Learning+Targets

The road leading to a goal does not separate you from the destination; it is essentially a part of it. // ~ Charles DeLint //

As with all education reform, learning targets are ever morphing. Learning targets...pre determined or student centered? List them and display them in the room? in student binders? reveal at different times? self discovered? What makes a learning target P.O.W.E.R.F.U.L.???

The power comes when it engages a student in the learning. Right? So handing them the standards (or re-phrasing the standard in kid friendly language) doesn't necessarily ignite passion to learn in our children. What to do? What do YOU do?

//__Researchers quoted on learning targets...__//

“…students in an internal vision of what they are to be learning. When we invest time up front to mold the vision, we gain it back later in increased student motivation and the resulting higher-quality work.” **Jan Chappuis. Seven Strategies of Assessment //for// Learning. pg 17**

“So, it seems that we have been working on learning targets for a very long time from Thomas Jefferson’s //Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge//, introduced in 1779, to President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind, signed in 2002.” Jane Pollock, **//Improving student learning one teacher at a time//**, p. 14

"To be successful, students need to understand and know the learning target/goal and the criteria for reaching it" **(Garrison and Ehringhaus 2007, 2)**

"Having targets gives people something to aim at. Learning targets help to raise the expectations and motivation of learners. They provide something against which the learning can be measured and give a basis for improvements." //**Mindset 2000 Ltd, November 2003**//