8 minute read
Crafting I Can Statements: A Practice Worth Pursuing
from Energize Your Teams
By Thomas W . Many
Adapted from Texas Elementary Principals & Supervisors Association’s TEPSA News, January/ February 2021, Vol . 78, No . 1, www .tepsa .org
“The learning target [of the lesson] can be made visible and accessible to students through the use of student-friendly language and the words “I can . . . ” to begin each learning target statement.”
—Heather Clayton
One of the most unambiguous conclusions practitioners can draw from the research is that clarity around a lesson’s learning target can help boost student achievement. When used consistently and in ways that reflect best practice, researchers find translating learning targets into I can statements benefits students and their teachers.
Renowned author and researcher John Hattie (2009) reports on the importance of communicating “the intentions of the lessons and the notion of what success means for those intentions” (p. 125). Likewise, coauthors Susan M. Brookhart and Connie M. Moss (2014) identify eight separate studies between 1995 and 2011 that find teaching students the learning targets and success criteria for a lesson has a positive effect on learning. The terminology may vary, but regardless of whether educators call them learning targets, student learning targets, shared learning targets, learning intentions, or I can statements, all help students learn to higher levels.
“To be effective, the language we use must be descriptive, specific, developmentally appropriate and written in student-friendly language.” —Connie M. Moss and Susan M. Brookhart
One of the distinctive characteristics of I can statements is they are narrow by design. In practice, teachers write I can statements in student-friendly language and describe precisely what they expect students to learn during a particular lesson. For example, “I can explain the difference between a first- and secondhand account of an event in my own words.” Teachers might use this kind of I can statement in a social studies class where students are working to understand the importance of primary sources.
An I can statement represents a small part of a much larger learning progression and helps students maintain their trajectory toward mastery of essential learning targets. When done well, I can statements help students understand what the lesson is about, why it is important, how teachers expect them to learn, and what they need to do to demonstrate what they have learned. These I can statements also convey the progression of learning by connecting lessons from yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Finally, I can statements enable students to do a better job of self-assessing their progress by empowering them to answer the following three questions about their learning. 1. “Where do I need to go?” 2. “Where am I right now?” 3. “What do I need to do to close the gap between where I need to go and where I am right now?”
page 1 of 3
5.5
5.5
Blogger and teacher Jody Waltman (n.d.a) provides a step-by-step guide for creating I can statements. Waltman (n.d.a) encourages teams to begin by agreeing on the learning target (or targets) for the upcoming lesson. Once in agreement, the team divides the target into smaller bits of information. This initial conversation helps the team build shared knowledge about exactly what should be the outcome of the upcoming lesson (or lessons).
Next, Waltman (n.d.a) encourages teams to “write a series of statements, each beginning with the words ‘I can,’ that outline the path that students will follow and each of the skills that the students will obtain by the end of the instructional period.” Waltman (n.d.a) encourages teams to avoid crafting I can statements in isolation; she believes it is better to reflect on what students will experience over a series of lessons during the course of an upcoming unit.
Finally, Waltman (n.d.a) recommends teachers “write these ‘I can’ statements at the target level,” stating just a simple, singular goal for a single lesson or set of lessons. This helps narrow the focus of the I can statement, which makes it easier for students to understand, facilitates alignment of the team’s common assessments, and expedites the tracking of student progress.
“The ‘I can’ statements frame the standards and goals in a student-friendly way. This allows them [students] to take ownership of their own learning to track and monitor their progress towards the learning targets.”
—Jody Waltman
Mindfulness educator Melanie Black (2017) describes additional benefits when students use I can statements to track their progress: Students who track their grades regularly, not just at midterms and finals, take ownership of their learning, and are more likely to persevere in the face of challenges and take steps to proactively meet their goals. Tracking their progress empowers students to be independent and successful, which will not only benefit them in school but in any future endeavor.
According to author Robert J. Marzano (2010), “The strategy of tracking student progress on specific learning goals is well supported” (p. 86). Marzano (2010) reports researchers found a 26-percentile point gain in student achievement when teachers tracked student progress using visual displays of formative assessment results. Even more significant, researchers found a 32-percentile point gain in student achievement when students tracked their own progress using visual displays of formative assessment results.
What Marzano (2010), Black (2017), and others are saying is in addition to higher levels of student achievement, clearly communicating the intent of a lesson to students generates a host of other noteworthy benefits such as greater ownership of their learning, increased intrinsic motivation, and the development of more self-directed learners.
“When students understand exactly what they’re supposed to learn and what their work will look like when they learn it, they’re better able to monitor and adjust their work, select effective strategies, and connect current work to prior learning.” —Susan M. Brookhart and Connie M. Moss
There is more to the effective use of I can statements than simply writing them on the board or posting them on the wall. The level of learning improves in classrooms where teachers embrace the expert advice of Brookhart and Moss (2014), Hattie (2009), Marzano (2010), and others who show time and again that using I can statements to clearly communicate the intent of a lesson is a practice worth pursuing.
page 2 of 3
References
Black, M. (2017). Helping students track their own progress. Accessed at https://studentfutures .org/college-planning/helping-students-track-their-own-progress on September 16, 2019. Brookhart, S. M., & Moss, C. M. (2014). Learning targets on parade. Educational Leadership, 72(2), 28–33. Clayton, H. (2017). Learning targets. Making the standards come alive! VI(1). Alexandria, VA: Just Ask. Accessed at https://justaskpublications.s3.amazonaws.com/Learning _Targets_5.pdf on March 10, 2021. Crockett, H. (2013). How I can statements can work for you. Accessed at www.theartofed .com/2013/02/21/how-i-can-statements-can-work-for-you on September 14, 2020. Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analysis relating to achievement. New York. Routledge. Marzano, R. (2010). When students track their progress. Educational Leadership, 67(4), 86–87. Mattos, M., DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. W. (2016). Concise answers to frequently asked questions about Professional Learning Communities at Work. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. Moss, C. M., & Brookhart, S. M. (2012). Learning targets: Helping students aim for understanding in today’s lesson. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Moss, C. M., Brookhart, S. M., & Long, B. A. (2011). Knowing your learning target. Educational
Leadership, 68(6), 66–69. Waltman, J. (n.d.a). I can statements [Video file]. Accessed at https://sophia.org/tutorials /i-can-statements-2 on September 25, 2020. Waltman, J. (n.d.b). Why should students track their own progress? [Video file]. Accessed at https://sophia.org/tutorials/why-should-students-track-their-own-progress-2 on March 9, 2021.
page 3 of 3
5.5
ENERGIZE YOUR TEAMS
“Many, Maffoni, Sparks, Thomas, and Greeney have assembled, created, and shared the tools necessary for teams to collaborate on what matters most to them, to learn with and from each other, and to generate the force that moves them all toward the greater good, results for students and each other. . . . Leaders, coaches, and facilitators will find within Energize Your Teams the energy that lights up the work, that catalyzes action, and that brings joy, verve, and passion into the core work of every PLC.”
—From the foreword by JOELLEN KILLION,
Author, Consultant, Learning Facilitator, and Senior Advisor for Learning Forward
“The authors have done it again! First they provided Amplify Your Impact to build the PLC coaching foundation. Then they wrote How Schools Thrive to provide concrete ideas and strategies for coaching teams in a PLC. With Energize Your Teams, they provide the professional development materials. I love this incredibly practical and easy-to-use resource!”
—BO RYAN,
Principal, Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts Middle School, Hartford, Connecticut
In Energize Your Teams: Powerful Tools for Coaching Collaborative Teams in PLCs at Work®, authors Thomas W. Many, Michael J. Maffoni, Susan K. Sparks, and Tesha Ferriby Thomas and contributor Brian Greeney share comprehensive guidance for coaching collaborative teams in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) at Work. They provide complete, easy-to-implement professional learning modules and supporting materials to deepen collaborative teams’ knowledge of five prerequisites of a PLC: (1) highly effective collaborative teams, (2) a guaranteed and viable curriculum, (3) a balanced and coherent system of assessment, (4) productive data conversations, and (5) the pyramid of interventions. This follow-up to the authors’ books Amplify Your Impact: Coaching Collaborative Teams in PLCs at Work and How Schools Thrive: Building a Coaching Culture for Collaborative Teams in PLCs at Work is a “grab and grow” resource—a powerful tool busy K–12 school leaders, instructional coaches, and teacher leaders can grab to grow their collaborative teams’ skills.
READERS WILL:
• Explore effective coaching strategies and the coaching cycle • Discover a continuum for teams to assess their current effectiveness • Utilize step-by-step coaching instructions and supporting materials • Study useful tools for coaching collaborative teams • Find free online reproducibles
Visit go.SolutionTree.com/PLCbooks to download the free reproducibles in this book.
SolutionTree.com
