Hello friends, Many of us are now integrating the College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) into our teaching. The standards require students to use academic language during in depth discussions about texts with one another. In the words of Speaking and Listening Anchor 1, learners "Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on one others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively."
Teachers are seeking effective ways to support students to engage in these important conversations. Involving learners in setting personal goals can be an effective practice. Diane Staehr Fenner and Sydney Snyder offer the following list of goals for students to choose from prior to participating in a Socratic Circle discussion. (Check out the link to learn more about Socratic Circle.)
"Goal setting: Develop a goal setting sheet that students can use to set 2-3 goals for the Socratic circle activity. Review and model aspects of the goal sheet so that students understand the goals. Examples of the types of goals you can include are:
- I will use evidence from the text to support my answers.
- I will pose at least one question to the group.
- I will listen to participants carefully and comment on at least one of my classmate’s ideas.
- I will encourage others to speak by asking them to share their ideas.
- I will be open to changing my mind.
- I will ask questions that require others to think critically about the text.
- I will learn about the topic from many perspectives."
I think the practice of goal setting around essential engagement practices such as these would be relevant to any discussion-related activity. I'm planning to implement something like this with the new group of adult learners I'll meet this week.
Please share your thoughts on this type of learner goal setting.
Cheers, Susan
Moderator, Assessment CoP