best for them and won't judge them when they make a mistake. With all of this faith, your students might be willing to take the leap. Here is a great TED Talk that inspires me to be a champion for my students...

Every Kid Needs a Champion (7:48) Rita Pierson

So how do we do it? How do we get every child to know we believe in them, value them and want them to be successful in all that they do?

Make eye contact

Be intentional and engage with students who you’re speaking with. The two-minute check-in. Before school, after school, and during breaks make it your goal to engage students in non-school-related topics of conversation. This strategy will help you learn more about your students’ interests, build trusting relationships, improve classroom management, and curb attention-seeking behaviors.

Students feel safe with their teacher

Students should feel completely safe in your classroom and in your presence. Students should know that you want what’s best for them, you’ll protect them, and you’ll unconditionally care for them no matter what mistakes they make. 

Students must know that their teacher has faith in their ability to achieve

If we expect our students to have faith in themselves to grow, they must sense that we genuinely, and enthusiastically believe in them too. They need reminders DAILY that you believe in their ability.

Students seek and embrace their teacher’s feedback  

When students believe that you have their best interests at heart they’ll respond to feedback in more productive ways. Make it clear to students that their growth is your main priority, and let them know that the purpose of constructive feedback is to help them improve. 

Students know that grades are less important than growth 

Help students set goals for themselves. Let them know that grading is part of the process and a source of data about their overall performance, but the most important thing to you is their progression toward the goals that you’ve set together. Keep an open dialogue about overcoming challenges and obstacles, and while grades should matter to you, the letter grade, in itself, should never hold more value than the progress it indicates. 

Students respect and like their teacher as a person

Build deeper relationships with your students and take a personal interest in their lives and well-being. Take time to get to know your students’ out-of-school interests. The more information you have about each of your students, the deeper you can build your relationships and better tailor a learning experience most beneficial to them. Likewise, share appropriate personal information with your students to forge a deeper mutual relationship.

Positively Teaching,  

Randi Muehlen

Forever in the Middle: Student Input

When planning for my classroom I know I will need specific structures and routines to keep my own systems running effectively. However, for the routines and systems that I feel students can help with I like to allow them opportunities for feedback.


Seating
I change my seating assignments (and sometimes arrangement) at the beginning of each month. At this point, the students know the routine and are eager for the change at the beginning of the month. Last time I changed the seating, I had a few students who happened to come by on the last day of the month and were talking about the layout. I said, "Do you want to change it?" and they eagerly got to work! After that, they assigned all new seats for each of the classes. I know it's sometimes hard to release control over that, but honestly the students have known each other now for so many years and they know what will work and what won't work so why not?

The students surprised me by asking NOT
to sit in groups facing each other.
They said they get too distracted.
They decided this arrangement would help them to work
collaboratively but stay more focused. I agree so far!

Other alternatives
1. Assign a small team of students to the task of new seat assignments by providing a blank seating chart and class roster. They can finish it usually in under ten minutes.
2.  Allow students to vote on a new classroom arrangement when given four choices. Majority wins!
3. Ask for volunteers to stay after school or come in at lunch to help assign or rearrange the classroom

The students know their peers best and honestly they do not want a chaotic classroom. They will make good choices when given an opportunity when they know they have an adult's trust.

Instruction 

Giving students a quick opportunity to provide feedback
on their learning can supply data to help improve your
own future instruction. This survey was given at the end of
the year and gave me important information in planning
for the current school year. 

This takes a little bravery on your part, but really can be eye opening. We are in this for the students so really it is their opinion that matters most and we all know they will be, sometimes brutally, honest! An easy way to do this is to create a quick Google Form that they can complete. This gives you immediate results in a user-friendly format.

Possible Questions
1. What do you like most about this class?
2. What is most difficult for you in class?
3. What activities/lessons have we done that helped you feel successful in class?
4. What was the most interesting part of the last unit?
5. What should the teacher stop/start/continue doing?

The most important part of this process is to immediately take action based off the data gathered from the feedback. The last feedback form I gave my students had to do with our routines and with that data, I was able to use student suggestions such as "having a group captain like in Elementary school" to enhance my current routines.

Sometimes it is hard to let go of control over some of our structure, but the rewards of allowing student input are far greater. Students feel validated and that alone helps create an atmosphere of mutual respect within the classroom and strengthens student and teacher relationships. Try it out and let me know how it goes in the comments below!

Keep the magic alive,

Kandyce Valverde

Follow my class on Twitter! @valverderules

Sub Folders, Anyone?

Have you every felt the dread of returning from a day out of your class unsure of the sub notes?  Even the best behaved students are often tempted to give the poor sub a run for their money.  This year I have implemented Sub Folders in my classroom to help curb misbehavior when I have a scheduled day off.  Let me tell you about it...

At my district, I am often out of the classroom to attend professional development, induction mentor meetings, coaching collaborative meetings, and other needed items that are not "sick" days.  Since I know beforehand when these dates are scheduled, I can plan accordingly.  This year I decided to create Sub Folders and introduce them to my students as an incentive to: behave, stay-on-task, and help the substitute accomplish the items that are left for the class to complete.  Also, it is a great way for students to not be "surprised" about the day.  They explicitly know what they are to complete and the expectations that they need to meet.

Please keep in mind that these folders do not work if you have an unexpected absence such as emergency or personal sick day.  These folders were created for those dates that you know you will be out on district business.  Here is how I have used them:

1.  Every student receives a red folder that has a "Sub Folder" label in front.
2.  Every folder has a copy of our school site's PBIS classroom expectations matrix.  This matrix includes a column for "Sub Days" on it.  We highlight this column and the first activity students complete on a sub day is to review this column WITH THE SUB in order to hold them accountable for their behavior.
3.  The folder includes every packet or worksheets that they will be using for the day.  They organize these in the order they will complete it.  Students also place their current reading book inside the pocket of the folder so they have quick access to their folder.
4.  The last activity of the day BEFORE I leave includes a review of all items in the folder and students leave their folders on their desk or chairs in order to get right to work when the sub comes to class on the following day.
5.  Most items are left inside their folders so I can check them the next day or I might have the sub instruct them to take items home.

Please keep in mind that this system may not be for all of you.  Perhaps you feel it is too much work or extra planning but I have noticed a change in demeanor from my students when we prepare our folders and the activities that will go in them.  I noticed that my students get excited to know exactly what will be happening in my absence and  I feel students benefit from "sharing" in the responsibility of having a successful sub day.

Our class also had an awesome discussion about subs that are not very "helpful" and how some subs allow the class to misbehave.  We shared how we felt about this and I did acknowledge that sometimes they may receive a sub that doesn't work out for them.  However, we stressed the fact that, in those rare occasions, THEY need to be the "sub" in the sense that the class understands the expectations and how to behave regardless of who is subbing for the day.  I recently came down with a terrible cough and cold and had to call in two days in a row.  When I returned, I was relieved to find such incredible notes from two different subs.  I was so proud of my class because I knew that they had made an incredible effort to maintain the appropriate behavior even without the use of Sub Folders since I did not anticipate the sickness and had to send my plans digitally to our site secretary.  I realized when I returned that my students had truly internalized expectations.   Isn't that what we strive for as teachers?

Reading like a Writer- Narrative Writing

Anyone who has ever had writer's block can attest to the overwhelming feeling of never finding the

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

words that capture your thoughts and ideas. I'm all too familiar with writer's block, and that is why when my students ask me how they should start their essays, I understand their frustration and worry. When I first learned about Reading like a Reader/Writer, I instantly thought about how much this approach would help my struggling writers. I became excited about the possibilities for differentiating for the full range of abilities in my classroom. And I'm happy to say that my excitement hasn't died down.

I introduced "Reading like a Reader" first (You can read about that here). My students have been getting much better at annotating their thoughts and connections while reading. So I felt the next step was to look at the same text we had been annotating through a new lens- that of the writer. According to Peha, "When we read from the perspective of a writer, we focus less on what the writer is trying to say and more on how the writer is saying it. Specifically, we look at the techniques the writer is using to get his or her message across and how those techniques affect us as we experience the text" (Teaching That Makes Sense). The techniques Peha uses to analyze the text are the six traits of writing: ideas, word choice, organization, voice, sentence fluency, and conventions. The hope is that the students will see how the author uses different devices to entertain (in the case of narratives) his/her audience, and in turn, be able to do similar things in their writing. 

"Most of us find our own voices only after we've sounded like a lot of other people." —Neil Gaiman 

We started slow. Very, very slow. 

Since this is a new notion to me, I started slow and with something very low stakes- a poem! As a class, we read and analyzed "Ode to My Shoes," written by Francisco Alarcón, and discussed the meaning of the poem and use of personification. After ensuring they had a good understanding of the poem, I started asking questions about WHAT the author did. Some of the students began reiterating what the poem meant. Until I redirected them, and asked, "What do you notice about the poem? Not what the words mean, but the way the poem is set up? The classroom was abuzz with what they noticed. "It has short lines", "It has five small paragraphs" (then a student corrected with stanzas), "It has a picture of shoes in the background", "There are no periods", "The author used a lot of verbs", and my personal favorite "He is expressing gratitude to his shoes". I was shocked by the details they were picking up on. Without even knowing it, they were analyzing the author's use of sentence fluency, organization, ideas, word choice, conventions, and voice! This conversation was way more than I expected for our first time reading like a writer. I have to say it gave me the confidence I needed to move forward. 

Next, we tackled personal narratives. Earlier in the school year, we read Sandra Cisneros' short story, "Eleven," and a couple of the narratives from the Wonder Reading Workshop textbook. I divided my class into five groups and had them reread one of the short stories through the lens of the writer. I started the class discussion with the question: how do you know these are narratives? My class answered back with: "They have a hook in the beginning," "It has characters," "There's a dialogue between the characters," "There's a conflict," "The characters learned a lesson." Next, I asked them to choose their favorite short story from the five we had already read like a reader, and complete a note-taking guide using a graphic organizer I drafted. The graphic organizer asks them to note what they notice about each of the six traits of writing. 

After brainstorming and outlining our narratives, I asked my students to look over the hooks of the five narratives we had read as a class one more time. Then I asked them to choose three of their favorites of the five short stories and to use the idea of those hooks to write multiple hooks to start their personal narratives. As in everything with writing, some excel, and those that struggle, but I will say that I had way more students feeling confident with their writing this time around. 

"Eleven" Introduction paragraph 

Student introduction paragraph 

Tips for getting started:

1. Use high-interest texts to engage your students. They're going to have to read it multiple times to understand the passage as a reader and as a writer, so if it's a piece of writing they don't enjoy the task will be draining for all. 
2. Try to use a couple of questions to start getting them to read like a writer. Here are a couple of questions I've been using on repeat over the past couple of months: what do you notice? What about the text jumped out to you? What do you notice about the opening paragraph/closing? What do you like about this author's writing style? Using these questions will get them to analyze the author's writing choices and get them to read like a writer!
3. Don't worry about the students copying the author's ideas. I say this because when I first started using mentor texts, this was a genuine worry of mine. And it's also something I have seen from students who struggle to come up with ideas of their own, but now I look at it as using an author's ideas begets not writing anything at all. Small victories build confident writers. 

Follow along to see how our reading and writing transforms, 

• Jenni Merry 

Performance Tasks

At our recent Professional Learning community, my team and I decided to focus on the Wonders Performance Task (P.T.). We chose to look closely at the Performance Task, rather than at the constructed responses and tasks that lead up to the P.T. since, ideally, the P.T. is intended to pull together those skills and concepts acquired along the way.

As we looked at the directions for the P.T., we were all struck with how dense they were with information. In order to be successful on the task, students clearly needed to understand what they were being asked to do. Suffice to say, there were quite a few barriers to understanding (overall English proficiency for ELLs, reading ability, etc.) In an effort to ensure student success, we are tasked with removing as many of these obstacles as we possibly can.

We came up with a to-do list for each member of the team. 1) Each teacher would be responsible for printing out their students' responses. 2) The responses would need to be scored so that all of the allotted PLC time could be used for decision-making and reflection. 3) Teachers would need to be prepared to engage in a conversation focusing on the pros and cons.

In addition to these team-agreements, I offered to create a student-friendly handout that would help students make sense of the directions. In order to do this, I first need to read the directions from the point of view of a student with approximately four to five years of in-class experience.

It's a work-in-progress, but here's an excerpt from my document:

Regardless of the unit, the layout of the Performance Task follows this same basic pattern:

First, you’ll see, in bold print, the title “______________________ Performance Task”

                                                                                                              ↑ The genre will be provided here (i.e., informational).

Purpose: 1) to see if you can answer the three questions about and then 2) complete an opinion, informational, or narrative writing piece (essay) about the two sources provided.

Next, you see the word “Task” and be given a scenario (a little story to help you relate to

           the task (i.e. Your class has been learning about…).

Purpose: Authors who write tests know you’ll understand and do better if you can relate to a familiar situation. You see this strategy used in math word problems all the time: Mrs. “so and so” has 28 “whatchamacallits” and needs to divide them…

Third, you’ll see “Directions for Part 1” and “Research Questions” and directions.

Purpose: to focus all your attention on reading both sources and answering the questions. Being able to read the sources closely and carefully answer the three questions about those two sources are intended to prepare you to write the essay in Part 2.



My hope is that this document will enable our students to improve their understanding of the next Performance Task and their responses to the task.

Lola Jollie
Euclid Elementary School
Proudly serving 3rd and 4th-grade students

Learning Targets - Part I

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 target

The 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