Learning Targets Helping Kindergartners Focus on Letter Names and Sounds

• Published in: YC young children Vol. 74; no. 5; pp. 71 - 77
• Main Author: DeStefano, Heidi Heath
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) 01-11-2019; National Association for the Education of Young Children
• Subjects: Behavioral Objectives; Educational Environment; Educational Strategies; Feedback; Grade 1; Kindergarten; Kindergarten students; Kindergarten teachers; Learning; Literacy; Preschool education; Professional development; Reading; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Tutoring; Vocabulary Development; Voicesof PRACTITIONERS
• ISSN: 1538-6619; 2770-856X; 1941-2002

[...]I needed to find a way to focus their efforts and encourage them to take ownership of their learning. In professional development sessions, my school district had begun training teachers on providing students with clear statements of intended learning outcomes when we introduced new units or activities. In the past, I had goals for my lessons, but I had never tried anything this explicit to engage the kindergartners in thinking about the goals. Since this was a new strategy for me, I approached the work as both a teacher and a researcher. Throughout, seeing their children's excitement and growing confidence as they worked toward and reached a goal was positive for the whole family. Because of this success, I also began using learning targets with my older students, and it worked well with all of my reading intervention groups.