Deriving a Learning Target

For me, the most challenging part of deriving a learning target was figuring out the right verb to use. I could not think of better ones than demonstrate or analyze to save the life of me. This is some thing that lecture really helped out with! If you ever need to find a good verb, here are a few for different scenarios!

Knowledge Targets:

• Explain
• Describe
• Identify
• List
• Define
• Match

Reasoning Targets:

• Interpret
• Determine
• Compare
• Contrast
• Assess
• Prove

Product Targets:

• Design
• Create
• Develop
• Write

Performance Skill Targets:

• Perform
• Measure
• Demonstrate

Learning targets and assessments go hand and hand. You assess how well your students completed each learning target. For example, if the learning target is recognize acute, obtuse, and right angles, then the assessment could have three different pictures of triangles and have the student's answer which is which.

Content Learning Standards

Content Learning Standards

As a parent, standards are super useful because I will know almost exactly what my students will be learning before it happens. For Sexual Health it would also be good to know what they are being taught in class so that maybe I could give them a little intro about it so that they are not caught off guard in class. Lastly, it shows me that the teachers have actual plans for my children and aren’t just picking and choosing random units to teach about! If I can’t answer a question my child has, that is okay because everyone uses the standards so I can ask any of my friends for help. Even if are children are in different classes, the standards the students must get to are the same.

As a teacher, content learning standards make me more confident about teaching because it gives me a good baseline of what to do and makes lesson planning so much easier! If I ever have any questions about what my students have learned or need to learn, I can just look over at the standards and get my answer! I can also use standards as a way of giving the students a main goal to strive for and how if we all work together and are focused, we will achieve that goal.

Deconstructing standards is when the teacher determines individual learning targets from the standard. This is basically making short-term goals to reach your long-term goal (standard). I am getting a higher confidence in this the more I practice so by the time I start teaching I will be good. We were taught a lot about making learning targets in the P.E. department, so I am not worried about it, if anything I am more excited!

My Mindset

            I know that I want to be successful and will do whatever it takes to make that happen. This does make me very stressed out at times though which causes me to lose focus and makes my mind wander more than usual. I also am nervous to fail at times which sometimes makes it hard for me to attempt new things. I also know I am a very hands on learner and trying to learn things exclusively from reading can be very difficult for me.

            One thing that has impacted my life as a learner is the teachers that I had growing up. For the most part, they have always taught me to strive for greatness and to never really settle. At times I did feel a little scared to fail because I knew if I was to fail, my parents would not be happy. This has definitely been a setback for me.

            The score category I received on the mindset quiz was growth mindset with some fixed areas. I can see this being true because I usually can be confident in my abilities to improve but at times am not comfortable to get out of my comfort zone and try new things because I do not want to fail.

            My growth mindset impacts my experience as a learner by helping me learn from criticism, persist in the face of setbacks and find lessons and inspiration in the success of others where my fixed area, for right now, is having a tough time embracing challenges because I still am afraid to fail at times. 

This is a quote I saw the other day that I am trying to stick with and use when I have an opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and try something new!

            One step I am trying to take to grow my mindset and my experience as a learner is, I started to read books in my down time that are intended to help increase my mental strength and confidence. I have never been a big reader, but I know that it is very good to read so I am to get over that hump of reading being a hassle to me so that soon it will become a habit or even a hobby of mine. This will help me in my goal to becoming a lifelong learner which is the goal I would like to see in my students one day.