Learning at the Heart

100 Posts in 100 Days

13+14 = 15.  Looks like a brain teaser puzzle that you might see along with a caption like “Only 10% of people can solve this puzzle”.  

Well, it’s not a puzzle.  It’s a sequence for me and some of my thinking.  Writing my thoughts the last two days about mastery orientation and performance orientation (Post 13 and Post 14) has me thinking about actions I could take related to my goal (this post, #15):

I want to ensure that teachers and teams of teachers develop mastery oriented goals
that guide students to develop proficiency and expertise. 

At my school, we have a professional learning course for our teachers where they write an inquiry question that they pursue for several weeks with the support of an instructional coach.  The majority of teacher inquiries have gone really well, as teachers explore aspects of their practice that are meaningful to them.  At the end of the course, most of our teachers are able to share how they have been impacted and new ideas that they have learned and would like to continue pursuing.

I’m pleased about that.  And yet, I want more.  I want these inquiries to also have a demonstrable impact on student learning outcomes.  I think that’s the “can’t shake it feeling” I acknowledged in Post 13.  What I’m realizing by writing this mastery/performance orientation mini-series, though, is that we don’t actually have the teachers write a goal for student learning.  We only ask them to write their inquiry question.    Here is the evidence:

We’ve had some really big and broad inquiry questions that are commendable.  They represent teachers’ intent to help their students develop lasting dispositions, behaviors, and habits that will help them to be effective learners.  And, I wonder if they are specific enough to have the lasting impact that is desired?

Here are two examples:

1.  How might students develop more independence and agency toward their learning?
2. How might all students’ sense of academic belonging improve?

So, what if we:

1. Changed the language in the first prompt to help teachers think about student proficiency (skill) and expertise (knowledge), and
2. Added a specific student learning goal?

Maybe the two examples would go something like this:

Example 1

Example 2

I don’t know that I have settled my “can’t shake this feeling”.  I still have doubts.  I also know that I have some new ways of thinking about it and I am eager to share with my colleagues at school.  Posts #13 and #14 led to #15. Let’s see where #15 goes from here.