Using Teacher-Created Targets and Scales- Instructional Technique 2

The essences of targets and scales: the identification of what students need to know and be able to do to attain the standard organized into a clear progression of learning targets. It is very important to remain focused on the learning goal target with consistency and intensity.

You will be unable to effectively implement this technique if the scales are not rigorous enough-key part! The four key teacher behaviors for target and scales: introduce and explain the scale and target to your students, help students become familiar with it, refer to it seamlessly throughout the lesson, and relate activities to the targets and scales throughout as well. 

Introduce and explain the scale and it's targets to students-

Think...How will you introduce and explain the scale and it's target to all of your students?

Explain the purpose of the scale/ target. 

Review the various routines in Technique 1. 

Do not lose your weight by shifting your emphasis to the content, you goal is to introduce and example the scale/target in a way that they will understand.

You can teach content once students grasp these two things, Targets are what they need to learn or do by the end of the lesson, scales show progression that they learning will follow.  

Should move quickly. 

Reveal and briefly explain it so they know what to expect within the learning targets.

Direct and explicit!

Ease students gradually into the challenge of using targets and scales-

Do not overwhelm your students. Make sure it is student friendly. 

They may be unfamiliar with it, so be cautious of that. 

Do not expect them to know the content until the actual content has occurred. 

It is becomes unobtainable or overpowering students may shut down. It's our responsibility to make it easier for them to understand. 

Refer continually, effortlessly, and seamlessly to targets and scales during instruction-

Should become part of your daily routine. 

During every lesson refer to it. 

Use an instructional strategy so it is effortless. 

Students will become quite accustomed to it and begin to think about it more when you are referring to it. 

Quality and depth of students understanding is dependent on all of this. 

Relate activities to the targets and scale throughout the lesson-

The activity/task needs to be purposeful and aligned to the specific target. 

Help students understand the purpose and alignment of the targets based on the scale. 

They will enjoy seeing how everything is connected and builds on one another for the ending goal. 

Common mistakes-

Posts or distributes copies of the target/scales but does not explain it. 

Confused the target/scales with content=two separate things. 

Too much time teaching scale- introduce/reference it at the beginning of lesson. 

Teacher introduces it and students are anxious because it was not presented as a progression. 

Does not explain the learning target and how it relates to the progression in a way the students understand it. 

Teacher does not refer to it during the lesson. 

Teacher does not relate activities to the target/scale. 

Teacher fails to involved and expect students to demonstrate their understanding. 

To determine if students understand the scale and target requires effort from the students and teacher. Here are some examples of monitoring the implementation:

Students draw pictures of diagrams to explain the goal/target. 

Teacher walks around and scans the artifacts, asks questions if needed. 

Students work in small groups on learning scenarios. They have time to identify the critical content related to the target in the learning. 

Teacher listens to students discussion. 

Teacher provides students the opportunity to write a brief description of how a previous activity during the lesson related to the learning goal. 

Teacher gives students a chance to sort the target to the activity they did (the alignment of it)

We will continue this post next week with instructional technique 3.