Learning Targets: Classroom Strategy for All

I have been researching teaching reading comprehension strategies.  This week I have been reading from a fairly new book entitled Comprehension Going Forward: Where We Are/What's Next (Keene, E.O., Zimmerman, S., et. al., 2011).  Recently I read about a strategy that I plan to use in my classroom. 

We are all familiar with using objectives.  We use them in our lesson plans and should have them posted in the classroom for students see.  Learning Targets may be considered objectives but, in my opinion, are more specific and are an invaluable strategy that should be used in every classroom. So, what are learning targets and why should we use them in our classroom?

Learning Targets are "student-friendly statements of intended learning" (p. 62).  Learning targets are categorized into two:  Long-term targets and Supporting targets.  Students are aware of the long-term targets because they are posted in classroom.  A long-term target could be a Big Idea or Unit Concept.  Supporting targets are steps or chunks of learning, not tasks.  These supporting targets dictate what will be learned in a single lesson, not a task that will be accomplished.  

Obviously, long term targets should be created first.  The supporting targets should then be scaffolded to lead the learner to accomplish the long term goal.   

Here is an example of both learning targets from a middle school science classroom. I love that the creator of these targets uses the words "I can":

Long-Term Target:  I can analyze a local transportation option for its efficiency and sustainability. 

Supporting Targets:  I can skim my texts to help me decide where to read.

                                 I can use our long-term target to capture what is important from my texts. 

The teacher of this lesson begins daily by having students write a TITLE for their lesson that day. This requires higher-order comprehension skills such as synthesizing.  This requires the students to THINK in order to COMPREHEND the target, rather than just having the teacher READ the target outloud.  

When teachers know what they want their students to know, do, and understand and share with students through daily exposure and reinforcing, metacognitive routines "all students can become the powerful, thoughtful human beings" (p. 61).

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