GREAT EXPECTATIONS: THE POWER OF SETTING OBJECTIVES September 2014 Ed Director Meeting

Essence of Essential Questions Grant Wiggins in the classroom

A question is essential when it: causes genuine and relevant inquiry into the big ideas and core content; provokes deep thought, lively discussion, sustained inquiry, and new understanding as well as more questions; requires students to consider alternatives, weigh evidence, support their ideas, and justify their answers; stimulates vital, on-going rethinking of big ideas, assumptions, and prior lessons; sparks meaningful connections with prior learning and personal experiences; naturally recurs, creating opportunities for transfer to other situations and subjects.

Question What is the difference between a learning objective, a standard and an essential question? Talk with a shoulder partner!

Essential Questions: Every Unit has 1 Essential Questions: -go to the heart of the discipline -have no one obvious right answer -are “higher order” -- students must go beyond the information given -recur and are raised naturally (spiral curriculum) -provoke and sustain student interest -link to other essential questions Unit 1; Tales of the Heart: Fourth Grade ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do stories reveal what we have in common?

Learning Objective Learning Objectives: -specify how the standard is assessed/demonstrated at the unit or lesson level -what the student will be able to do as a result of instruction/ not activities After completing the lesson, the student will be able to locate key ideas and words. They will use this information to summarize the text.

Standards Content Standards: -define overarching knowledge, skills and abilities -provide the big picture of what students should know RI.4.1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text

HOT Stems See handout

Class Objectives Student Goals What is the difference between engaging objectives and student goals? Individualization!

Partnering with Parents for SLOs Include them!! Create a rubric or scale for each learning goal as a way of providing students, parents (and you) with a clear description of what mastery of the goal will look like and the stages along the way. Break your learning goals down into discrete steps students can take towards mastery. Present these steps to students and parents along with a visual way (such as a chart, checklist, or graphic organizer) to track their progress towards the learning goal. For each learning goal, decide how you will know when students have achieved that goal and how you will know when students are on the right track. Explain these indicators to parents. Include your SLOs on all parent communication so they can reinforce standards at home. Encourage your students to explain to their parents current student learning objectives and how they pertain to their learning.

Scales Rubrics rating scales are often used by teachers to rate homework quality, preparedness for class, and participation levels kids are asked to assign numbers to their work on a scale of 1-5 (usually), or teachers use this scale to grade what students have done can increase student success because they show the gradations of what good and bad work or behavior looks like. overarching term for scoring guides that include scoring rubrics, checklists, and rating scales help students to evaluate their academic work, performances, and behavior along a continuum of excellence so that they understand the specific guidelines for success in all different areas. don’t just hand out… review, and explain instructional rubrics use them as teaching tools to raise expectations and show students how to meet them Scales vs. Rubrics

Let’s talk homework…. Research says.... Take some time to talk with your team to develop a united homework policy.

RAGS Review RAGS- Read Around Groups Purpose? What to bring to the twice a quarter meetings Rubric Creation

Remember why you teach…. to make a difference in each student's life.