What is the importance of setting clear learning goals?

                         

(Some of my middle school friends! I only keep in touch with Ryan (on the right!) I am in the middle of!) 

What is the importance of setting clear learning goals?

Research: 

    This week we were assigned to look at 5 different articles. The first one being "What is UbD". We have looked over UbD since last semester and this article was a refreshment to what we have learned. UbD helps us figure out the best way to plan our lessons. I remember that we start with what our results should be. having an outcome (goal) can also help us determine what our priorities need to be. There are three steps that we need to ensure we can remember: 

1. Identify Desired Results 

2. Determine Assessment Evidence 

3. Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction 

These three steps can help us focus on curriculum and teaching. This can also help us with the development of students understanding and the ability to use the knowledge later on. 

    The next resource we had to read/watch is "What is UbD: Grant Wiggins Case Study". The video focuses on how and what we want students to take into life. We want students to explore different elements of life that can help reach goals. this is not "Backward design of content" it is " backward design from the effective use and meaning making with content because thats the goal". This was a quote that stuck out to me because it's exactly what we have been learning but in a different way. I like that this video connects with all age levels rather than just one. For example, in the beginning, we got a glimpse of elementary content rather than just one level. The teachers input on UbD was also nice because it shows how it can help with younger students and also with classroom management. The students also seem to be having a better understanding of why they are doing a particular activity for their end goal. This video shows that we teachers need to understand why UbD can be important for our lesson plans or unit plans because we can see what we want the student to understand and WHY we want them to understand. 

    The next resource we had to look at was "Understanding by Design the Basics/Power Point". This powerpoint was an overview of using UbD to create meaningful units. It starts with an overview of what UbD is. It points out that it's important to remember we need to clarify the results and evidence of the unit before we start our lessons. We also need to think like an assessor. Something that stuck out me is that students learn without thinking... Which is crazy because all we've been taught is we're having students think! We need to use the three stages to establish goals, have understandings, what do the students need to know, how we're going to get/give assessment evidence, and how we can have learning activities! All the articles, websites, and videos we had to look at today go over the UbD process in depth that'll help us create better lessons for our students. 

 

Field Placement: 

    I'd say that there is UbD in my classroom but generated by History Alive rather than by my CT. Not that I blame her but many of the teachers at Dominion use the textbook website provided by the district. I do not see a complete issue with this as it does provide the teacher with a lesson plan. The lesson plan has different assessments, activities, and learning opportunities for the teacher to use. But... it's not their own words or own process to get to the outcomes. Not every teacher has time to do these kinds of things or we're even taught how to use UbD. I do see my CT using learning goals on her board during the lesson though! It has been the same learning goal during this whole unit but she does go back to it and explain how it connects to what they are learning! 

Personal Connection: 

    In middle school, I remember seeing learning goals on the board during our units. I remember the teachers going over the expectations of the units and what we were going to accomplish which now I find surprising after hearing how Big Walnuts curriculum is! I know my teachers would use the learning goals but at the time, I wasn't sure exactly what the "I Can" statements even meant. I remember also seeing them all over other teachers boards. In my 7th grade social studies class, we had to write each learning goal in our weekly warm ups in order to understand and acknowledge what we were working towards.     

Future Classroom: 

What is the importance of setting clear learning goals? Learning goals are not only helpful for the students, it's also helpful for me as a teacher because I need to understand where my lesson should put the students. I wanted to start this by answering the question above. Its important to set clear learning goals because it helps students prepare for what they are going to learn, shows what they are going to know at the end of the unit, and helps teachers show what they will be working for the students to understand. In my classroom, I want to achieve the SMART goals: 

                S= specific

                M= Measurable

                A=Achievable

                R=Relevant 

                T= Time-bound

I want to use these because it helps ensure that my objectives can be using within an appropriate time frame. I know we haven't talked much about these but Ive talked with many different teachers about how they have been taught these and it worked well to keep the students in a good mindset and it helped the teachers control what they needed to do!