Setting Clear Learning Targets

2015 Straight A Boot Camp

June 10, 2015

Students who can identify what they are learning significantly outscore those who cannot.��Robert J. Marzano

“The most effective teaching and the most meaningful student learning happen when teachers design the right learning target for today’s lesson and use it along with their students to aim for and assess understanding.” Moss & Brookhart (2012)

Today’s Agenda

• What are learning targets and how do we measure them?
• Understand the differences between learning targets and objectives
• Review Learning Targets and their significance on the i3 Rubric

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Warm Up Activity

• In the pattern to the left, locate and outline the five-pointed star.

Warm Up Activity

• If I provide additional information (block out part of the picture, does that help you identify your target?

Warm Up Activity

• If I provide even more information (block out more of the picture) does it help you identify the target?

Warm Up Activity

• Rick Stiggins concludes that “Teachers and students can hit any target they can see”

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“Teachers who truly understand what they want their students to accomplish will almost surely be more instructionally successful than teachers whose understanding of hoped-for student accomplishments are murky.”� -W. James Popham

What Are Learning Targets? �(and what they aren’t…)

Learning Targets are the GPS

Learning targets convey to students the DESTINATION for the lesson—

LTs are the “turn-by-turn” directions to the standard

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Learning Targets are the GPS

• What to learn by the end of today’s lesson
• Framed from the student’s point of view
• Includes the student “look fors” or criteria for mastery

Learning Targets

Statements of what we want students to learn and be able to do.

Learning Targets are…

One component in a sequence of scaffolded accomplishments –building toward mastery of a concept or standard.

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Learning Targets…

Inform the most important data-driven decision maker in the classroom—the student—by providing information about what is important to learn, how the student will be required to demonstrate that learning, and what will count as evidence of mastery. Brookhart (2012)

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Attributes of Clear Targets are…

Specific to WHAT and HOW and usually consist of concept (noun), skill (verb), and often a specified context:

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Remember…The idea is for the student to take ownership of his/her learning: �

LT: Use information from maps, charts and graphs to identify distinguishing factors of different Western European countries

This means I can:

• Use maps to compare and contrast different landforms
• Create a graph that compares the average wealth of citizens of three Western European countries
• Map the natural resources of the Western European countries

Learning Targets Should…

• Be posted daily for students to see
• Be discussed with students at the beginning of the lesson and connected to yesterday’s lesson (Be intentional about this)
• Be reviewed with students throughout and at the end of the lesson through some form of formative and/or self-assessment check

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What’s the Difference Between Objectives and Learning Targets?

Clarifying the Terminology

• Objective
• Learning Target
• I CAN Statement

Definitions of Terms

Objective: Instructional objectives are about instruction, derived from content standards, written in teacher language, and used to guide teaching during a lesson or across a series of lessons. They are not designed for students but for the teacher.

-Know Your Learning Target, S. Brookhart

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Learning Target: A learning target frames a lesson from a student’s point of view. A learning target helps students grasp the lesson's purpose—why it is crucial to learn this chunk of information, on this day, and in this way.

-Know Your Learning Target, S. Brookhart

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I CAN Statement: A learning target that is written in a student friendly way beginning with the words “I CAN.”

-Stiggins (2004)

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Examples:

• Objective: Students will be able to distinguish between elements and compounds and classify them according to their properties.
• Learning Targets:
• Provide the definition of an element
• Provide the definition of a compound
• Distinguish between elements and compounds
• Classify elements and compounds according to their properties and Justify your answer
• I CAN Statements:
• I CAN tell what an element is.
• I CAN tell what a compound is.
• I CAN tell the difference between an element and a compound.
• I CAN classify elements and compounds by their properties.

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My LT is to understand what the Gettysburg Address meant in 1863 and what it means today. I will know I’ve hit the target when:

• I can put the speech in my own words
• I can explain how the GA echoes some ideas from the Declaration of Independence and other historical documents
• I can explain why the Gettysburg Address still affects people today

Misconceptions

• Misconception #1: Informing the students of the learning target by telling them what it is or by writing it on the board is sufficient.

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• Misconception #2: Sharing a rubric with students will ensure students master the learning target. Sharing a rubric with students is a good start, but as with the objective, you need to check for sding oftudent understan what the criteria mean.

Without Clear Targets We Can’t Do Any of the Following…

• Know if the assessment adequately covers and samples what we taught.
• Correctly identify what students know and don’t know and their level of achievement.
• Plan next steps in instruction.
• Give detailed, descriptive feedback to students.
• Have students self-assess or set goals likely to help them learn more.
• Keep track of student learning target by target or standard by standard toward the goal of mastery
• Complete a standards-based report

Learning Targets and the i3 Rubric

Learning Targets and the i3 Rubric

• LTs describe student outcomes that are measurable.
• LTs are aligned with state standards.
• LTs identify cognitive levels (and should scaffold to a higher level with each lesson) (Bloom’s/Webb/Hess)
• LTs address multiple cognitive levels (Bloom’s/Webb/Hess)�

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Checklist for Evaluating a Learning Target

• Describe exactly what the student is going to learn by the end of today’s lesson
• Be stated in developmentally appropriate language (not the state standard)
• Be framed from the point of view of a student who has not yet mastered the intended outcome for today’s lesson
• Be connected to and shared through the specific assessment designed for today’s lesson: what will students be asked to do/say/make/write that will deepen their understanding
• Include the student look-fors—descriptive criteria that students can use to judge how close they are to the target (not how they’ll be graded)

LTs identify and address cognitive levels (Bloom’s/Webb/Hess)

Setting Clear Learning Targets

Quick Plan Activity