Engaging Learners in Growth

InTASC Standard #6: The teacher understands and uses multiple methods of assessment to engage learners in their own growth, to monitor learner progress, and to guide the teacher’s and learner’s decision making

Introduction to Engaging Learners in Growth

Engaging learners in their own growth is critical to ensuring that the assessment data is meaningful and is utilized in productive ways that furthers student learning and increases investment in our science class. Goal setting as well as reflections provide students with the unique opportunity to step back and assess their progress and make effective decisions regarding their own learning process and goals for themselves as learners of science. The data helps inform students about scientific concepts and areas to improve upon, and, when coupled with an effective process for reflection, helps students engage in their own growth and ability to progress toward mastery of complex scientific content.

SMART Goal Setting

Students engage in their own personal and academic growth through individualized SMART goals for each scientific unit. Students create goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound based on individual goals that they want to achieve for themselves. Students measure their own progress toward these goals during individual check-ins both at the midpoint and at the end of the unit as well as during bi-weekly "Data Days" in science class. SMART goal-setting engages students in their own growth because they are able to hold themselves accountable, monitor their own progress, and keep a particular goal in mind as they learn.

SMART goals in my science class are based upon students' understanding of their own comprehension and improvement in particular scientific areas. For example, shown in the student samples below, students have created SMART goals on the subject of year long goals, (i.e. what do you want to accomplish by the end of the year in science class?) as well as unit-specific goals, (i.e. what is one thing you want to improve upon by the end of Unit 1?) Specifically, with unit-long goals, students use the first assessment data at the beginning of the unit to inform their goals. For example, in the student sample to the right, this student performed well on everything in science class but struggled more with assessments, which they monitored by tracking their data. Thus, this student decided that their goal would be to "Exceed Mastery" on at least one assessment by the end of the unit. The more specific the goals are to any individual students' growth, the more I am able to provide students with targeted interventions and support that can help them make more informed decisions about what to focus on.

Students monitor their progress and engage in their own growth through check-ins with me, assessing their progress towards their SMART goals. Additionally, students are encouraged to keep their SMART goals and individual trackers at the front of their science binders. In this way, students are able to directly and easily look back to them and thus, continuously monitor their own progress. Then, with support from peers along with myself, students are able to brainstorm ideas regarding how to improve. Further, I can make more informed decisions about my own instructional practice and so, be more effective as a teacher and someone who aspires to help learners help themselves.

Weekly reflections

Students engage in their own scientific academic growth through reflections at the end of each week. These reflections are located at the end of their weekly Do Now templates. I ask students, How do you think this week went overall? as well as What are you going to do to improve next week? I collect students' weekly Do Now templates and read all of their responses as well as their weekly reflections. I am able to then make more informed decisions about how to provide students with targeted, individualized feedback regarding their personal goals and reflections. To provide such support and spur ongoing reflection, I conduct individualized in-person check-ins during the following week of classes when students are doing independent work.

Weekly reflections give students the opportunity to reflect on their own practice and so, engage in their own growth and learning. In and of itself, the process of reflecting and writing down weekly take-aways regarding strengths and weaknesses helps them internalize ways to improve on their own learning. Further, because reflections are given back to students and collected over time, students are able to look at patterns in their reflections as well and thus, notice if and how their weekly goals for themselves change over the course of the unit. Students are able to further reflect on their unit-long progress towards these goals. These weekly reflections engage learners and guide their future decisions because they are able to commend themselves on their achievements to date and are also able to give themselves specific feedback for how to improve. I am able to offer this kind of data to students myself, but it is even more powerful if students engage in their own progress and monitor their own growth in this way. That way, they can decide if and how to adjust their own approach to learning the material as well as the ways in which others, including me, can support them in their growth.

For example, in the student samples below student one noted that they wanted to improve their confidence and talking by sharing in class. Participation data from that week showed that this student received full points participating during full group share-outs. However, during group work, this student became distracted at times. This student noted this observation and, as a way to engage in his own growth, set a goal that he would "improve on focusing" for the next week. I support students such as this one in meeting their weekly reflection goals, however, it is even more powerful if students look back on their own reflections to track their growth. As such, every Monday I return students' Do Now templates with my comments on them so they can remind themselves their goal and how they will continue to improve in science class in various ways.