Teach Children Well: How Do You Reach Your Professional Teaching and Learning Goals?

The class math website provides a ready resource for the learning community.

Too often we don't reach our goals because we're not specific enough.

Hattie's book, Visible Learning for Teachers, Maximizing Impact on Learning, provides a good framework to use when discussing and working on your professional goals for the year ahead. By applying the following questions to your goals, you will find that your work becomes more focused and targeted:

What do students/you aim to learn?
What do students/you know already about the topic
Why do students/you need or want to learn this?
How will you know when students/you have learned this? What will it look like?
What strategies, processes, and activities will students/you use to achieve the learning goal?
How will students/you monitor their learning to see if they learned it or not?
How can leaders, teachers, and peers help students/you to achieve the goal?
When do students/you hope to complete this task?

In Massachusetts, teachers are required to have two main goals: a student learning goal and a professional learning goal.

Today, I used the questions above and applied those questions to the two goals I've set for the year ahead, goals that I will discuss with my evaluator early in the year.

Student Learning Goal:
To Teach All Students All Grade-Level Math Standards With Skill and Success

100% of students will learn about, practice, and present their knowledge related to each standard.
100% of the students will reach their individual mastery goal. For most students this means precision, fluency, and facility with the standard (75% on assessments or above), and for some, who may be receiving targeted developmental math help, this means reaching a target specified by the learning team.

1. What do students aim to learn?

All CCSS Grade 5 Math Standards

2. What do students know already about the topic?

I will assess this through early year assessments and results including fact tests, GMADE, MCAS, family/student surveys, conversation, and observation.

3. Why do students need or want to learn this?

To be successful today, students need a strong math foundation, and these standards will help students to achieve that foundation.
To be successful at the grade level, it has been determined on a state and system level, that students will learn this information.
Knowledge builds confidence and a strong foundation for future learning.

4. How will you know when students have learned this? What will it look like?

I will know students have learned this in three ways:

Successful performance on "next generation" assessment task (problem solving) for each standard.
Ability to present a viable argument related to the standard in pictures, numbers, and words alone or with classmates.
Successful performance related to a short assessment of the standards-based skill, concept, and knowledge.

5. What strategies, processes, and activities will students use to achieve the learning goal? Initial Introduction to standard in a way that introduces vocabulary and causes cognitive dissonance (wake-up).

Short pre-assessment to gauge knowledge and needs.
Practice Menu including tech-related practice with multiple related sites, home study, small group work. problem solving, math talk, and student/teacher coaching.
Collaborative work, student/teacher coaching.
Presentation and share.
Formative assessments.
Summative assessment.

6. How will students monitor their learning to see if they learned it or not?

Informal and formal assessments online and off.
Online chart of scores, observations, and comments to guide teaching decision and work.
Reteaching and targeted attention for those who need it.

7. How can teachers and peers help students to achieve the goal?

Collaborative work, student/teacher coaching.
Online resource sites such as Khan Academy and others listed on website.
Ability to email teacher with family members for clarification and understanding.
Listening to classmates' present.
Class Math Talk, discussion, debate, and problem solving.
In-class reference books, signage, and bulletin boards.

8. When do you hope to complete this task?

I hope to achieve this goal by the time of the spring assessment, a date which has not been announced yet.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Professional Learning Goal: I will understand and teach each grade level math standard so that every child meets the mastery level goals set:

100% of students will learn about, practice, and present their knowledge related to each standard.
100% of the students will reach their individual mastery goal. For most students this means fluency and facility with the standard, and for some, who may be receiving targeted developmental math help, this means reaching a target specified by the learning team.

1. What do I aim to learn?

All CCSS Grade 5 Math Standards

2. What do I know already about the topic?

I am familiar with each standards and have started a website that includes all standards and related teaching information.

3. Why do I need or want to learn this?

To teach each standard well, I have to understand each standard with depth including the skills, concept, and knowledge that precede the standard as well as the skill, concept, and knowledge that follows.

4. How will I know when I have learned this? What will it look like?

Each lesson sequence on the website will be complete and open for the learning community.
The full set of unit lessons will be taught.
Pre-assessment as well as formative and summative assessments will be given and documented.
Follow-up reteaching and targeted support will be provided.

5. What strategies, processes, and activities will I use to achieve the learning goal?

Prior to the school year, I created the website, practiced the standards using Khan Academy, and attended a math course, Proportional Thinking, and The Wayland Math Institute.
During the school year, I'll follow this process for each standard unit.

Review standard unit on Khan Academy, system-wide websites, and via my PLN's and collegial reference information.
Create the unit roll-out and document on the website.
Teach starting with vocabulary and pre-assessment, leading to explicit teaching and practice, formative assessments, more teaching, project/problem presentation and share, summative assessment, reteaching and targeted support, and reflection/revision.

6. How will I monitor my learning to see if students and I learned it or not?

Informal and formal assessments.
Online chart of scores, observations, and comments to guide teaching decision and work.
Reteaching and targeted attention for those who need it.
Students engagement, motivation, success, and self-motivated learning and extensions in school and outside of school.

7. How can leaders, teachers, and peers help you to achieve the goal?

I will listen to the stories of colleagues online and off via PLCs, grade-level meetings, Twitter chats, blogs, and conferences related to these teaching goals and apply helpful strategies that I learn about.
Leaders and colleagues can help me achieve this goal by providing the following supports:

Necessary classroom materials: paper, pencils, computers, math resource books.
A 60-90 minutes a day of uninterrupted math teaching.
Steady, consistent support that meets IEPs, student needs, and other accommodations.
Permission and support for attending professional conferences: MassCUE, Educon 2.7, NCTM

8. When do I hope to complete this task?