Students will be able to support claims with text evidence.

I can support claims with text evidence.

Today, we will experience supporting claims with text evidence.

Today, I will support your experience of supporting claims with text evidence by…

From “SWBAT” to “I Can” to “We will experience,” and now to “I will support your experience…by…,” I have tried to target learning, but really with this latest iteration, I have begun targeting teaching.

In yesterday’s post Source of Commitment, I shared my developing idea for using “Teaching Targets” next year. And though it is, I suppose, somewhat rooted in the notion of learning targets, it is mostly focused on the teaching. Wait. Shouldn’t the focus be on the learning, on the learner? Yes, of course. And my hope is that by the time I am done constructing this concept (which is beyond the capacity of this post), you will see that it is, indeed, focused on the learning, and the learner.

To begin, let’s go back to where I began, to where I always begin “better.”

“How can I create better learning experiences for my kids?”

Create. This is not a whimsical word. It is a carefully chosen word. I believe we must be creators, innovators. We stand at an important place in the learning experience. We are a conduit through which the experience begins and continues. We are a filter that makes fit all that we bring into our rooms. It has to fit us. It has to fit our kids. I call it the “fit filter.” If things don’t fit, they don’t work. So we make them fit. We create and innovate. We must. Create is a careful word.

Better. This too is a chosen word. In the context of Project 180, it is the chosen word. And though I have described and discussed “better” many times over the course of the Project, I think I discovered an important iteration of the idea in a tweet yesterday morning.

And there, I think, it is. A purer place. That is what I seek. I could simply capitulate by writing “I-can” statements on my board (that’s what admin looks for), but that’s not enough. There’s more to it, I believe. I believe, sincerely, there is a purer place to be found. So, am l seeking Shangri-la? Yes, maybe I am.

Learning Experience. For me, the key word here is experience. That’s not blasphemous. Learning already holds a sacred place. That should go without saying, so I won’t say it. As evidenced in the “targets” above, my journey has led me to believe that I simply present and support experiences along my kids’ learning journeys. Our paths met, and we decided to venture forth together over the next 180 days. That is the essence of our time together. It’s a shared experience. We learn in our experience. So, I daily call it, literally, in my Google Classroom post, “Learning Experience.” Learning is experience.

Kids. The humans in the room. They come to me in myriad ways. No learner the same. No learning the same. And that defines my teaching. Teaching is supporting. So I focus on my supporting. What else would I focus on?

And that’s the frame–for everything. And it is certainly the frame for this latest creation, “Teaching Targets.”

Today, I will support your experience with (insert standard) by…”

Tomorrow I will continue by sharing how I imagine using it. Thank you for your patience as I walk myself through this.

Happy Thursday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

How can I create better learning experiences for my kids?

I ask myself this every day. Sometimes, I think it aloud. Most times, I dance with it quietly throughout my day. But it’s ever on mind, even when I am not aware of it. Yesterday, I was keenly aware of it.

I had found a quiet, less-behind moment in my day, and I had begun brainstorming “betters” for next year. And for me, that begins with listing. I’m a lister. And as I listed, I paused on “Learning Model.”

And I got to thinking about how I want learning to look and feel like in my room, and I was returned to the post embedded below where I had an aha about commitment.

Commit Meant: Project 180, Day 146

Since the post, I have begun–routinely–to ask my kids to complete and commit their work. But yesterday, I started thinking about my commitment, my dedication to something. And as I thought ahead to next year and the purer place I seek in the classroom, I thought of a way to daily display my commitment, which I believe is reflected in my support.

“Today, I will support your experience with (insert standard) by…”

I am going to call them “Teaching Targets.” I will use these instead of Learning Targets, of which I have never been a huge fan. That is not to say that they don’t serve. It is to say that they don’t serve what I seek in my room. Simply, I believe–as is ever the case–there’s a better to be found.

I have a lot of thinking to do yet, but I am energized by the possibility here, not the least of which is focusing on my commitment as a source for their commitment. I want my commitment to be the spring at the headwaters of our learning lake next year. (Okay, that’s a little corny, I suppose). But, I believe there’s better, and if corny’s the way, then corny will I be.

Happy Wednesday, all. I will elaborate tomorrow.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.

I am trying to maintain momentum as we head into June, but I feel like this has been the entire year–just trying to find and ride some momentum. From “distance” to “hybrid” to full in-person (and all the other little transitions and distractions), it is been hard to find and hold some momentum–and motivation. And now, here in June, I find my grip on things to be slipping. I am ready to be done. The kids are ready to be done. And I know I should hide my lack right now, and I will–mostly, but it’s getting harder with each passing day. And I know I am not alone. We are, all of us, struggling to maintain right now. And for a great many of us–I imagine–we are just trying to maintain our sanity as we limp through the rest of the year, our energy ebbing and flowing.

Fortunately–unexpectedly–mine just found a flow. Just as I am writing this, one of my students is up right now (probably all night, knowing her) submitting work. I have gotten several notification dings all morning, and with each ding, I remember that we, that I, will prevail. We always do, and the kids will help us get there. Thank goodness for kids.

Happy Tuesday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.