Four Foundations of Great Teaching, Top Ten Habits #3

 Next on the Four Foundations 'top ten' list is:

 #3 "I make it a habit to share the learning targets with students."

 Sharing the learning target must become a reflex, a habitual practice. As teachers, we should feel uncomfortable with proceeding with the lesson until we have posted (at least in secondary classes) or in some way shared the learning target. There is room for variety in this, of course, but the principle is foundational: learning targets need to be shared with students. In elementary classrooms it may look different depending on the abilities of the students and the subject. In secondary classrooms, however, it will mean writing the LTs on the board and making sure students understand them before engaging in the lesson. 

 

The previous habits highlighted the importance of some fundamental teaching practices that we implement in our classrooms at Veritas:

-Planning unit and daily lessons with the end in mind, before planning activities

-Writing clear, student-learning-focused learning targets

 We want to add to these the habit of sharing learning targets with students.