Making Learning Targets Useful

In the below video, 2nd grade teacher Tara Hess shares a learning target routine to help her students clearly understand expectations before diving into a ThinkSRSD writing task.

I love this video because it’s doing a lot of different things at once, and it’s doing all of these things efficiently. Throughout the routine, Tara’s students are responding chorally, reading fluently, reviewing ThinkSRSD mnemonics and routines, and practicing/building executive functioning and metacognitive strategies.

What do you think? How do you use learning targets in your classroom?

If I’m being completely honest, I’ve never actively used learning targets with students. I would occasionally write them on the board if I remembered…or if I thought I might be observed, but that’s it.