Transcript

If a student is effectively using the feedback that they get from classmates and from the teacher that means that they're able to determine exactly what their strengths are and what they need to work on; that naturally evolves into creating a goal for themselves. If their feedback perhaps says you should read with more expression, their goal will then turn out to be I need to read with more expression. The trick is, when a student develops a goal, they need assistance about how they're going to get there. They might just say well I'm going to read more, but as a teacher you know that that's not an effective way for them to reach their goal. 

In our Climb Every Mountain Book, a student articulates specific goals that they wish to attain in reading, writing, math, or any other areas of the curriculum that we're working on. I try to make sure that they've created goals in a variety of different areas and not always the same one. When the students experience success it gives them glee to be able to write down I did it. And the fact that they can articulate how they did it lets them create a new goal. And they understand by that that the strategies that they're creating will let them reach their goal. They can get there as long as they take small steps. 

The reason the book is called My Climb Every Mountain Book is because it was easy for students to visualize that a mountain is very hard to climb, and you can't just decide one day I'm going to climb it; I'm going to put on running shoes and just climb up the mountain. It was easy for them to understand that you need the right equipment and you need the right supports in order to achieve success and get to the top. So we use the climb every mountain analogy for them to compare that to their goal in any subject area. So they know that it's not always easy, they need to set in place different strategies just like their equipment, and they will get there. It may take time but with more and more practice and experience they can get there. 

This second grade student has been able to articulate that her learning goal is to read a little more slowly. She's decided that the best strategy to determine if she's going to reach that goal will be to use her friends' feedback. So you can see how it's almost come full circle, she's realized that the success criteria for reading is to have appropriate pace, she's listened to her friends' feedback during Daily 5 EEKK, and the feedback told her you need to read more slowly, so she's counting on that feedback. She knows that the more she reads with another person and listens to their comments and their feedback, she will reach the goal of learning to read a little more slowly.

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