Thank-you so much to those of you that took the time to leave me a comment about using learning goals and success criteria in your classroom. I loved reading about how other schools in Ontario use this information. We are required to post the learning goals for all lessons and work we have on display. We also co-create success criteria with the students and keep it posted throughout a unit of study. We also often co-create a summary of learning at the end of an important lesson or unit of study which we leave up on display, or continue to add to during a longer lesson or unit. Like most of you who commented, I am also finding have these criteria posted really help the students focus their learning, identify the criteria in their own work and learning, and help them "talk the talk." We've also been doing a lot more student reflection this year, and I've seen a huge improvement in their reflection and goal-setting. Now, if only I could get ALL my students to actually APPLY the feedback and their personal goals to the work they were doing ... well, then I'd be one happy camper.
I've been hard at work creating learning goals for all our expectations, and I went in to the classroom over the weekend and did a little work and reorganizing to come up with this. This is our Learning Wall. I've posted all our learning goals for each day, and I moved our agenda (on which I write the homework for the day).
I made tags for all our subjects and attached the magnets to the back of the tags. I then taped a page protector to the back of the tag so I can easily slide the learning goals in and out. I have four pages for language (reading, writing, oral communication and media literacy), and two for math (for when the different grades have a different goal). Right now, I have one for science or social studies (I alternate units between science and social studies), and one for "other" (encompassing the arts and health and phys ed). I may add an extra section to "other" - I haven't decided yet.
I bought a big 3" binder to keep all the learning goals in. So far (one day in), it seems like a great little system. My students noticed the new wall as soon as they came in, so it was a perfect time to discuss it. We will spend few minutes first thing in the morning discussing what our goals for the day are. Then, we will refer to the wall during each lesson to reinforce our learning goals. At the end of the day we will revisit them one more time to do an oral summary of learning for the day. I'm also toying with the idea of using sticky notes as a kind of "exit slip". At the end of the day they will write one to two sentences on a sticky note about something they learned in one of the subjects. They will post it beside the appropriate learning goal before they leave. Think I'll give that a try tomorrow.
I decided to post these learning goals at TPT (I've posted the links below in case you want to take a peek). I don't know how many people actually need them, but I figured if I made them, I might as well post them. These are just for grade 6 right now. I do plan on making sets for grades 4, 5, 7, and 8, but it will have to wait until I get my report cards done ... and celebrate my daughter's 6th birthday ... and get all my girls ready for 100 Day at school ... and get everything ready for Valentine's Day ... oh my goodness - I need to get off the computer and get back to work!!!
Happy Monday! Hope you all have a GREAT week!
