![]() ![]() This is a critical balance that can easily get a little lopsided if there’s too much on content and not enough the skills. It helps to not only focus on important content students should know, but also what skills they should develop. Identifying specific targets within a standard provides clear direction for instructional planning. Knowledge Targetsĭistinguish between supported and unsupported claims You may benefit by using a graphic organizer like the one below. Next, we’ll identify the types of targets the standard represents. Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not. We’ll start by highlighting the nouns (concepts) in green and the verbs (skills) in blue, just like we did in the destination trip example. For this demonstration, we’ll use a sixth grade English Language Arts national/state standard. Now let’s take a closer look at examples of Steps 1 through 4 with a more complex, real-world standard. This breakdown of the familiar process of planning a trip makes sense: It provides clearly outlined steps and a better vision of the target after unpacking the original standard. Devise a plan if stranded at sea on catamaran.Organize and plan for a trip to the beach. We’ll start with the learning target and break it down with Steps 1 and 2. With the journey theme in mind, let’s use the analogy of planning a destination trip to help illustrate the process (it’s summertime, after all!). The journey will include packing and preparation, travel arrangements, perhaps some new experiences, and ultimately an endpoint (student learning), which may very well begin a new journey. Think of this unpacking process as a journey with a destination in mind. To focus and guide classroom instruction and assessment, write open-ended questions to help stimulate student interest and make new connections. The next step is to list the conceptual understandings that students discover during the learning process (the ah-ha! moments). Next, you’ll determine which concepts are content/knowledge targets, reasoning/cognitive targets, skill/performance targets, and product targets. We like to highlight nouns (content) in blue and verbs (skills) in green. Identify what students need to know and what they need to do. ![]() There are four key steps to unpacking standards: So what does unpacking look like? Read on as we break down the unpacking process and go through a couple examples to help get you started. As you teach and report progress, create student-friendly learning objectives to better communicate required skills to students and community stakeholders.Align lesson plans and accompanying resources to that vision.Craft your vision of mastery for specific standards.Once you have unpacked standards to identify what students should know and be able to do, you can do three important things: This process, also called “deconstructing” or “unwrapping” standards, fosters a collaborative dialogue that supports growth and effectiveness. “Unpacking” is a technique teachers can use to make sense of standards, and then create focused learning targets to make them actionable. (You’ve probably been in a PLC conversation and thought, “ I had no idea that’s what that standard meant!” or “ Whoa, we’re reading the same book, but we’re not on the same page.”) Implementing standards effectively requires teachers to dive deep into the standards to fully understand expectations and make them clear to students.īecause standards are sometimes written as overarching-and often complex-statements that can be interpreted in different ways, it’s important that teachers share a common understanding about the goals and targets of a standard. In the ever-changing world of which standards are we using this year?!, the work of learning and implementing new standards must often happen quickly. Have you ever looked at a standard-local, state, or national-and wondered, “What is this? And how am I going to teach it?” If so, you’re not alone! As part of our Client Success series, this is the first of a two-part guide to unpacking and prioritizing standards like a pro. ![]()
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