Articulate
I always have an objective for my lessons. It's on the board, I review it before class begins, it explain my expectations, and I often refer back to it during class. Students need to know what they need to know, before they can learn it. A learning target or an objective, whatever you call, it's a goal.
Last year, I was lucky enough to travel to Portugal with my husband and son. I listened to Portuguese language lessons daily on my thirty minute commute, trying to pick up the tiniest bit of conversational language. My son occasionally used an app on his iPhone in the weeks leading up to our trip. On our arrival in Lisbon, jet lagged after a red eye and a stopover in the Azores, the three of us stumbled down to the patio cafe at the back of our hotel for our first dining experience in Portugal. The menu was in English and Portuguese but I was determined to use Portuguese to order. My brain kept spinning as I thought of the correct phrases for "I would like" in French and Spanish and tried to recall the same verbiage in Portuguese. I didn't have it, I hadn't learned how to conjugate verbs or even learned verbs in isolation. My CDs had been a series of pat phrases, only useful in very specific situations. As I wrestled with my tongue, my sixteen year old very politely chimed "Coke, por favor". The waitress was astonished. "You speak Portuguese very well." Four syllables, only three in true Portuguese. Wah! My years of college level French and Spanish had been bested by an app, my vanity, and my inability to focus on the goal. All I had needed to do was communicate what I wanted. There are many ways to reach a target, but if you lose sight of what you're striving for, you never reach it.
At the beginning of the school year, I created a powerpoint about standards based learning, targets, and scales to show to my students. It led to a great conversation as some of them were familiar with targets, some had thought they'd heard a teacher or two reference targets, and for some targets were new learning.
I always have an objective for my lessons. It's on the board, I review it before class begins, it explain my expectations, and I often refer back to it during class. Students need to know what they need to know, before they can learn it. A learning target or an objective, whatever you call, it's a goal.
Last year, I was lucky enough to travel to Portugal with my husband and son. I listened to Portuguese language lessons daily on my thirty minute commute, trying to pick up the tiniest bit of conversational language. My son occasionally used an app on his iPhone in the weeks leading up to our trip. On our arrival in Lisbon, jet lagged after a red eye and a stopover in the Azores, the three of us stumbled down to the patio cafe at the back of our hotel for our first dining experience in Portugal. The menu was in English and Portuguese but I was determined to use Portuguese to order. My brain kept spinning as I thought of the correct phrases for "I would like" in French and Spanish and tried to recall the same verbiage in Portuguese. I didn't have it, I hadn't learned how to conjugate verbs or even learned verbs in isolation. My CDs had been a series of pat phrases, only useful in very specific situations. As I wrestled with my tongue, my sixteen year old very politely chimed "Coke, por favor". The waitress was astonished. "You speak Portuguese very well." Four syllables, only three in true Portuguese. Wah! My years of college level French and Spanish had been bested by an app, my vanity, and my inability to focus on the goal. All I had needed to do was communicate what I wanted. There are many ways to reach a target, but if you lose sight of what you're striving for, you never reach it.
At the beginning of the school year, I created a powerpoint about standards based learning, targets, and scales to show to my students. It led to a great conversation as some of them were familiar with targets, some had thought they'd heard a teacher or two reference targets, and for some targets were new learning.
Standard Based Learning Targets and Scales Powerpoint
Writing KUDs, Targets and Scales
Reading KUDs, Targets and Scales
Writing KUDs, Targets and Scales
Reading KUDs, Targets and Scales