PD Follow-Up

After our professional learning day last Friday, some teachers said it would be helpful to see high-quality examples of completed unwrapped units. There is now an Unwrapping Examples collection in the PLC Resources folder with seven different examples from a range of content areas.

A number of people also expressed an interest in getting more clarification around Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions. After doing more reading and thinking about EUs, EQs, standards and targets, I created the graphic below to help myself (and hopefully others) clarify the relationship between them, as well as to envision how these elements actually come into play in day to day instruction and assessment. The instructional cycle starts at the bottom with the Essential Questions.

Feedback? Questions? Please let me know!

Here are some texts that you might find helpful:

"Put Understanding First": High-school specific article by Wiggins and McTighe; a good introduction/review of the philosophy behind EUs and EQs.

"What Makes a Question Essential?": First chapter from Essential Questions by McTighe and Wiggins. I have a copy of this book if you are interested in reading additional chapters.

"How to Use Essential Questions in the Classroom": Blog post from the Global Digital Citizen Foundation.

"On Genuine vs. Bogus Inquiry" - Using Essential Questions Properly": Blog post by Wiggins. Math teachers check out the EQs that are at the heart of genuine problem solving in math.

"What is a Big Idea?": Another post from Wiggins on the Authentic Education blog.

"Essential Understandings": This is a chapter excerpt from Mapping Comprehensive Units to the ELA Common Core Standards, 6-12; however, the information at the beginning and end of the chapter is more general and is applicable to all subject areas.

If you'd like some time to peruse these resources or discuss these ideas further, come to the TTT session on Wednesday in Margaret's room. Teams who want to work on unwrapping are encouraged to attend.

Learning Targets: Helping Students Hit the Mark

As we are working on answering the question "What do we want students to learn?", it is important to have a shared vocabulary when talking about the goals that we have for student learning. 

Standards vs. Learning Targets

Statements about what students should know and be able to do are written at a variety of different levels of "grain size." Grain size refers to how much or how little information and skill is included in the statement of the learning objective. National or state standards, such as the Common Core State Standards or the Next Generation Science Standards, are examples of large grain size objectives; they are written for teachers and typically encompass significant instructional outcomes that must be developed over time. Learning targets are small grain size objectives and are derived from the standards through an unwrapping process. Written in student-friendly language, they are statements of short term goals, typically outlining what the students should know or be able to do by the end of today's lesson.

Why Use Learning Targets?

There is a large body of research that indicates that when students are clear about the learning target (the goal statement that describes the intended learning) they perform significantly better than students who are given goals that focus on task completion. According to Rick Stiggins, "Students can hit any target they can see that holds still for them." In addition, when students are aware of what the learning targets are, they are better able to reflect on their learning and to assess their own growth. 

Learn More

Click here for real SAS examples!

• Watch this 5 minute video which features examples of Puxi HS teachers sharing learning targets with their students.
• View this presentation from Newport Independent Schools. It provides a nice overview with clear visuals explaining what learning targets are and specific examples from different content areas. 
• Read "Knowing Your Learning Target", a short, informational article from Educational Leadership.
• Talk with your instructional coach to get individualized support.