Teacher Clarity
"When learning is organized and intentional, and when the learner knows what he or she is learning, great things can happen. When students don't know what they are learning, don't care about their learning, and have no idea if they are learning, great things are unlikely to happen. "
-Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey
What the Research Says:
When students, with the guidance of teachers, set challenging, mastery-based goals in relation to the learning objective, achievement is enhanced, and educational aspiration and enjoyment in school increase (Hattie, 2009).
Hattie Effect Sizes: Teacher Clarity - 0.75, Goals - 0.56, Advance Organizers (objectives) - 0.41, Mastery Learning - 0.58, Learning Goals vs. No Learning Goals - 0.68, Motivation (relevance) - 0.42 (anything above 0.4 is effective)
What's the Point?
Without teacher clarity, you could have a smoothly functioning classroom in which it appears students are learning, but no mental acts conducive to learning are taking place (Saphier, Et. al., 2018)
Concrete, achievable goals set on mastery are highly effective for straightforward tasks - They don’t have to be incredibly ambitious in order to be effective (Goodwin, Rouleau, Et. al., 2023).
