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Learning Targets and Success Criteria; Purposeful Teaching

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Just like we need to teach with a purpose, students need a purpose for learning. Students need a buy in. If there is a reason, a meaning for learning, the connections that students make and the level of retention of that information grows. If we don’t share the purpose for why they need to learn the skills and concepts we are teaching, then their own reasoning, motivation and interest drop. This is when learning targets and success criteria come in to play.

It is important to explicitly tell the students WHAT they will be learning, HOW they will be successful in mastering that skill and WHY it is an important skill to learn. These three things combined not only help ensure success in each student’s learning, they help students to take ownership over their learning.

Below, I will share some tips on how to create and use learning targets and success criteria in your classroom. I will also give some ideas on how to shift the locus of control from you to the students and teach your students to take control of their learning.

The WHAT- Learning Targets

Learning targets tell your students exactly what skills and concepts they will be learning in each and every lesson. By providing your students with learning targets, you are giving them the first step in knowing their purpose for the many activities you will be completing during the lesson. It gives them a chance to process what they will be learning before the learning even begins. It also gives them a chance to make connections to prior learning, background knowledge and experiences. Learning target discussions allow for great conversations between teacher and students as well as student to student. Students can start to take ownership over their learning when they:

  • put the learning target in their own words
  • self-assess where they are in relation to meeting the target
  • come up with next steps that they could take to meet the target (if they are not already meeting it)

To create learning targets:

  1. Look at the standards you are teaching
    • Common Core State Standards, state or district standards
  2. Rephrase each standard in kid friendly language starting with, “I can”
    • Keep the age range of your students in mind in order to rephrase it in a way that fits the language and cognitive development of the students in your class
    • Use words that don’t make it too hard or complex for younger students to understand, while also not making it too simple and easy for older students
    • Even when matching the wording to the age level of your students, try and keep key vocabulary and concepts in there so that the students continually hear and learn how to use them (ex: ‘contrast’, ‘attributes’, ‘text features’…)
  3. Type (or hand write) them to post in your classroom to refer to during your lesson

To use learning targets with your students:

  1. Have the learning target posted in the area that you teach that subject
    • Having your classroom sectioned off (having a reading focus wall in one area of the room, a math wall in one area of the room…etc.) helps students focus in on what they will be learning (they will be studying words in the reading area, numbers in the math area…etc.)
  2. Start the lesson by linking the standard they will be learning to some prior learning or experiences
    • If they have learned and practiced that standard before, it will be great tie in to step 3
  3. State the learning target to tell the students exactly what it is that they will be able to do by the end of the lesson
    • Continually refer back to the learning target throughout your lesson and into any small group or individual instruction
  4. Have the students do any or all of the below:
    • repeat the learning target to you
    • tell a partner what the learning target is
    • write the learning target in their notebook
    • tell you (or someone else) the learning target in their own words
    • tell you (or someone else) why the learning target is important
    • write in their notebook if they met the learning target and how they know

For ease and convenience:

  • Type up the learning targets beforehand so that you will not have to spend your valuable time thinking about how to word each learning target, for each subject, for each lesson, just right (I’m all about efficiency!)
  • Print them out and laminate for repeated use lesson after lesson, year after year
  • Print different subjects on different colors (ex: reading on yellow, math on blue…etc.)
  • Label them on the back with the specific lesson number from your curriculum (if you use one) that the learning target addresses (ex: “Unit 3, Week 2, Day 1”, “Topic 4-7”, “Module 4, Lesson 2”)
  • Keep them in the order that you teach them as the lessons progress, so that you can put the learning target you just used in the back and the learning target you will need next will be right in the front
  • Store them in a pocket chart or sheet protectors that are stapled to the wall for easy access and to keep them organized
  • Keep like subjects together

For pre-made Learning Targets for each grade that are based on the Common Core State Standards, check out these Learning Targets

The HOW- Success Criteria

Success criteria are a visual way to show and tell your students the steps they will take to be successful in meeting their learning targets. They can help your students take ownership over their learning as they can:

  • use it as a reference when they are working independently if they get stuck
  • come up with the success criteria themselves
  • track their progress in using the success criteria to meet their learning targets

To create success criteria:

  1. Think about what steps your students would need to take to successfully meet their learning target
    • For some skills and concepts, there may be only one way to be successful and may be done in a certain order
    • For other skills and concepts, there may be multiple ways to be successful
  2. List the steps in order of how they would be completed
    • If there is more than one right way, list all of them, so that your students can choose which criteria would work best for them
  3. You can color code the steps (or the different ways to be successful)
    • This helps your students with being overwhelmed by a lot of text
    • Your students can visually see where each step starts and ends
  4. You can also add pictures if there is room and the criteria lends itself to pictures

To use success criteria with your students:

  1. Go over the learning target with your students prior to the lesson
  2. Then talk about the success criteria either:
    • Right after you’ve discussed the learning target (so that students will have prior knowledge of what steps they will be taking as you are teaching)
    • After you’ve taught the lesson, when explaining what they will be doing when they are working independently
  3. For older students (or if it’s a skill you have practiced over and over), you can have them help you come up with the success criteria
  4. Continually refer back to the success criteria throughout your lesson (if you introduce it prior to the lesson) and in any small group or individual instruction
  5. Have the students do any or all of the below:
    • repeat the success criteria to you
    • tell a partner what the success criteria is
    • write the success criteria in their notebook
    • tell you (or someone else) the success criteria in their own words
    • write in their notebook which criteria they used to be successful (if there is more than one)

For ease and convenience:

  • Type up the success criteria beforehand so that you will not have to spend your valuable time thinking about how to word each success criteria, for each subject, for each lesson
  • Print them out and laminate for repeated use lesson after lesson, year after year
  • Print different subjects on different colors (ex: reading on yellow, math on blue…), especially if you are not chosing to color code the success criteria wording
  • Label them on the back or in the bottom corner with the specific standard, so you can match it with the learning targets you are using
  • Store them in a pocket chart or sheet protectors that are stapled to the wall for easy access and to keep them organized
  • Keep like subjects together

For pre-made Success Criteria for each grade that are based on the Common Core State Standards, check out these Success Criteria

They WHY- Real World Connections

If giving your students a purpose for learning and the tools to succeed in it isn’t enough, making real world connections would be like the icing on the cake. Knowing why they need to learn something is crucial and when given concrete examples of times they’ll use it, makes it all come together. I try to bring in real world examples as much as possible and when they come up unexpectedly we chant, “#realworld”!

For learning targets and success criteria that are already created based on the Common Core State Standards, check out:

Common Core Learning Targets

Success Criteria for Common Core Learning Targets

Learning Target and Success Criteria Bundles

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