Clarifying the learning journey; revising IM’s learning targets

 

As we continue our Illustrative Math pilot and prepare for the next unit, the sixth grade teachers recently examined the learning targets identified in Grade 6, Unit 2, Introducing Ratios. We took a deep dive using a document created by @normabgordon  in which she captured all the (@openupresources ) IM learning targets in Unit 2.

We appreciate IM’s work, but to clarify our students’ learning journey, we determined many targets needed revision. Some edits were minor, others required more tweaking. Here is our interpretation of Grade 6, Unit 2. Below is a selection of revised targets based on our district’s brief list of “look fors”.

Using student friendly language

The IM targets were student friendly, however we wanted to make them more concise. For example in Lesson 2:

…and in Lesson 9:

We felt these changes still capture the essentials without jeopardizing the learning intentions.

Selecting “observable” verbs to describe Bloom’s Taxonomy or Depth of Knowledge level

IM did a good job of selecting “observable” verbs for the learning targets, however the verb “know” was used in six of the 17 lessons in the unit. Since it’s difficult to observe “know”, we chose different verbs that are observable–such as identify, or explain. For example in Lesson 11:

Note: we also combined the second and third learning targets and made the targets more brief.

 

“Understand” is also unobservable so we revised this learning target as well.

Omitting context

There’s some debate on whether to include the context in which the outcome will be observed. When creating learning targets, we’ve been advised to omit the context as it relates to the learning activity. For example in Lesson 4 the targets included  color mixtures which we omitted:

I appreciate the heavy lifting IM has done in writing learning targets for each lesson. It is always easier to revise than to start from scratch. But the other sixth grade teachers and I felt it necessary to clarify the learning journey a bit more. Tackling the targets was not a solo effort. I work with a great group of teachers both in the building and at our “sister” middle school and they deserve a shoutout: @CathyDicksonD95, @MichelleRuotolo ,  @Mr__Manahan, and  @MrsOlsenLZ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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