Hi to all,
Is anyone using learning targets with adult education students?
Learning targets guide student learning. They are not lesson objectives. They are the words, pictures or actions that are written in the voice of the student. They pinpoint the focus of the lesson.
Currently many programs are beginning to use the College and Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education and move in the direction of standards-based-education in our classes. If you are using learning targets in your classes, will you please share how they are being used? How are the students responding to them?
Meryl Becker-Prezocki, SME
Comments
I would be interested in hearing and learing more about Learing Targets. I think this would be something my ESL teachers might be ablt to utilize in their instruction.
Hi Terrin. Thank you for posting and your interest. I am glad that you are interested in knowing more about the topic. Learning targets would be wonderful for ESL students. They should be written in the language of the student and state explicitly what the student can do. I am working on a presentation on Learning Targets at this time. You might find this site informative: http://qualityinstruction.org/FAQRetrieve.aspx?ID=45559.
I believe that instructors should not be the only person in class who knows the intention of the lesson. Learning targets are necessary for all students at every grade level and age. Every lesson needs learning targets that are referred to throughout the lesson. At the very end of the lesson, learning targets provide a wonderful opportunity for students to reflect and self-assess on their own learning.
Meryl Becker-Prezocki, SME
I wanted to know more about learning targets and wondered how learning targets were different from objectives and did a little googling. I found some practical applications and some images which set the idea in my thought. It was an interesting morning search which was distracting me from cleaning and shoveling snow. :-) I also found an interesting article, "Knowing Your Learning Target, at <http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar11/vol68/num06/Knowing-Your-Learning-Target.aspx>. Good article! Besides learning about learning targets which frame the lesson in student friendly language, I saw the connection between learning targets and chunking lessons. Here is a quote from the Educational Leadership article that stood out for me: "A learning target should convey to your students what today's lesson should mean for them."
Hello Peg,
Thanks for directing the community to your article. I found it very informative. I think that learning targets are a vehicle for students to move the standards into practice.
I would like to direct this question to the COP. Have you written learning targets with your students? What was the response from the class?
Meryl, SME
Hi Peg,
I recently reread your comments, and it made me think of the Forrest Gump quote, “If you don’t know where you are going then you probably will not end up there.” I believe that using learning targets in student-friendly language is a must for standards-based instruction.
Meryl Becker-Prezocki, SME