More Learning Goals

06 February 2012
Thank-you so much to those of you that took the time to leave me a comment about using learning goals and success criteria in your classroom.  I loved reading about how other schools in Ontario use this information.  We are required to post the learning goals for all lessons and work we have on display.  We also co-create success criteria with the students and keep it posted throughout a unit of study.  We also often co-create a summary of learning at the end of an important lesson or unit of study which we leave up on display, or continue to add to during a longer lesson or unit.  Like most of you who commented, I am also finding have these criteria posted really help the students focus their learning, identify the criteria in their own work and learning, and help them "talk the talk."  We've also been doing a lot more student reflection this year, and I've seen a huge improvement in their reflection and goal-setting.  Now, if only I could get ALL my students to actually APPLY the feedback and their personal goals to the work they were doing  ... well, then I'd be one happy camper.

I've been hard at work creating learning goals for all our expectations, and I went in to the classroom over the weekend and did a little work and reorganizing to come up with this.  This is our Learning Wall.  I've posted all our learning goals for each day, and I moved our agenda (on which I write the homework for the day).

I made tags for all our subjects and attached the magnets to the back of the tags.  I then taped a page protector to the back of the tag so I can easily slide the learning goals in and out.  I have four pages for language (reading, writing, oral communication and media literacy), and two for math (for when the different grades have a different goal).  Right now, I have one for science or social studies (I alternate units between science and social studies), and one for "other" (encompassing the arts and health and phys ed).  I may add an extra section to "other" - I haven't decided yet.


I bought a big 3" binder to keep all the learning goals in.  So far (one day in), it seems like a great little system.  My students noticed the new wall as soon as they came in, so it was a perfect time to discuss it.  We will spend  few minutes first thing in the morning discussing what our goals for the day are.  Then, we will refer to the wall during each lesson to reinforce our learning goals.  At the end of the day we will revisit them one more time to do an oral summary of learning for the day.  I'm also toying with the idea of using sticky notes as a kind of "exit slip".  At the end of the day they will write one to two sentences on a sticky note about something they learned in one of the subjects.  They will post it beside the appropriate learning goal before they leave.  Think I'll give that a try tomorrow.

I decided to post these learning goals at TPT (I've posted the links below in case you want to take a peek).  I don't know how many people actually need them, but I figured if I made them, I might as well post them.  These are just for grade 6 right now.  I do plan on making sets for grades 4, 5, 7, and 8, but it will have to wait until I get my report cards done ... and celebrate my daughter's 6th birthday ... and get all my girls ready for 100 Day at school ... and get everything ready for Valentine's Day ... oh my goodness - I need to get off the computer and get back to work!!!

Happy Monday!  Hope you all have a GREAT week!

54 comments

  1. These are wonderful! We do "objective statements" and I just write them on the board! This is much much cuter!

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  2. Love how you have them organized in a binder! I'm a binderaholic!

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  3. Wow, that's awesome! I teach Kindergarten in the States, but in 1st grade and kindergarten, I did a focus wall for reading. I've been trying to shift it into more or a what we are going to learn today, and I really like this idea! I definitely think I may modify this for my class! Thank you!!!

    Angela
    The Daily Alphabet

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  4. I can not wait to see your other grade levels!

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  5. I teach 1st in Michigan so far we are not required to post our goals. I started this year. I have a learning goal wall that has our unit goals posted then write our weekly goals on the board. Of course we start each subject's mini lesson with reviewing what the goal is...we need to state our goal at least 3 times during the lesson. Every morning we start our day going over the ones on the board. I also let the parents know our weekly goals in my Family Time Calendar.

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  6. Love your Learning Goals! I've been toying around with how to do this but the thought of taking on that huge project just seemed overwhelming. Way to motivate me.

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  7. This is exactly what I do in Virginia - Post them everyday or every week depending on the goal. However, I have not saved the goals. I love the idea of keeping a binder. I, too, am a binderaholic!

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  8. I write our learning goals (I call them targets) on the white board near a little red target. This is way more comprehensive and cuter! It must have taken you ages! I love it.

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  9. Someone want to do this for the new common core standards for elementary? I know lots of folks who will pay top dollar for that.

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  10. Thanks, everyone! I'm happy with how it turned out.
    @vgw - if you search "common core" on TpT, there are quite a few packages for the different grade levels that are extremely well done.

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    1. Your work is incredible. It would be fantastic if you could be a source for any "Common Core" materials. Starting with 4th Grade would be my preference!

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  11. Sign me up for grade 5 learning goals! You are amazing!

    Denise

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    1. Denise - I just finished the grade 5 learning goals. You can check them out by clicking "home" on my top bar.

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  12. I think your idea of the exit slip with the post its is a great idea! I think I will try this on Fridays. You are so organized! Your planning periods must be much longer than mine! (27 minutes)

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  13. Jen, your board looks fantastic!!! I need to work on mine over the summer :)

    ❤ Mor Zrihen from...
    A Teacher's Treasure
    Teaching Treasures Shop

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  14. OMG! You are a lifesaver! So going to buy this ASAP! Cheers! Do you have any math or literacy units plans (gradual release model and guided reading and writing?) I would so buy those too! The "Big Idea" is all the rage and I so need some new unit plans for grade my grade 5/6 class!

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  15. Impressive! I'm a K teacher in the states and I purchased the Common Core ones from Deanna Jump. I used them to create a board recently with pictures to show how we are working on the standards. Yours is more of an every day kind of thing. I love it!

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  16. Hi Jen. I really like how you are handling the Learning Goals challenge. I was wondering where you post your success criteria?

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  17. Thank-you SO much, everyone!
    @Alice - I do have a few writing workshop plans in my TPT store - I've had a lot of success with these in the classroom this year. Thanks for your interest!
    @cmarchand - I do have dedicated bulletin boards for reading, writing, and math. I usually post the success criteria on these boards. I plan on doing a post this week that will show the new success criteria we made for our unit on inferring.

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  18. Wow! That is awesome. I can tell you put a lot of work into this. Looks great!
    Life with Mrs. L

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  19. Organized, organized, organized! That's what you are! :)

    Shannon
    http://6thgradescottforesmanreadingstreetresources.wordpress.com/

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  20. I love the way you've posted these with a fun color scheme. I can tell that this was a lot of work for you, but it looks amazing and you'll be able to use it for years.

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  21. Can these be edited? My district requires "I can ..." statements.

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    1. All the bundles contain both the pdf and word files of the documents, so they can be edited to fit the wording you require.

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  22. I only have them in PDF right now, but being able to edit them is a great idea ... this weekend I'll edit the file so that it includes a zipped copy of all the pdf files and a zipped file of all the word files - that way they will be able to edited with word.

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  23. I love these so much I sort of feel like I cannot breathe. THIS IS JUST AWESOME and I love how you are sharing it. Thank you for posting this. I linked to this from something on pinterest. You totally rock.

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  24. OMGosh...sooooo totally lovin' this idea! have been trying to figure out how to do this in a simple way that isn't too time consuming! you are a GENIUS!!!

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  25. This is awesome and very organized. I wish I was as organized.
    J

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  26. These are awesome! I need this for my grade 5 class... also Ontario! I also love the font and borders you used! Where did you purchase (or are they yours?!)...?

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    1. Thank-you!!! The product is mine (on TPT) but the borders (scrapbook paper) was purchased from scrapdelicious.com, and the fonts was purchased from letteringdelights.com. I'm actually almost done the grade 5 learning goals - if I put a push on it, I should be done in about a week. I'll announce it on my blog when I do finish, or if you follow me on TPT you'll get an email when I post them.

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  27. Yahoo! I'm thrilled to hear that! Thanks for responding (That's me above - not sure why I appear "Anonymous"...just to keep up the mystery I suppose!) I'm following already and CAN'T WAIT to see them!! :o)
    Thanks for all the work!

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  28. Okay... this is crazy... I'm already looking ahead to next year, and thinking about how I'll use your grade 5 learning goals!! I'm also an Ontario teacher, and in our Board we need to include success criteria. Do you as well? How, if you do, are you adding that to this learning goal resource? Can't wait to see the final product.

    Do you think you could include a few blank 11x17 pages with the same borders in the package so they can be laminated and used with a dry erase marker for success criteria? That's all I can think of to do...!!

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    1. Erin - I just finished the grade 5 learning goals - you can check out my latest post by clicking on "home" in my top bar. We do need to create success criteria for all assignments and pathways/collaborative inquiry models. We have to co-create these with the students. Your idea of creating 11 x 17 pages for the success criteria in brilliant - I'll have to play around a bit more in photoshop and word to see if I can make that work. If I can, I'll post them for free and let you know.

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    2. Fabulous!! I can't wait to get these up in the fall! Thanks again! :)

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  29. Wow! These look great! I've just read that you are creating the fifth grade set. Have you published these already? Will they be ready for the new school year? Thank you for posting this.

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    1. Thank-you! I am working on the grade 5 (slowly). I have math and language still to do ... I promise I'll do a post about them as soon as I finish.

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    2. I just finished the grade 5 learning goals! You can see my newest post by clicking "home" on my top bar. Thank-you for giving me that motivation I needed to get them done!

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    3. Thank YOU for inspiring me for next year! These look great!

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  30. Thank you so much for this idea! I'm in Florida and also required to write learning goals and establish a success rubric for each subject too. I love the idea of having my learning goals printed and ready to switch out. I currently just write them on the board in a designated area. I will be working on this over the summer.

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  31. Great ideas :) I just saw a sticky note exit slip grid someone posted on pinterest. The teacher took a piece of poster board, divided into enough boxes for all her students, and numbered the boxes. She then laminated it and hung a sheet protector above it. She slips the exit question into the sheet protector. The kids write their answers on sticky notes and stick them on their designated box on the chart. Great way to see who participated!

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  32. I love this...what an amazing idea! I am teaching grade 6 again next year and I am going to use this...thank you!!!

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  33. So great! Love what you have done. I have downloaded even though it does not completely align to my curriculum (Australia) as I just love what you have done and would just like to adapt. Is there anyway I can change the "5th Grade" label? Thanksagain for all your hard work.

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    1. Thank-you! Unfortunately, the tags are part of the background image I made for the pages, so they can't be changed ... however, if you email me at jenrunde@yahoo.com, I can help you out with layering another image over top of it in Word.

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  34. Amazing stuff Jen!! I have been following you now all summer and on the last TPT sale I think that I bought out your entire store! When the inspiration strikes you - or time - I would buy a grade six set with the BC outcomes... Start with the west and work your way east! :)

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  35. Do you have any plans do make these for grades one and two? I would love to use them!

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  36. Could you add grade 3 to your list? I love your learning bundles!

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  37. When I read your great site I was so excited to see it was Ontario based. Wish you had a grade 3 contribution...thanks for sharing

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  38. I'd love to see these in Grade 4 for Ontario, they look great!

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  39. So looking forward to the Grade 4 goals as well.

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  40. Hi. Where are these learning goals? I can't fin them on your TPT store. I am looking for grade 6 language arts. Please help me!

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  41. I can't seem to locate these documents for learning goals. I am looking for grade4 and grade 5.
    Thank you:)

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  43. Hi there,
    I am looking for the Learning goals bundle for Grade 6 and can not seem to locate here or at TPT. Could you help me locate them?
    Thanks.

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