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ОглавлениеCHAPTER 1
How to Create Learning Intentions and Success Criteria
Classroom teachers need to know how to create engaging, exciting, and enthusiastic opportunities for learning, no matter the content area. But in many teacher-preparation programs, teacher candidates spend the majority of their time concentrating on content-specific pedagogies and content background (Martin & Mulvihill, 2017). Teacher-preparation programs tend to emphasize discipline-specific knowledge rather than comprehensive pedagogical expertise. While content-area expertise is undeniably important, as content knowledge is vital for creating positive outcomes on classroom assessments and national standardized tests, you must first focus your students for learning if you expect that content to be explicit and effective.
Designing a structured, engaging, and motivating classroom experience takes practice but does not have to be all-encompassing. Establishing the learning intention and success criteria students will focus on throughout a lesson or unit will help you apply structures and routines that support all students of all abilities. These pieces are the foundation of the lesson, so it is important that you always stay mindful of student learning as you write them. As an essential prelude to the FRAME-specific content in chapters 2–4, this chapter provides foundational information for writing each of these items, as well as important considerations to keep in mind.
Learning Intentions: What Do You Want Students to Understand?
Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey (2018) define a learning intention as “what you want students to know and be able to do by the end of one or more lessons” (p. 82). Think of learning intentions as the building blocks of an overall unit. Crafting a quality learning intention takes planning. Often, teachers will use an activity as their learning intention, but a true learning intention goes beyond an activity. As an example, a learning intention applying an activity might read Students can use think, pair, share to complete the mathematics worksheet. In this particular example, think, pair, share is an activity. It is not the learning intention as it does not establish a skill to learn. Rather, the goal of this poorly constructed learning intention is the completion of the worksheet.
A valid and effective learning intention should focus on the goal of the learning—the thing you want your students to know and do. For example, a well-written learning intention for middle school mathematics might read I can use proportional relationships to solve problems. The teacher might still recommend using think, pair, share so students can work together to solve the problems, or the teacher might distribute a worksheet so students can practice proportional relationships, but the goal of this learning intention is to have students using proportional relationships to solve problems. By using proportional relationships, students are also applying, practicing, and proving what they know and what they are able to do.
When teachers come back from an engaging conference or inspirational workshop, they frequently want to use all they learned to help their students. But giving your students a brand-new graphic organizer or an exciting educational technology tool and asking them to complete it or explore it is also not a learning intention—these tools are merely vehicles meant to enhance the learning. What are students supposed to know and be able to do with the graphic organizer or the educational technology tool? If you are struggling to come up with an answer, you probably have not created a lesson with a clear learning intention.
In addition to establishing a skill to learn, learning intentions should engage and motivate students by giving them one or more questions they want to solve. These questions are more likely to engage students in introspection if they are real, relevant, and relatable to the student. For example, if you are simply asking students to locate the main idea of a text or define a vocabulary word without providing them with context relevant to them, you can assume students will quickly lose interest. Learning intentions are meant to guide student learning. According to Fisher and Frey (2018), “Without a clear learning destination in mind, lessons wander, and students become confused and frustrated” (p. 82). This is why creating an interesting learning intention will help students stay focused and involved in the lesson. In addition, the focus of the day’s lesson should be manageable, or else students may become anxious if they feel they cannot meet the learning intention. “Even the ‘best’ lesson is worthless if students aren’t engaged, or don’t believe they will be able to complete the work” (Rollins, 2015).
As you review your notes for the next day’s lesson, consider what you want your students to know and do with the information you will share. This gets at the heart of the learning intention. It is important to create the learning intention first, then determine the success criteria needed to meet the learning intention, and then create a series of open-ended questions that help engage students in cognitive thinking and empower them to take classroom risks. As educator Paula Denton (2007) writes, “Instead of predictable answers, open-ended questions elicit fresh and sometimes even startling insights and ideas, opening minds and enabling teachers and students to build knowledge together.”
Following are some examples of high-quality learning intentions, loosely derived from the Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices [NGA] & Council of Chief State School Officers [CCSSO], 2010a, 2010b), in a variety of content areas and grade levels. Note that the Common Core State Standards are merely a starting point, an inspiration for learning depending upon what the student needs. I have reworded them to create a series of student-friendly I can statements.
• Second-grade mathematics: I can understand the place value of numbers up to 1,000.
• Third-grade reading: I can find and tell the main idea of the texts read in class and share examples with my peers.
• Sixth- to eighth-grade science and technical subjects: I can learn the differences among superstition, pseudoscience, and science.
• Eighth-grade U.S. history: I can discuss, explain, and research the events leading to the American Revolution and their influence on the formation of the Constitution.
• Ninth- and tenth-grade English language arts (ELA): I can understand the role and proper use of figurative language in a narrative.
• Eleventh- and twelfth-grade writing: I can write an argument to support a claim using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
Simply telling students the official standard they need to learn is not nearly enough. Students must be able to grasp the task they are to do and feel that they can do it. Additionally, teachers need the freedom to adapt such standards for the students in front of them. This might involve extending a standard to advance learning further or even dial it back if students are struggling. If the learning intention is not written in a developmentally appropriate way, students will not understand what they are supposed to know and be able to do, and when that happens, engagement will suffer (Moss et al., 2011).
These learning intentions are exemplary because they go beyond basic activities and lead to explanation, discussion, application, and reflection. For example, in the eighth-grade history example, students will focus on the events leading to the American Revolution by discussing, explaining, and researching the influence of the formation of the U.S. Constitution. This learning intention inspires students to use what they have read and researched to engage in interesting discussions.
Conversely, an insufficient learning intention for this topic might read I will study the events leading to the American Revolution and how it led to the formation of the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, this learning intention doesn’t clarify how the American Revolution led to the formation of the Constitution. Just studying the events doesn’t give students a clear road map on what they are going to know and be able to do. The word study is ambiguous and doesn’t offer any examples to students on how they are going to learn about the formation of the Constitution.
Similarly, in the ninth- and tenth-grade ELA example, just locating or talking about figurative language is hardly noteworthy, but understanding how figurative language can intensify a narrative encourages students to have a dialogue and defend their examples with stimulating textual evidence.
Crafting a dynamic learning intention requires having success criteria that will support all students toward reaching the learning intention’s goal; therefore, determining those steps is vital to student comprehension.
Success Criteria: How Can Students Show They Know and Understand?
If a learning intention is the destination, then success criteria are the milestones necessary to reach the destination. Fisher and Frey (2018) define success criteria as “a means for teachers and students to utilize feedback specifically oriented to the learning intentions. They clarify how a task or assignment will be judged” (p. 83). This judgment illustrates to students what they specifically need to do to accomplish the learning intention.
When determining your success criteria, consider the goal of your learning intention and how your students will, via the milestones you have determined, demonstrate, apply, prove, or synthesize what they have learned to meet that goal. Your students want to share their hard work—give them every opportunity to do so. Teachers should identify the success criteria based on the learning intention and scaffold the success criteria using a series of learning progressions to help students reach a specific milestone (success criterion).
Identifying the Success Criteria
After the teacher has created the learning intention, the next step is to write a series of success criteria based on that intention. There is no recipe for success in identifying these criteria; rather, teachers must ask themselves, “What milestones must the student reach to meet the learning intention?” This is a process that improves with practice, but I will show you multiple examples in this section to help you think about how you would craft your own success criteria.
According to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (2015), “Success criteria are linked to learning intentions. They are developed by the teacher and/or the student and describe what the success looks like” (p. 5). As an example, if I want my third-grade students to learn to write an opinion paragraph, using reasons to support their point of view, my learning intention would look like the following.
• Learning intention: I can write an opinion paragraph that lists three reasons for my opinion.
• Success criteria: I know I am successful because—
1. I can brainstorm ideas about a topic in which I have a strong opinion
2. I can list reasons about the topic
3. I can explain why the reasons are important
4. I can write an opinion paragraph sharing my three reasons
There is no ideal number of success criteria to use, and the number of success criteria necessary to meet a learning intention is as variable as the possibilities for learning intentions themselves. After constructing the learning intention, the teacher needs to decide the necessary steps to achieve that goal. Some learning intentions may only need three or four criteria for students to meet them successfully. Others could require more. If a teacher can only come up with one or two success criteria, or if the number of them becomes unwieldy (for example, ten or more), that indicates a need to, respectively, broaden the scope of a learning intention to encompass more learning or break it up into multiple learning intentions to avoid overwhelming students. What is important is that the success criteria a teacher determines are numbered to show the progression needed to achieve the learning intention.
Using the same grade-specific learning intentions previously offered as examples in the Learning Intentions section (page 14), let’s look at some more examples of scaffolded success criteria.
• Second-grade mathematics:
♦ Learning intention—I can understand the place value of numbers up to 1,000.
♦ Success criteria—I know I am successful because …
1. I can explain the place value of digits in a number
2. I can read, write, and order numbers and explain my understanding of them
3. I can identify numbers before and after one thousand
4. I can expand and name numbers up to three digits
• Third-grade reading:
♦ Learning intention—I can find and tell the main idea of the texts read in class and share examples with my peers.
♦ Success criteria—I know I am successful because …
1. I can ask questions about the text
2. I can answer questions about the text
3. I can use my questions and answers about the text to find the main idea
• Sixth- to eighth-grade science and technical subjects:
♦ Learning intention—I can learn the differences among superstition, pseudoscience, and science.
♦ Success criteria—I know I am successful because …
1. I can define superstition, pseudoscience, and science
2. I can demonstrate the differences using a graphic organizer
3. I can find real-life examples of superstition, pseudoscience, and science and share them with the class
• Eighth-grade U.S. history:
♦ Learning intention—I can discuss, explain, and research the events leading to the American Revolution and their influence on the formation of the Constitution.
♦ Success criteria—I know I am successful because …
1. I can create a timeline of the events leading to the American Revolution
2. I can explain the impact of these events to a partner
3. I can show the connection among these important events and how they helped create the Constitution
• Ninth- and tenth-grade English language arts:
♦ Learning intention—I can understand the role and proper use of figurative language in a narrative.
♦ Success criteria—I know I am successful because …
1. I can identify imagery and symbolism in a passage from Jane Eyre (Brontë, 1997)
2. I can explain the impact that the use of imagery and symbolism has on the reader, using evidence from Jane Eyre to explain my reasoning
3. I can write a personal narrative using effective imagery and create a compelling symbol
• Eleventh- and twelfth-grade writing:
♦ Learning intention—I can write an argument to support a claim using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
♦ Success criteria—I know I am successful because …
1. I can brainstorm a variety of arguments to support my claim
2. I can locate key words and phrases to determine bias or prejudice in the various arguments I have created
3. I can point out the strengths and limitations of my arguments based on research
4. I can distinguish by language and research which argument is based on valid, relevant, and sufficient evidence
Writing a learning intention with success criteria that are interesting and engaging takes time, practice, and possibly a collaborative effort with both other teachers and students. In fact, your students can be your best gauge in determining if your success criteria are effective. As a group, do they show enthusiasm? Are they confused or lost? Are they bored?
According to Michael McDowell (2018), “Often … success criteria [is] one set list for students to meet.” He goes on to say, “More often than not, students are unfamiliar with the material to be learned and are therefore unable to decipher the right sequence of success criteria to be met over time.” Therefore, the success criteria reflect a progression of skills that demonstrate complexity. When the student has mastered the first success criterion, that student moves on to the next one.
In addition, while the success criteria for each learning intention apply to all student abilities, they provide a means for teachers to identify which students are struggling or excelling and for students to self-assess their own gaps in understanding or their success (Freibrun, 2019). This helps teachers differentiate instruction accordingly. Note that this is not just about checking off boxes, but a means to motivate students. Marine Freibrun (2019) cites Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, Olivia Amador, and Joseph Assof (2019) on the value of success criteria on motivation: “Success criteria have been shown to increase students’ internal motivation. It provides students with clear, specific, and attainable goals that spark motivation. Even in some of the most reluctant learners (p. 20).”
Once those gaps appear, the teacher and students can determine their next steps to help bridge that gap. Some of those next steps may include dedicated time for students to self-assess so they can “return periodically to particular rubrics to compare their work from earlier in the year to more recent efforts” (Fisher & Frey, 2018, p. 83), discussions among peers so learners can gather information about how their work compares to the work of their peers, or a conversation with the teacher to recognize the students’ missing connections or lack of understanding toward a success criterion. Therefore, scaffolded success criteria support students’ various ability levels, and valuable feedback conversations help students in their opportunity to self-assess and self-reflect.
Using Learning Progressions
When creating success criteria, teachers will find it worthwhile to apply learning progressions (Ainsworth & Viegut, 2015), the strategy of focusing on basic skills and then moving toward higher-order-thinking skills. According to Larry Ainsworth and Donald Viegut (2015), learning progressions are the building blocks of instruction that help students understand how to get to the goals of the larger units of study. Consider learning progressions the scaffolding techniques necessary to move from one step to another.
As an example, if the larger unit of study in a ninth-grade ELA class is learning how to analyze, then students need to know how to break down a text. Therefore, to achieve that goal of analysis, the learning intention would be I can understand how to write an analytical essay. However, before students can write an essay, they need to learn how to write a thesis paragraph. This becomes the first step in the success criteria. The learning progressions toward this step would be the three basic skills necessary to write a thesis paragraph: (1) students brainstorm possible thesis statements, (2) students practice writing thesis statements, and (3) students share their thesis statements with their peers for feedback and revision.
Each learning progression guides the student toward a success criterion, just as each success criterion guides the student toward the learning intention. The progressions also progressively activate higher-order-thinking skills in students. These particular English building blocks—brainstorming, writing practice, and feedback—can transfer to other content disciplines and easily transfer to real-world situations. In this example, each instructional building block is linked to the overall learning intention of students’ achieving mastery in analyzing text.
As figure 1.1 (page 22) illustrates, success criteria help students see the learning progressions as they complete one step and move on to the next. This progression of skill demonstrates student knowledge and understanding. So if brainstorming thesis statements is the first building block of the success criteria, that basic skill is necessary to move toward the next skill.
In this particular example, the teacher scaffolds the steps necessary for students to learn how to write an analytical paper. The teacher builds in supports to enhance learning and aid in the mastery of each task. He or she does this by systematically building on students’ experiences and knowledge as they are learning new skills.
Figure 1.1: Scaffolding success criteria—ELA example.
Let’s consider another example—a ninth-grade physical education unit of study called lifetime sports. In this unit, students will learn about a variety of sports that people can play all through their lives with few (if any) adverse physical effects. One of those sports is badminton. Therefore, the learning intention in physical education is I can learn how to play badminton. Students will need to learn the basic skills or success criteria needed to play the game. First, students would need to learn the terms associated with badminton and what they mean. Next, students would need to learn the rules of the game and how to apply them. Finally, the students would need to stand on a badminton court, get a feel for the racket, practice their serve and swing, and eventually play the game. All these steps are the basic skills needed to play badminton. Therefore, a teacher might write the success criteria as follows.
• Success criteria: I know I am successful because—
1. I can define the terms of badminton
2. I can define the rules of the game and apply them
3. I can stand on a badminton court and practice my serve and my swing
These learning progressions are the building blocks that make up the game of badminton, while the overall unit of study is lifetime sports. In this particular example, each building block of instruction is linked to the overall learning intention of students’ eventually achieving mastery in understanding how to play badminton (see figure 1.2).
Figure 1.2: Scaffolding success criteria—physical education example.
When writing success criteria, list all the learning progressions, or scaffolded steps, so students see the beginning and the end. By seeing the breakdown of the guiding steps for each set of learning progressions, students can also see that their learning is a process, and, by accomplishing one step at a time, they will eventually meet and master the learning intention.
