purpose: teaching with effective learning targets and success criteria

Dr. Marci Shepard Orting School District Teaching, Learning & Assessment January 2012

Dr. Marci ShepardTeacher University

9-12: 12-2-11K-8: 1-30-12

Destination: Purpose

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A Picture of Our Day of Learning


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How long until you get there

Purpose as a GPS

Where you are

The distance to your destination

What to do when you make a wrong turn

GPS provides up-to-the minute information about:

(Moss, Brookhart & Long, 2011)


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Purpose as a GPSBut without knowing where you are going or precisely how to get there…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIakZtDmMgo&feature=player_detailpage


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How to demonstrate their new learning

Purpose as a GPS

What to learn

How deeply to learn it

Without a precise description of where they are headed, too many students are “flying blind.”


Learning targets convey the destination for the lesson:


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Gallery Walk

• Read through all of the quotes on the walls. • Choose one that resonates with you and/or stretches your thinking.• Stand by the quote you chose. Share why you

chose that quote with the others who selected the same quote. As a group, be prepared

to share out. Experts are on the walls. I’m learning

with you.


Engagement Strategies Used TodayStrategy Transferability

1. Gallery walk 1. Activate prior knowledge, survey the research, preview content


Mission and VisionMission: All students prepared for college, careers and life Vision: All students will develop knowledge, skills and attitudes to be successful life-long learners and engaged citizens in a diverse, global society. • Quality instruction in every classroom• Articulated, aligned curriculum and assessments across the system• 21st Century teaching, learning and leading In everything we do, we will: • Focus on learning, collaboration, results and continuous improvement• Ensure data-driven decisions• Provide equity of opportunities and resources• Communicate with and engage students, families, staff and community Critical questions that guide our work:• What do students need to know?• How will we know they have learned it?• What will we do when they haven’t learned it?• What will we do when they already know it?

PLCs

5Ds

21st Cent


Teaching Learning Teacher knows what

needs to be taught. Student can articulate the

learning target and why it is relevant and meaningful to him or her.

Teacher makes instructional decisions based on strategies that work for the class.

Student knows the learning strategies to choose from and can describe his or her learning progress.

Teacher measures performance against set standard for all students.

Student measures performance against his or her own progress.

Teacher reports degree of student success or failure to students and parents.

Student articulates what s/he did well, what s/he needs to do better, and what s/he will do differently next time in relation to the learning target and success criteria.

PLC’s: A Shift from Teaching to Learning


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Why should we focus on the learning?

A recent analysis of 53 research studies found that when students were clear in advance about what they were learning, their achievement was, on average, 34 percentile points higher on tests than students in control groups.

(Marzano, 1998; McREL, 2000)Dr. Marci Shepard Orting School District Teaching, Learning & Assessment January 2012

http://casualgamerchick.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/achievement.jpg

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In most cases neither teachers nor students can articulate what they are supposed to be learning that day; they can only describe the activity or assignment. There is a glaring absence of the most basic element of an effective lesson – clearly defined learning targets.


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Classrooms in which there was evidence of a clear learning objective were ONLY 4% in a study of 1,500 classrooms!

(Learning 24/7)


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OSD and 5D

Here’s what.

So what?

Now what?



1. Gallery walk

2. Here’s what. So what? Now what?

1. Activate prior knowledge, survey the research, preview content

2.


What do you notice and wonder about the following learning

targets?


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Learning Targets“To write a persuasive essay about a key election issue to publish in our school Voters’ Guide.”

“Good readers make personal connections to help them understand what they are reading.”

“Understanding Acute, Obtuse, and Right Angles”

“What is the most justifiable interpretation of a poem? How do we know?”

“Survey your classmates to find out what foods we should have at our class party next week. Chart your findings.” Center for Educational Leadership

But wait…there’s

more!


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But wait, there’s more!

Alignment of Target and Task“To write a persuasive essay about a key election issue to publish in our school Voters’ Guide.”Students read statements about controversial issues and checked boxes to indicate “Agree,” “Disagree,” “Need More Information.”“Good readers make personal connections to help them understand what they are reading.”The teacher finished up a read-aloud where she asked students to turn and talk about a time when they experienced the same feelings as the main character. Students were asked to use sticky notes to mark 3 places in their independent reading books where they made personal connections.“Understanding Acute, Obtuse, and Right Angles”Students took notes on each of the angles from a PowerPoint presentation and were given a worksheet to complete at home that asked them to label angles. For extra credit, they could use a protractor to measure the angles.“What is the most justifiable interpretation of a poem? How do we know?”The teacher had read a poem out loud to the class and asked them to turn and talk about what they thought it was about and why. After some whole-class discussion, he reviewed the different theories that emerged from the group and asked students to consider what is the most justifiable interpretation of the poem by responding to a few guiding questions.

“Survey your classmates to find out what foods we should have at our class party next week. Chart your findings.”

Students worked in groups (pizza, ice cream, and soda). They walked around with clipboards and interviewed each other about their food preferences. They recorded their data by filling in boxes on graph paper.Center for Educational Leadership

But wait…there’s

more!


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But wait, there’s more!

Standards-Based“To write a persuasive essay about a key election issue to publish in our school Voters’ Guide.” (11th grade, U.S. History)

“Good readers make personal connections to help them understand what they are reading.” (2nd grade, Language Arts)

“Understanding Acute, Obtuse, and Right Angles” (10th grade, Math)

“What is the most justifiable interpretation of a poem? How do we know?” (7th grade, Language Arts)

“Survey your classmates to find out what foods we should have at our class party next week.” (4th grade, Math) Center for Educational Leadership



1. Gallery walk


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Today we are developing a common understanding of the dimension of Purpose.

Success Criteria (process):• Describe the central ideas of Purpose• Compare and contrast planning &

instruction with Purpose in mind• Specify hope-to-sees/hope-to-hears for

Purpose• Reflect and offer feedback



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Boss-Secretary

1. Read Purpose vision statements and guiding questions

2. Get in A-B partners3. Draw an imaginary horizontal line

between Standards and Teaching Point under Guiding Questions

4. B is Boss and A is Secretary for Standards

5. A is Boss and B is Secretary for Teaching Point



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Planning and Instruction

with Purpose in MindA measurable learning target guides instructional planning

“Think of your instruction as being like a train that takes

your students from one place to another. The

question to be answered by an objective is, “What are

students expected to be like when they arrive at their

destination?”Masser


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PLANNING AND INSTRUCTION WITH PURPOSE IN MIND


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Purpose: What do you hope to see

and hear?

Thinking about the critical elements you discussed and what we’ve learned, what would you hope to see and hear if these were present in a classroom?Re-group



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6. “Tracks of Our Thinking” chart


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FEEDBACK


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BreakEffective instruction requires that teachers be clear about what it is they want students to know and be able to do as a result of each lesson and about how they will gauge students’ success. A clear purpose can guide teaching decisions, focus assessment efforts, and engage students in taking ownership for their learning. Center for Educational Leadership


I can write effective learning targets and success criteria.

Success Criteria (product):My learning targets and success criteria are effective if they are: • Written for one lesson• Linked to previous and future lessons• Based on knowledge of standards and students• Transferable and relevant beyond the lesson• Accessible and understood by all students• Embedded throughout instruction• Measurable • Aligned with the task• Used for student self-assessmentDr. Marci Shepard Orting School District Teaching, Learning & Assessment January 2012

I can write effective learning targets and success criteria.

Success Criteria (process):• Unpack the success criteria for what makes a

learning target and success criteria effective • Revise learning targets to make them

transferable• Write a learning target(s) collaboratively• Describe how learning targets can help teachers

and students• Write process success criteria that teachers and

students can use to measure a learning target • Describe how success criteria can help teachers

and students• Self-assess where you are in meeting the

learning target and the level of support you needDr. Marci Shepard Orting School District Teaching, Learning & Assessment January 2012

Having a clear, posted purpose/learning target for a

lesson is not simply for the benefit of the adults coming

into the classroom. The purpose/learning target

should be directly tied to what we want our students to

know and be able to do as a result of the lesson.

Grandview School DistrictDr. Marci Shepard Orting School District Teaching, Learning & Assessment January 2012

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Unpack the Success Criteria: Jigsaw in Color Groups

You have been given a color Go to the table with the corresponding

color table tent Inside that table tent is one of the

success criteria and a quote With your color group, “unpack” that

success criterion and prepare to share your thinking with the whole group


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Unpack the Success Criteria: Jigsaw Share Out

For one lesson“A shared learning target unpacks a “lesson-sized” amount of learning – the precise “chunk” of the particular content students are to master. It describes exactly how well we expect them to demonstrate that learning.”

(Moss, Brookhart & Long, 2011)Dr. Marci Shepard Orting School District Teaching, Learning & Assessment January 2012

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Linked to previous and future lessons“How teachers connect the teaching point of a given lesson to prior learning, for example, is critical for bridging students’ understanding. … Expert observers notice whether and how teachers connect the teaching point to what students already know and are able to do.”

(Fink and Markholt, 2011)


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Based on knowledge of standards and students“How are we working backward from the standard and forward from the students?” (Fink in conversation, 2011)

“Are the standards high enough, reasonable, and appropriate as we look at a teacher dealing with different groups and different individuals?”

(Saphier & Gower, 1997)


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Standard vs. Learning Target

Standard: What we want students to be able to know and do at the end of any given time; standards are provided by the state(s) and derived from the National Standards. Also can be known as Performance Expectations (PE in math), Content Standards (in science), GLE (reading, writing, social studies…)

Learning Targets: These are statements of intended learning based on the standards. Learning targets are in kid friendly language and are specific to the lesson for the day and directly connected to assessment.

Tacoma School District


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Accessible and understood by all studentsSharing learning targets does not mean merely writing the objective on the board or telling students what the objective is in a sentence or two. Most students will, of course, be able to repeat back to the teacher what she said the objective was, and that can be somewhat useful. What we mean by sharing learning targets and criteria for success, however, is that students comprehend what those objectives mean. For example, a reading objective might be that students can identify the main idea in passages of a certain type and level. What we want is more than students being able to say "identify main idea." We want students to understand that they will learn how to get a better grasp on the meaning of what they read, why that should be a goal for them, and what it feels like to do that. For the student, this means both understanding the learning goal and knowing what good work on the assignment looks like. It's not a goal if the student can't envision it. (Moss & Brookhart, 2009)


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Embedded throughout instruction“The teaching point can be observed in various ways and focuses on what students are expected to know and be able to do. Perhaps the simplest and most direct communication can be observed when teachers write the teaching point or objective for the lesson on the board or state it explicitly for students. However, as our expert panel was quick to point out, observers may find evidence of the teaching point of a lesson in the ways effective teachers, for example, ‘target questions to lesson objectives’ (Stronge, 2002, p.76) or how the teacher talks with students about the expectations for learning or the relevance of what is to be learned.”

(Fink and Markholt, 2011)Dr. Marci Shepard Orting School District Teaching, Learning & Assessment January 2012

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Measurable “We know that students’ chances of success grow markedly when they start their learning with a clear sense of where they are headed and when they play a role in tracking and communicating about their own progress along the way. Teachers help them succeed, therefore, by providing an understandable vision of success (success criteria) with examples of what success will look like when they get there.”

(Chappuis, Stiggins, Arter and Chappuis, 2005)Dr. Marci Shepard Orting School District Teaching, Learning & Assessment January 2012

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Aligned with the task“The single most important method for routinely sharing learning targets is using assignments that match—really match—the learning goal. It is in the assignment that the teacher translates the learning goal into action for the student. The student will strive to do the assignment, not the abstract goal. When we say an assignment or activity must "embody" the learning goal, we mean that the assignment or activity is such a close match with the goal that the student would be able to think, ‘If I can do [this assignment], then I can do [the learning objective].’”

(Moss & Brookhart, 2009)Dr. Marci Shepard Orting School District Teaching, Learning & Assessment January 2012

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Used for student self-assessment“Do we want classrooms full of empowered, self-regulated, highly motivated, and intentional learners? If we do, then it is time to own the obstacles that educators create by withholding the very information that would empower learners. Students cannot regulate learning, use thoughtful reasoning processes, set meaningful goals, or assess the quality of their own work unless they understand what success looks like in today’s lesson.”




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Unpack the Success Criteria:

• For one lesson• Linked to previous and future lessons• Based on knowledge of standards

and students• Transferable and relevant beyond

the lesson• Accessible and understood by all

students• Embedded throughout instruction• Measurable • Aligned with the task• Used for student self-assessment



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Unpack the Success Criteria:

Transferable and relevant beyond the lesson“Transferability can be explored at various levels, including transfer from one set of concepts to any other, one school subject to another, one year of school to another, and across school and everyday non-school activities.”

(Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000)


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Focusing on the work instead of the learning

Mismatched activities that don’t fulfill the learning target

Awkward success criteria

Muddling the learning target with the context

(Clarke, 2005)Dr. Marci Shepard Orting School District Teaching, Learning & Assessment January 2012

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production on the banana producers”

What are students likely to focus on?What is the teacher likely to focus on?

“To understand the effect of banana production on the banana producers”

By separating the learning target explicitly from its context, students are able to see the connections: that learning targets can often be applied to a number of different contexts.


(Clarke, 2005)


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Turn & Talk: How does removing the context from these learning target statements make them transferable?

Learning Targets Needing Revision

To write one body paragraph convincing the principal to allow a longer time for lunch

To analyze the use of similes in Eve Bunting’s Riding the Tiger

Revised Learning Targets

I can use data and counterarguments to strengthen a position in a persuasive essay

I can explain how the use of a literary device shapes the theme in a story

Revised from Center for Educational Leadership and



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By separating the learning target from the activity, students can apply the skill or concept in a number of different contexts. This transferability is critical to student learning.

Separate the learning target from the activity.

Center for Educational Leadership and


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How do we organize the class data on number of hours spent on homework into a graph?

How do we display data in an appropriate graph?We are learning to include counterarguments in the essay to be more convincing about the need for gun control.

We are learning to anticipate the reader’s concerns about a topic and include counter arguments in a persuasive essay.

Readers use visualization to picture the setting in chapter 1 of Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt.

Use sensory images to begin to build the world of the story early in a book.

Revise one of the following learning targets so it is transferable.

Center for Educational Leadership andGrandview School District


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Focusing on the work instead of the learning

Mismatched activities that don’t fulfill the learning target

Awkward success criteria


(Clarke, 2005)


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Write a Learning Target

Resources: Different

kinds of targets

Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs

Verbs/phrases that turn into success criteria

TargetStandard & Unit

Life Relevancy

Today I can/will… Today we are learning to…Dr. Marci Shepard Orting School District Teaching, Learning & Assessment January 2012

Circle of Viewpoints

How does a learning target help you?


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In what ways might a learning target be helpful to…

Teachers Students



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A learning target in and of itself can look measurable, but

unless you explicitly spell out how it is measured, then it isn’t a measurable learning target.

SUCCESS CRITERIA


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“A crucial role that assessment can play in promoting learning, therefore, is to help students understand the learning intentions that the teacher has for them and what counts as success.”

(Wiliam, 2006)

Success Criteria


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success and allow access for ALL students:

Analyze, build, classify, design, investigate, prove, ask questions to clarify, press others to explain or justify, translate, graph, use evidence from the text, use, estimate, represent, visualize, make inferences, list, wonder, model, connect, compare, describe … Center for Educational Leadership

andGrandview School District

Success Criteria


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Center for Educational Leadership and

Grandview School District

Success Criteria


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Write your own process success criteria that students and teachers can use to measure a learning target.

Resources: Bloom’s

Taxonomy verbs

Verbs/phrases that turn into success criteria

Tips to Try:

Participate in lesson as learners

Reflect on the thinking, reasoning and actions you did in order to “do the work.”

Identify work using verbs that allow for multiple entries, effort, and measures success

List success criteriaCenter for Educational Leadership

andGrandview School DistrictDr. Marci Shepard Orting School District Teaching, Learning & Assessment January 2012

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Displaying Success Criteria

o Posted with the learning target initially

o Gathered one-by-one as the task is being taught, explored or modeled

o Student-generated after modeling and guided practice but before group or independent practice (“So what did we do first? Second?...”)


Circle of Viewpoints

How does success criteria

help you?


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In what ways might success criteria be helpful to…

Teachers Students


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Self-Assessment

What level of support do you need to meet today’s learning target?

I do it(independently)

We do it(with the support of colleagues)

You do it(explain and model)



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5. Boss-Secretary

6. “Tracks of Our Thinking” Chart


8. Turn and talk


10. Self-assess on a learning target


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Goal Setting

Considering the “standards” and your knowledge of yourself as a learner, write a personal learning target with success criteria for using “Purpose” in your own planning and instruction.



1. Gallery walk




5. Boss-Secretary

6. “Tracks of Our Thinking” Chart


8. Turn and talk


10. Self-assess on a learning target

11. Write a personal learning target


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FEEDBACK

Any other feedback…


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Destination: PurposeIn an article published over 35 years ago, Mary Alice White (1971) wrote:

“The analogy that might make the student’s view more comprehensible to adults is to imagine oneself on a ship sailing across an unknown sea, to an unknown destination. An adult would be desperate to know where he/she is going. But a child only knows he is going to school…The chart is neither available nor understandable to him/her…The daily chores, the demands, the inspections, become the reality, not the voyage, nor the destination.”

(White, 1971) Dr. Marci Shepard Orting School District Teaching, Learning & Assessment January 2012

purpose: teaching with effective learning targets and success criteria

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