In the May 2012 issue of Education Update Brad Kutz shares how he shifts students’ focus away from grades and onto learning.  (article)

Brad’s front-loading is similar to the work that I have seen many teachers in Vancouver doing (in Mathematics, Science, Socials, and English) and it is having a very positive effect student engagement & learning.  This can be explored further in Chapter 3: Clarifying, Sharing & Understanding Learning Intentions and Success Criteria of Dylan Wiliam‘s recent book Embedded Formative Assessment.

Some of the key pieces to this work:

1. focus on specific learning targets* (phrased in language that students can understand)
2. share learning targets with students
3. refer to learning targets whenever introducing/exploring new material
4. “engage students in a conversation about what it means to demonstrate proficiency”
5. give students multiple opportunities to show proficiency

*sometimes called learning intentions or learning goals

Note: Learning Intentions do not need to be reductive or a simply checklist.  This caused me angst when I first started this work but Cindy Strickland’s work on Differentiated Instructive was very helpful to me.  Here’s my story…