Zig Ziglar was a well-known author, motivational speaker, and teacher from Alabama. He often taught about the importance of setting goals, because no progress could be made without them. In one particular speech he said, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”
Our goal as teachers should be to let students see the goal, so they have the possibility of hitting the mark. When we give students the big picture goal, we should also help them see the incremental steps needed to arrive at the goal point. In the book Classroom Assessment Essentials, author Susan M. Brookhart shares the following regarding sequential building of criteria (pp. 20-21):
- Develop one criterion at a time in lessons, then put them together in a culminating complex performance. Think back to your educational psychology class and refresh your memory about constructivism. Let your lessons build from simple to complex.
- Introduce new criteria into lessons gradually, keeping the previous ones. Start with foundational material and continue to add elements that further build content understanding.
- Think in developmental terms. Establish criteria that start at the novice level, move to developing, and aim for mastering.
- Work on parts of a complex criterion with simpler success criteria that roll up into more complex descriptions. Students need to have a few wins with capitalization and punctuation before they take on writing sentences and paragraphs. Apply this concept to all of your content exploration.
As you prepare for the week ahead, think of how you might help students build toward the goal one step at a time. You and your students will be glad you did!
Phil Harrison Coaching 