Why Learning Targets are so useful in the Classroom

As a high school teacher, it can be easy to forget a number of things. Whether it’s forgetting what a particular term means, that pep-rally at 1, or the fact that you accidently brought your entire dry eraser marker hoard home in your pants, one thing is for certain: we make mistakes. We’re human. Regardless of what our students might think of us, we’re human, plain and simple. However, one thing I do feel we should remember is that our students aren’t always with us.

We’re on Earth; they’re on the moon.

Too often do teachers go into a lesson without making their lesson clear: what exactly am I trying to teach you today? The last thing we want is little Johnny in the back of the class, and God bless his heart, he’s trying, but we’ve simply been unclear with our message. In one statement, what should the Johnny be able to do by the time that bell rings for the day?

Thank God we have learning targets.

Learning targets are one-statement, measurable goals that students should be able to perform by the end of the period. It’s as easy as that.

Learning subjects like English or math take large amounts of time, and just like any other long-term goal, it only makes sense to break these goals up into smaller, more manageable goals. This allows students to focus solely on the learning target every day, and before they know it, they’ve accomplished a much more impressive long-term goal.

With that being said, what does a learning target look like? Like this!

I can identify a thesis statement in an argumentative text.

For the period, this is the only goal we’re concerned with. We’re not interested in constructing full papers or identifying the parts of speech. The only goal for the day is ensuring every student has mastered the learning target. Once we’ve done that, we can move onto tomorrow.

Keeping this valuable learning tool in mind, perhaps the next time your students go home they’ll actually be able to communicate their learning for the day. Instead of:

Mom: “What did you learn in English today?”

Johnny: “I don’t know. English?”

It will be...

Mom: “What did you learning in English today?”

Johnny: “We have to identify thesis statements.”

…Well… ideally, at least.