Why Writing and Reading Learning Progressions are a Must When Conferring with Students.
Conferences are most impactful when they are focused on a student’s goal. You can use writing or reading progressions to see growth opportunities within goals. Though the goal is something the student cannot do yet, there is a progression of skills within the goal. The best targeted teaching leans on what a student can already do (where they are on the progression of skills) and nudges them toward deeper work.
So why are goals so important?
Goals help pinpoint a category of work that your students will engage in to help them become stronger readers and writers. Within each goal, there are ways their work will become increasingly more challenging or sophisticated.
It is important to have an understanding of the expectations within each goal. Let’s say you were going to meet with a first grader in a 1-on-1 writing conference to support them in the goal of FOCUS. Well, the expectation for a first grader would be to stay focused on their topic as they write. But the expectation of a sixth grader in the goal of focus would be to have some deeper message/theme in addition to the topic focus. This is where writing and reading learning progressions are very useful.
What are Literacy Learning Progressions?
Inside my *FREE* Conferring with Readers & Writers Like a Pro Guide, I talk about how literacy learning progressions is kinda like a road map for student learning. It’s the path of learning that your students are expected to travel from skill to skill and from grade level to grade level. They are typically broken down into the skills of reading and writing. Then they are organized in a way that shows your students’ development over time in each skill.
Learning progressions are an invaluable tool for lesson planning, teaching and assessment. You can use them to assess whether your students are meeting grade level expectations and/if not, how far above or below a student is in a particular skill area. You can also use them to determine next steps for a student no matter what their reading or writing level is. Pretty cool, huh? Learning progressions also help you to communicate progress with your students, parents, and other teachers about where a student is and where they need to be.
Conferring with a Learning Progression in Hand is a Bit Like Having That Expert By Your Side.
Imagine you are conferring with students to help them get better at analyzing characters in their reading. You have a narrative reading learning progression with you. You can tell from your student's reading notebook that she is thinking about how a character is changing over time. This is important work and is highlighted on the progression. You know what that means? It’s time for you to give compliment to students on using this strategy.
But what should you teach next?
You could study the next level on the learning progression to determine that you could teach the student to consider possible causes of the character’s changes, thus moving her work up a notch.
No more guessing what to teach next. The learning progression has done that work for you already. That’s why I love using them when I teach.
Learning Progressions Have a Big Impact on WHAT You Teach Students.
Writing and reading learning progressions can give you the confidence that you will be able to reach ALL your students.
Did you know that learning progressions can:
- Build on your students' strengths by noticing within a goal what students can currently do and looking ahead on the progression to see what you can teach them next.
- Choose the right strategies based on the next skill your students need to practice.
- Monitor your students' progress to choose next steps within that goal, or to decide to move on to the next goal.
Learning Progressions and Student Evidence Will Take the Guesswork Out of What to Teach.
As your students learn new strategies and practice them, they will become independent and you’ll want to move on to a new skill. After accomplishing all (or most) of the skills within a goal, it’ll be time for a new goal. Your learning progressions and student evidence will tell you what that new goal should be. No more guessing, instead you’ll know without a shadow of doubt, you are meeting ALL your students’ reading and writing needs.
If you’re looking for even more FREE training, strategies, and tips on learning progressions; come on over to my Facebook page and grab my Conferring With Readers & Writers Like a Pro Guide. This guide will give you the 9 must-haves to reach ALL your students through 1-on-1 conferences and small groups every single week.
And don't forget to jump on the waitlist for my Conferring All-Star Teacher™ Course. It has the best conferring methods and strategies for any K-8th grade literacy teacher or coach that wants to reach EVERY student, every week. Be the first to know when we open the doors plus get some awesome freebies while you wait.
Have an awesome year, teacher friend!!!
Remember this is the year to grow into your literacy teacher greatness!
