Routines for Using Targets and Scales

There are many ways to help your students understand and use learning targets and performance scales to become more self-managed and independent in their learning.  Marzano has identified 4 instructional techniques that teachers can use to implement learning targets and performance scales.  

The first strategy we will look at is routines for using targets and scales. 

The effective implementation of a performance scale and the set of learning targets on which it is based requires that you know precisely how to communicate the purpose and value of these tools to your students in clear and understandable ways.  One way this can be accomplished is through using routines and procedures during instruction to precisely communicate the what, why, and how of a specific aspect of understanding and using a scale and its targets.  Helping students understand what the routine is, why it is being implemented, and how it will be used is imperative to using targets and scales in your classroom. 

According to Marzano, there are five different routines that can help you and your students realize the power of a scale and its learning targets to ensure student master of critical content. 

1. Explain the What, Why, and How of a Scale and Its Targets

What: Tools that communicate learning expectations and detail the progression of learning

Why: Scales and its targets provide focused direction and structure that makes learning more visible to everyone.  Using these tools helps students self-regulate their learning and motivate a growth mindset that will eventually empower them to take control of their own learning.

How: Spend time developing the explanation you will give your students during your initial implementation. Choose your terms carefully and be consistent in the way you use them.  Select a simile if appropriate: A scale is like a road map, or our “to do list” or a yardstick on which we measure our learning. Keep your introduction simple. Not every student will understand every part of a scale and its targets on the first day. 

2.  Make the Scale and its Learning Targets Accessible to Students

What: Accessibility means doing two things.  Having physical copies and artifacts that explain and relate to the goal within easy reach of you and your students and making the language and structure of the scale and targets as accessible as you can to students through creating student-friendly scales that use simpler terms or pictures to convey the intent of a standard.  Both you and your students should be able to view the tools as often as needed.  The targets on the scale should be clearly and concisely written to avoid confusion or misdirection when referenced.

Why: Accessibility to the performance scale is imperative if using it is to become a natural practice.  This will lead to familiarity, and familiarity will lead to regular usage.  Students will learn to rely on the structure the tool provides and refer to the targets and scale whenever they need direction or clarification.

How: Post a copy of scale and targets for easy reference. Create a copy on whiteboard so you can readily point to it during instruction. Student friendly language. Add the learning target to classroom activity and assignment sheets to make it more accessible.  Ask students to keep a copy in their academic notebooks.

3. Begin and Close Each Lesson With a Focus on the Target

What: Begin each lesson with a brief explanation connecting that day’s lesson to a target on the scale.  Then, when you are winding up the lesson, remind students of the target and together refer back to the scale.

Why: Making a connection between the content to be covered that day and the learning targets embedded in the scale provides both direction and background for students.  Students will not have to wonder “why they need to know this or when they would ever use this if the teacher makes a connection between the learning goal and the lesson.

How: Provide an overview of the day’s lesson, and then ask students to tell their partners what the target of the lesson will be.  Build a reference to the previous day’s learning target and then segue to the day’s target.  Communicate the target and give students a preview of your expectations for them during the lesson.  Close each lesson by going back to the performance scale and fitting the lesson’s target into the context of the learning progression of the scale. 

4.  Relate Instruction to the Target

What: Purposeful reminders to the learning targets are needed to integrate this routine into the culture of your classroom.  Simply announcing the target at the start of the lesson is not enough.  Correlation to the target should be made whenever the opportunity arises.

Why: This helps students understand the connection between the classroom activities and the learning targets.  Knowing the purpose often motivates students to indentify with and personalize their learning. 

How: Intentionally plan to include purposeful reminders to relate instruction to the target.  Use small group discussions to refocus learning on the target and forge a relationship between the activity and the target. Challenge students at the beginning of the class period to write down any connections between the lesson and the learning target. 

5.  Refer to the Learning Progression of the Scale

What: Consistently build students’ awareness of how their learning is building toward an ultimate goal or destination.  Reference should be made to the progression of learning embedded in the scale that provides the steps students need to follow to advance their understanding of the content the standard requires.

Why: Do not teach learning targets in isolation.  Students should be made aware of the connection between the learning targets and classroom activities as well as how the connections between targets advance their knowledge of the content.  Consistently remind students of the big picture.

How: Ask students how the activity they are doing relates to what they learned previously or to the learning targets yet to come. Encourage and expect students to take ownership of their learning by relating the knowledge they have gained to the learning progression of the scale to determine areas of weakness or possible misconceptions that might interfere wit their successful mastery of the learning goal target.  Plan a specific activity related to the learning progression in the scale such as using the performance scale to review for a test.  Progect a template of a performance scale on a magnetic whiteboard on which the scale is always present during instruction.  Create magnetic targets that can be affixed to the board.  Physically remove the target being taught and put on display for students to see throughout the lesson.  At the close of the lesson, pick up the target and place it on the scale at its appropriate level.

Common Mistakes to avoid include the following:

·         When first introducing the learning targets and scale to students, the teacher does not explain the purpose or the what, why, and how of a routine.

·         The teacher fails to purposely model how to use the learning targets and performance scale as an instructional resource tool to provide structure to the learning environment.

·         The teacher spends an excessive amount of time or overwhelms students with too much information instead of providing a brief overview or reference to the tool.

·         The teacher does not make a conscious effort to relate instruction to the focus targets or learning goal targets or make reference to the learning progression in the scale.

·         The teacher does not make the learning goals or performance scale assessable for all students.

We will be sharing the other instructional techniques in the upcoming weeks.