 WHS Learning Goals Designing the most effective learning goals to guide and support improved student achievement: Caroline Woud 18 th August 2015 Reference: Designing and Teaching Learning Goals & Objectives – Robert J. Marzano

2014 Uni SA Survey Effective Teaching Survey Student &Teacher Results Question 22 Teachers check my understanding of the learning goal. Mean: 3.43 I check my students understanding of the learning goal. Mean: Students feel that the teachers need to clarify what is being taught and why it is being taught. To explain the learning goal at the start of each lesson. 2.Students suggest teachers to move around the classroom more in order to track if students understand what they are doing. If they are not getting the answers right, then go back over content. E.g. thumbs up. Why teach Learning Goals?

Over  “Designing clear learning goals …. is the staple of effective teaching. We might even say that goal setting is a necessary condition for effective teaching.”  “The importance of learning goals to the day-to-day execution of classroom activities if fairly obvious. Goals are the reason classroom activities are designed. Without clear learning goals, classroom activities are without direction.” Dr. Robert Marzano

 Revision from previous sessions:  Learning Goals: A statement of what students will know and be able to do.  Dr. Marzano suggests two types, declarative knowledge or information (students will understand...) and procedural knowledge or strategies (students will be able to...).

Learning Goals should be:  Overarching (unit goals) supported by more specific lesson goals.  Clear statements of knowledge or information (not activities or assignments)  Written in student friendly language (when appropriate)  Posted in classrooms and able to be read by students  Referred to regularly during the lesson.

Students should be able to explain:  The Learning Goal  How their current activities relate to the learning goal.

 Research shows that the greatest impact of Learning Goals on student achievement occurs when the Learning Goal is both specific and challenging.

 Goal specificity:  Research strongly implies that the more specific the goals are, the better they are. That is, goals that are specific in nature are more strongly related to student achievement than goals that are not.”

Goal difficulty / challenge:  Studies indicate that students are most motivated by goals they perceive as difficult but not too difficult. Feedback, as an instructional strategy, is more effective when Learning Goals are at the right level of difficulty – challenging for those students who need to be stretched but achievable by others, with support and modification.

When do we return to Proficiency Scales? The role of proficiency scales in Learning Goals:  While we are giving ourselves more time to develop increased capacity to write clear, specific and appropriately challenging Learning Goals, it is at the level of proficiency scales that there is differentiation for the different ability levels we have in our classes. Some groups are continuing their work on Proficiency Scales as steps to the achievement of Learning Goals. Our work across all classrooms will resume later.

Collecting data on student feedback re our Learning Goals:

Society & Culture Learning Goal