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Great tips, lots of links to additional resources that are worth checking out.

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Effect of Goal Setting for Motivation, Self-Efficacy, and Performance in Elementary Mathematics

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Effect of Goal Setting for Motivation, Self-Efficacy, and Performance in Elementary Mathematics

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Seems like this would fit really well with my class.

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By setting and tracking some learning goals, students can build a growth mindset and practice metacognition.

Westend61 GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo

Student achievement is often defined by predetermined benchmarks, grades, or scores; however, this one-size-fits-all approach doesn't typically acknowledge or account for students' growth.

Taking a differentiated approach to student goal-setting enables learners to redefine success by demonstrating personal progress and taking accountability for their role in the learning process. Incorporating student-created goals into the assessment process promotes intrinsic motivation, purposeful engagement, and high-quality effort from students.

Collecting Baseline Data for Goal-Setting

When determining which data to use for baseline measurements in connection with students' goals, select data points that can be assessed multiple times throughout the year and that align with specific grade-level concepts or skills. This ensures that students' data collection is meaningful and connects with instruction and learning activities.

It's essential that baseline data be charted in a way that is meaningful and comprehensible to students. In my class, each student receives their own data sheet, where they graph their initial data. The sheets include spaces for additional assessments, and by using the same collection sheet throughout the year, students can look at side-by-side comparisons of their performance over time. This format makes learning visible and lends itself to clear conversations about growth, reflection, and areas for continued improvement.

Goal Setting and Progress Monitoring

Once baseline data is collected, I conference with studentsto identify their initial scores, highlight strengths, discuss areas for growth, and set their first incremental goal.

In the goal-setting process, I typically give students a minimum range (e.g., strive to achieve 10 to 15 points above their baseline measurements for their intended goal), particularly students who are performing below grade level and have the most growth to make.

However, I allow students to set higher goals if they choose to. This approach ensures that students are making progress and working toward grade-level standards while keeping their goals realistic. For students who are already performing at or above the grade-level benchmark, goals may include maintaining a specific average, making percentage increases in their results over time, or tracking a new goal or data measurement altogether.

Whether you choose to have your students track their growth biweekly, monthly, quarterly, or per unit, it is essential that they have enough time between measurements to see meaningful growth and change, yet are checking on their progress frequently enough to feel engaged and connected.

Continued Conferencing

During follow-up conferences, students track their next data measurement on their individual graph, compare their scores with their intended goal, and reflect on the assessment. While students are tracking their assessment data, the teacher engages with students in quick (two- or three-minute) discussions about their most recent performance; they identify strengths and struggles, talk about progress made (or the lack thereof), and set the next incremental goal.

The goal-tracking graph sheet serves as an entry point for discussions with students, since the teacher is able to identify whether growth was achieved, scores were stagnant, or scores decreased. The focus of each conference is based on where students fall within this continuum.

For example, if a student made significant growth or reached their goal, that achievement is celebrated, the student reflects and determines what helped them succeed (e.g., effort, focus, learning activities), and they set a new, higher-reaching goal.

If a student's scores remained stagnant or decreased, then the conversation focuses on identifying challenges (e.g., rushed through the assessment) and brainstorming ways to support the student's performance as they work toward the same goal, or a revised goal, before the next checkpoint.

Goal-setting conversations typically take the place of small group instruction, allowing students time to complete independent work when not in their conference.

3-Step Conferencing: Reflect, Track Data, Set Goals

When engaging with students through reflective conferencing, I focus on incorporating three aspects regardless of how students perform on benchmark assessments. First, I probe the student's initial thoughts, such as "How did your assessment go? What went well, or what was challenging? What can you keep doing, or change for next time?"

Next, as students update their data sheet, we talk about their performance, learning process, and areas for adjustment.

Finally, after setting a revised or entirely new goal, I talk with the student about how to prepare for success, whether through independent learning activities, additional small group instruction, access to additional resources/supports, or strategies to support their performance on future assessments (e.g., taking their time, showing their work, going back and rereading, eliminating wrong answers, finding optimal seating to maximize their focus, or asking for clarification).

In my experience, setting goals holds students accountable for their learning; fosters positive perceptions of assessments over time (due to its emphasis on growth over time and its visual representation of student progress throughout the year); and bolsters connections between instruction, guided practice, independent application, and assessment.

Through the use of differentiated goal-setting and data tracking, students authentically engage in the learning process and recognize the purpose and intentions behind learning activities that directly support progress toward their goals. This approach may also instill a growth mindset, providing students with equitable opportunities for success.

By setting goals, tracking individual growth, and celebrating their accomplishments while reflecting on moments of struggle (and engaging in collaborative problem-solving), students practice metacognition, gain self-awareness, and widen their definition of success while learning.

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Strategies for Supporting Student Goal-Setting

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Supporting student goal-setting helps teachers foster a growth mindset and metacognition, and make learning visible across time.

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Interesting article/resource to explore

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Adams. M.J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Beck, I.L., & McKeown, M.G. (1991). Conditions of vocabulary acquisition. In R. Barr, M.L. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, & P.D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 2, pp. 789-814). White Plains, NY: Longman.

Biemiller, A., & Slonim, N. (2001). Estimating root word vocabulary growth in normative and advantaged populations: Evidence for a common sequence of vocabulary acquisition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 498-520. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.93.3.498

Carlisle, J.F., & Rice, M.S. (2002). Improving reading comprehension: Research-based principles and practice. Timonium, MD: York Press.

Carreker, S. (2004). Developing metacognitive skills: Vocabulary and comprehension. Bellaire, TX: Neuhaus Education Center.

Denton, C.A., & Fletcher, J.M. (2003). Scaling reading interventions. In B.R. Foorman (Ed.), Preventing and remediating reading difficulties: Bringing science to scale (pp. 445-464). Timonium, MD: York Press.

Gough, P.B., & Hillinger, M.L. (1980). Learning to read: An unnatural act. Bulletin of the Orton Society, 30, 179-196. doi:10.1007/BF02653717

Kuhn, D. (2000). Metacognitive development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9, 178-181. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00088

Marks, M., Pressley, M., Coley, J.D., Craig, S., Gardner, R., DePinto, T., et al. (1993). Three teachers' adaptations of reciprocal teaching in comparison to traditional reciprocal teaching. The Elementary School Journal, 94, 267-283. doi:10.1086/461766

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Palincsar, A.S., & Brown, A.L. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring activities. Cognition and Instruction, 2, 117-175.

Pauk, W. (2000). Six-way paragraphs, middle level. Providence, RI: Jamestown Publishers.

Pressley, M., Wharton-McDonald, R., Mistretta-Hampston, J., & Echevarria, M. (1998). The nature of literacy instruction in ten grade-4/5 classrooms in upstate New York. Scientific Studies of Reading, 2, 159-194. doi:10.1207/s1532799xssr0202_4

Rosenshine, B., & Meister, C. (1994). Reciprocal teaching: A review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 64, 479-530. doi:10.2307/1170585

Rosenthal, R., Rosnow, R.L., & Rubin, D.B. (2000). Contrasts and effect sizes in behavioral research: A correlational approach. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Scarborough, H.S. (2001). Connecting early language and literacy to later reading (dis)abilities: Evidence, theory, and practice. In S.B. Neuman & D.K. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (pp. 97-110). New York: Guilford.

Wren, S. (2002, December). Ten myths of reading instruction. SEDL Letter, 14(3), 3-8.

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Instruction of Metacognitive Strategies Enhances Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Achievement of Third-Grade Students

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The use of metacognitive strategies helps students to "think about their thinking" before, during, and after they read.

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Starting page 18, very specific examples of strategies to use

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Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade

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Starting around page 261, review of different strategies, listing number of studies for each, followed by descriptions.

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Thinking about ways to do goal setting--this mentions doing skills lessons and having students working on specific goals. Reminded me a bit of CAFE...potential strategy for WIN?

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Building Blocks of effective core instruction

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Building Blocks of effective core instruction

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Many links to other research-based strategies...overall good content to consider.

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Administration & Leadership

A simple framework can help administrators outline the essential elements of quality core Tier 1 instruction.

Maskot / Alamy Stock Photo

Through my position as an instructional coach, I often work with school and district leaders who want help to shore up their staff's ability to deliver effective core instruction, also known as Tier 1 instruction. Core instruction is the critical whole-group lessons teachers produce in primary subject areas that serve as a good backdrop for the differentiation strategies required to support struggling learners and kids with diverse needs.

For example, a school looking to begin or enhance implementing tiered instruction as part of a multitiered system of support (MTSS) framework may need guidance in identifying and carrying out the components of Tier 1 instruction. Tiers are designed to challenge students at their appropriate ability levels. Similarly, schools looking to use a response-to-intervention (RTI) or project-based learning teaching model may need similar guidance on a good starting point for planning and facilitating lessons in tandem with helping teachers determine their students' learning needs.

But it's not enough for teachers to only have a sound system for planning and facilitating relevant lessons. They also need to intentionally monitor student engagement and learning. This allows for tweaking and refining practice over time from an informed approach.

To support the schools I partner with in instructional innovation, we created a versatile framework to serve as a good starting point for outlining the essential elements of good core instruction.

5 Must-Haves for Good Core Instruction

1. Relevant evidence-based curriculum. Curriculum refers to an evidence-based, standards and competency-aligned sequence of planned experiences that help learners capture content concepts and applied skills that follow local standards, graduate profiles, career skills, social and emotional learning, and learners' interests.

Although there's nothing wrong with carrying out core instruction using purchased curriculum and scripted resources, I don't recommend following said resources verbatim. There must be personalization of what you are teaching your unique learners. Otherwise, we risk losing student engagement due to lack of relevance.

To assist you and your planning teams in designing core instruction in meaningful and compelling ways for kids, try the empathy mapping process in tandem with a straightforward backward design planning tool. The former can be powerful for determining relevance for students. The latter is a simple way to map and align learning goals with assessments, lessons, and sound instructional practices.

2. The promotion of literacy and numeracy skills across subject areas. Literacy and numeracy skills are undoubtedly foundational for reading, writing, reasoning, and problem-solving across multiple disciplines. Even if you're not an English language arts or math teacher or utilizing a formal program for tiering and differentiation (e.g., MTSS, RTI), improving your core instruction should integrate literacy and math in ways that complement your core lessons meaningfully.

For example, science, social science, and elective teachers can highlight the reading and writing skills pertinent to the content they teach. As a science, technology, engineering, and math teacher, I've found that having my students outline the design process steps while paying attention to grammar, sentence structure, and citations significantly improves their literacy skills over time. Having kids create and rehearse using presentation scripts is also a powerful literacy builder that reinforces their speaking and listening skills.

Non-math teachers can help learners improve their basic knowledge of numbers by embedding numeracy skills into daily lessons. Skills may include building understanding in the following areas:

Researcher Robert Marzano's work simplifies selection because he outlines nine strategies to improve student achievement in any grade level or content area. Visible Learning research by John Hattie is also a good source for helping educators understand and adapt research to strategy selection in their particular context.

When trying strategies, use them to gain insight into how they help learners succeed. Learn the appropriate times to use them because every strategy isn't used daily or in every lesson.

Asking questions and leading discussions.

Observing participation in collaborative work by seeing how students respond in smaller settings.

Polling students using engagement surveys. Here are some good questions by SurveyMonkey for getting started.

4. Student engagement and academic achievement monitoring. Academic research supports a strong correlation between student engagement and student achievement, which teachers across grade levels and disciplines need to consider as a part of their core instruction.

Monitoring student engagement isn't difficult, but it must be intentional. Poll Everywhere recommends doing so in the following ways:

Academic achievement should be monitored daily using formative assessments. Good ones for strengthening core instruction may include thumbs-up responses, exit tickets, and quizzes. Biweekly, end-of-unit, and benchmark assessments are metrics your district may have in place for you to use.

5. An understanding of your own impact. Hattie explains the importance of listening to our students to inform us of our impact on their engagement and learning; we can also seek feedback from trusted colleagues. When teachers consider themselves learners, it's easier to have conversations with students and colleagues about the areas of our core instruction that we can improve.

Which classroom activities help you learn most?

What changes do you recommend I make to help you learn better?

What motivates you to learn most?

What can I do better?

Excellent practice that requires vulnerability is focusing on what's not working with our core teaching and particular students. Seeking the right strategies for improving our impact becomes intentional (see #4) instead of jumping on the latest teaching trend(s) (see #3).

Surveying, polling, and student conferences can help improve teaching impact. You might ask questions such as the following:

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5 Key Building Blocks of Effective Core Instruction

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Administration & Leadership A simple framework can help administrators outline the essential elements of quality core Tier 1 instruction. Maskot / Alamy Stock Photo Through my position as an instructional coach, I often work with school and district leaders who want help to shore up their staff's ability to deliver effective core instruction, also known as Tier 1 instruction.

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Broken down into very practical categories of things that teachers can do to support students, along with research and additional references.

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Appendices list out specific interventions that were used; WWC factors included

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Elevating Instruction for Advanced Readers

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Elevating Instruction for Advanced Readers

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Focuses on four elements: to promote authentic choice, encourage student agency and ownership, support meaningful peer interactions, and collect and use formative data--guide at the end with specific examples of things to try

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Using morning meeting to help develop listening skills by having students practice active listening to each other in short amounts, and teaching how to use follow up summaries and questions

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Interesting descriptions of different successful approaches to guided reading/literacy instruction

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Interesting study. Small, but seemingly highly effective. Something to look into more.

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ERIC - EJ1354874 - Effect of Peer Teaching on the Academic Achievement of Fourth Grade Primary School Students, International Journal of Psychology and Educational Studies, 2022

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This research aims to examine the effect of peer teaching on the academic success of primary school fourth grade students. The biggest difference of this research from other researches is the application of a different method in peer teaching. This research is in the pretest-posttest experimental design with an unequal control group. The research sample consists of fourth-grade students in a primary school in the province of Alanya, Antalya, Turkey. There are two fourth-grade classes in the primary school. One of these classes was determined as the experimental group and the other as the control group. There are 32 students in the experimental group. There are 28 students in the control group. The primary school fourth grade academic achievement test developed by the researchers was used as a data collection tool. The research was carried out in December 2021 and January 2022. A seven-week application was made in the fourth grade of a primary school in Alanya as part of the study

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There are lots of great ideas to support students struggling with academics and behaviors in the classroom

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Interesting study. Many limitations due to Covid, but I think worth a deeper read.

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ERIC - EJ1381274 - The Impact of Self-Assessment with Goal Setting on Academic Achievement: Results of a Study on Primary School Students in Greece, Journal of Education and Learning, 2023

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The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the contribution of Self-Assessment with Goal Setting (SAGS), which was implemented with the “self-directed learning” (SDL) method, to the improvement of academic performance in the context of language teaching to sixth-grade students in primary school. The research methodology followed is an experimental design with two groups, one experimental and one control. The research was implemented in public primary schools in Rhodes and lasted for six weeks (from the beginning of March 2022 to the middle of April 2022). The research sample is a convenience sample consisting of 163 students (the control group made up of 78 students and the experimental group consisting of 85 students). According to the findings of the study, the students in the experimental group improved their performance, and this improvement was statistically significant. Specifically, it was observed that after the implementation of SAGS, the mean score

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New teachers-and experienced ones too-can find ideas here on how to stop disruptive behavior before it begins.

In the 1950s, psychologists Jacob Kounin and Paul Gump discovered a curious side effect of discipline: If a student was being disruptive and the teacher responded with strict disciplinary measures, the student might stop-but other students would start exhibiting the same misbehavior. Kounin and Gump called this the " ripple effect," and it demonstrated that efforts to control a classroom can backfire.

"The teacher who is interested in controlling ripple effects can generally do so best by giving clear instructions to the child rather than by exerting pressure on him," Kounin and Gump wrote.

Decades later, classroom management is still a thorny issue for teachers. Nearly half of new teachers report that they feel "not at all prepared" or "only somewhat prepared" to handle disruptive students, in part because the average teacher training program devotes just eight hours to the topic, according to a 2014 report from the National Council on Teacher Quality. This lack of training comes with a cost, as teachers report losing 144 minutes of instructional time on average to behavioral disruptions every week, which comes out to roughly three weeks over the course of a year.

Recent research confirms what Kounin and Gump discovered decades ago. A 2016 study found that while negative attention-reprimands like "Stop chitchatting!"-may temporarily stop misbehavior, students eventually became more likely to engage in disruptive behavior. Students in the study felt disengaged, had difficulty concentrating, and weren't able to effectively regulate their thoughts and emotions-a vicious cycle that "actually amplifies students' inappropriate behavior," the study authors explain.

8 Proactive Classroom Management Strategies

Instead of handling disruptions after they've happened, it can be more effective to set up conditions in which they are less likely to occur. Here are eight classroom strategies that teachers have shared with Edutopia, all backed by research.

1. Greet students at the door: At Van Ness Elementary School in Washington, DC, Falon Turner starts the day by giving each of her students a high-five, handshake, or hug. "During that time, I'm just trying to connect with them.... It's kind of like a pulse check to see where they are," she says.

In a study published last year, greeting students at the door helped teachers set a positive tone for the rest of the day, boosting academic engagement by 20 percentage points while reducing disruptive behavior by 9 percentage points-adding roughly an hour of engagement over the course of the school day.

For older students, give plenty of warning if you need them to follow instructions. Reminders and cues are helpful ways to encourage students to follow instructions without being overtly controlling or forceful. For example, if you can anticipate a disruption-such as students getting out of their seats if they finish an assignment early-give a short reminder of what they should do instead.

Reminders are commonly verbal, but can also be visual (flicking the lights to signal that it's time to be quiet), auditory (ringing a small bell to let students know they should pay attention to the teacher), or physical (using a hand signal to let students know to get back in their seats).
Courtesy of Emily Polak
But that doesn't mean choice is always bad. Giving students a sense of ownership in the room, paired with clear expectations for behavior, can have surprisingly positive effects. A welcoming space can reduce anxiety and boost academic performance. Emily Polak, a ninth-grade teacher in Madison, Alabama, gave her room a cozier feel by adding a couch, a loveseat, rugs, a coffee table, and posters. Her students decide where to sit-but if they can't get their work done, they get moved back to a desk. "Discipline issues have significantly decreased. My students seem to feel more relaxed and more motivated in a setting that honors their choices," Polak says.

It's also helpful to avoid using the word don't, suggests Alyssa Nucaro, a sixth-grade English teacher in Memphis. Students are more likely to listen to instructions that include clear reasons.

6. Set clear expectations: Instead of just displaying rules for behavior, have a discussion with your students about why those rules matter. Bobby Shaddox, a seventh-grade social studies teacher in Portland, Maine, works with his students to create a list of norms-words such as inclusive, focused, and considerate -to build a sense of community. "It helps us own the behavior in the classroom," Shaddox says. "Instead of a top-down list of rules that a teacher gives a class, these are words that we generated together. These are words that we believe in."

A 2017 study found that a teacher's nonverbal cues-such as smiling and making eye contact-can "reduce physical and/or psychological distance" with their students, boosting students' positive feelings toward the teacher and the course material while improving behavior.

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New teachers-and experienced ones too-can find ideas here on how to stop disruptive behavior before it begins.

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More than a decade ago, on the first day of school, the parent of an incoming kindergartner named Luke told Principal Jessica Cabeen that her child would probably never graduate.

Born into a family of fifth-generation Minnesota farmers, the 5-year-old wanted to work on the farm with his dad and "was adamant that he wasn't going to attend school."

Undaunted, Cabeen placed Luke in the Red Frog kindergarten classroom, telling the teacher, "Heads-up, this kid's coming in, and he wants to be in the fields, not in your classroom." Immediately, Luke's new teacher-also from a family of farmers-found creative ways to connect his learning to his passion for agriculture. To Luke's surprise, she held the academic bar high, expressed interest in his life, and slowly managed to change his mind about school.

In June of this year, Principal Cabeen traveled across town to attend Luke's high school graduation celebration at his family's farm, where he proudly showed off a tractor he'd reconstructed from the ground up, along with years of farming-related awards and accolades. "In the classroom, you get maybe 1 percent of how amazing that kid is, but spend five minutes asking him about tractors, and you get this whole bigger picture-and then you want this kid to be successful," Cabeen says. "That's where really getting to know your students pays off in the long run."

The warm demander approach to education-exemplified by Luke's first teacher-is characterized by consistency, compassion, and high expectations for every child. Warm demanders "care enough to relentlessly insist on two things: that students treat the teacher and one another respectfully and that they complete the academic tasks necessary for successful futures," write researchers Elizabeth Bondy and Dorene Ross in a seminal article about the technique.

The disposition isn't about being a kindhearted pushover. Instead, it's about the subtle alchemy that occurs "when students feel teachers care about them," write the authors of a 2022 study, which in turn motivates kids to "work harder, engage in more challenging academic activities, behave more appropriately for the school environment... and meet or exceed their teacher's expectations." Paradoxically, it's the caring part that opens the door for greater rigor.

1. The Right Kind of 'Demanding'

Formulating an early blueprint of the approach, the MacArthur Award-winning education scholar and author Lisa Delpit describes warm demanders in her 2006 book, Other People's Children, as teachers who "expect a great deal of their students, convince them of their own brilliance, and help them to reach their potential in a disciplined and structured environment."

While the "demander" part may sound rooted in strictness, becoming a warm demander in the classroom isn't about compliance, insists school administrator Jessica Wei Huang.

"It's a common misunderstanding that demandingness is the same as strictness," writes Wei Huang. Instead, it's less about "controlling and demanding outcomes" and more about seeing "young people as whole human beings with desires, agency, and critical thinking." The demanding aspect is closely aligned with the core belief by educators that "every student can grow to be the best version of themselves."

Making the work challenging and insisting on high standards is ultimately a show of respect for the student, writes veteran educator and school leader Matt Alexander. Warm demanders set a tone of seriousness and mutual esteem in the classroom, asking students to "demonstrate self-discipline-not because they seek compliance but because high standards communicate respect," Alexander writes.

2. Getting to Consistency

Consistency is a critical part of a warm demander's effectiveness-and this can be tricky for teachers who, like students, are juggling a range of responsibilities and challenges, in both their professional and personal lives. Still, setting and steadfastly enforcing classroom rules and standards is a key part of what makes the approach work.

"Consistency is one thing that, as educators, we're not great with, especially if we're stressed," says Cabeen. "Maybe some days the kids can talk before the morning meeting, but other days they can't. And if they don't know how to read your cues to understand that today is not a day to goof around, it's really unfair to them and can damage that relationship."

Keeping rules clear and focused helps build a sense of consistency and trust, says Rebecca Alber, a teacher trainer at UCLA's Graduate School of Education. "Rules have consequences, and routines have reminders. What worked for me was far fewer rules and many, many more routines and procedures."

Once a rule is established, stick with it. "Students will expect a warning, a second warning, and then a consequence." If being on time and in their seats ready to work is one of your classroom rules and a student walks in three minutes late, for example, "we can't say, 'I reminded you yesterday about being tardy.' We have to say, 'This is a warning, and a consequence will follow.' And then a consequence has to follow if they walk in late two days later," says Alber.

This consistency holds true for academic standards as well. In Stephany Neptune's third-grade classroom at Success Academy, communicating high expectations and holding kids accountable means using every opportunity to reinforce and model expectations. Even for everyday classroom tasks like essay outlines, Neptune insists that students get the details right. "A lot of people might think: 'Oh, they're 8, it's OK if they didn't use a capital letter.' We tend to think that's not a big deal," she says. "But that's not correct grammar, and I don't back off because that's not helping the scholar. When you're insistent and consistent, that is holding them accountable. And yes, it takes time and patience, but they will get there."

3. A Touch of Empathy

After one of her high school students began accumulating first-period tardies, Cabeen set up a meeting with his mom. The parent, who needed an interpreter to communicate with the principal, was upset. This new habit was out of character for her son.

After some discussion, Cabeen discovered that the student was relying on an older brother for the drive to school each day, but the brother worked a night shift and often overslept. "I think the teacher felt that he just didn't like her class, just didn't want to be there," Cabeen recalls. "But no, he's actually trying to wake his brother up to get here." Finding out what was going on behind the scenes helped "shift that assumption of why we think kids are doing what they're doing" and allowed Cabeen and the teacher to identify a proactive solution.

Similarly, the researchers Bondy and Ross note that highly effective warm demanders don't jump to conclusions when students misbehave or miss the mark, but instead get curious and seek to learn more. "Warm demanders reach out to students for help in understanding behavior problems, which many well-intentioned teachers neglect to do," the researchers write. Especially when students and teachers are from different racial or cultural backgrounds, Wei Huang notes, warm demanders strive to understand "the cultural nuances of teacher-student relationships," so they can adjust the "pedagogical and relational approaches to create an environment where students are comfortable and relaxed enough to learn"- without sacrificing academic standards.

We're wired to make snap judgments about people, and teachers are no exception, but knee-jerk reactions can be wrong. When University of Aberdeen researcher Jackie Ravet asked a group of disengaged students why they were disengaged, they told Ravet they were bored by the lessons. Asked a similar question, the kids' teachers "blamed perceived deficits in students' attitude, ability, personality, and family background," note Bondy and Ross. If the educators had asked and listened to the students, "they would have gained insight into how to intervene" and keep everyone moving forward academically.

4. Celebrating Wins

Last year, faced with underwhelming attendance and credit attainment at the Austin, Minnesota, alternative education school she leads, Cabeen decided that one part of her improvement plan would include what she calls "micro and macro celebrations" when students met goals. "We don't stop to celebrate our wins enough," she says, and that's a mistake, especially when it comes to kids in the classroom. Consistently acknowledging student achievement-the end product of hard work-is essential to the warm demander's practice. These often-overlooked rituals are a chance to revel in a successful outcome, and they inevitably deepen the student's motivation to succeed again.

As attendance and credit metrics slowly ticked upward, Cabeen and her staff followed through, celebrating successes with small hurrahs in the classroom or, for the big wins, trips to amusement parks or lunch at local restaurants. "You would think: Does a 17-year-old want to go to an amusement park, or out to lunch with peers? Yes, they absolutely do," she says. "Did we scaffold that, because a number of our students had never actually gone to sit down in a restaurant? Yes. And it was amazing."

Pausing to celebrate and genuinely recognize student successes helps kids look back and recognize how much progress they've made, building confidence that they can tackle hard work again. Without a pause and a cheer, says Cabeen, "you may throw everything out and quickly move on to the next thing-and we can't just keep trying the next thing in education, because that's exhausting to teachers and kids."

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4 Characteristics of Outstanding 'Warm Demander' Teachers

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The dispositions and priorities of teachers who hold high expectations for every child, care deeply, and help them reach their academic potential in a structured environment.

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So many great ideas!

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19 Ways to Help Elementary Students Self-Regulate

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These strategies can help young learners practice an essential life skill—and foster classroom harmony in the process.

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Daily goal setting on a sticky note was an interesting idea...

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Encouraging students to set goals for themselves-the first phase of self-regulated learning-helps them develop a growth mindset.

"Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible." -Tony Robbins

Many students may not necessarily have the tools to set academic goals and lack strategies to enact change and work toward those goals. Teachers can provide structure to help students set academic goals that are realistic and appropriate as well as achievable. It is important to note that goal setting is not just an activity for the beginning of the school year, but an ongoing process.

It personalizes the learning process based on their needs.

It creates intention and motivation that empowers students.

It establishes accountability to shift responsibility to students.

It provides a foundation for students to advocate for their needs.

Setting academic goals is the first phase of self-regulated learning. Irrespective of the model proposed by leading researchers such as Barry Zimmerman, self-regulated learning always begins with a goal-planning phase. Goal setting is an essential component for growth and development in our students for several reasons:

Goal setting can be done at any age-as long as it is age appropriate. Teaching the skill of goal setting coupled with reflecting and revising goals can give students the self-regulated learning tools for a growth mindset toward academic development.

With students as young as kindergarten, more scaffolding is needed. At the beginning of each day, students can select an emoji or picture that represents some action from a predetermined list of possible options. If teaching virtually, students can do this at the beginning of the session. If teaching in person, students can perhaps tape their goal to their desk or table area or perhaps a chart displayed in the classroom. The class can spend a few moments discussing goals and what actions they can do to achieve those goals. Teachers can invite other students to make suggestions for their peers. At the end of the day, allow students to rate themselves with stars and to think about how they could do things differently for the next day.

Upper Elementary and Middle School

For students who are slightly older and able to write, an excellent way to develop the habit of creating, planning, and reflecting on goals can be done through the use of short-term daily goals using sticky notes. At the beginning of the day, students take a few minutes to imagine some task, behavior, or skill they want to focus their intentions on for that specific day. Let the students keep the notes somewhere visible, so they can refer back to the goal throughout the day. Include class conversations with either a partner, a small group, or the whole class at the beginning and end of the day. Focus on the achievement of the goal, but suggest growth mindset strategies to focus on the wins as well as necessary changes for further improvement.

What do you think about the choices in goals for the week? (Were they realistic and appropriate? Were they the most needed for growth at this time?)

How did you progress toward your goals? (Did you have clear, actionable steps?)

What were some of the wins for the week?

What are some ways you can continue to improve on your development of these goals?

Once students have more advanced writing skills, it may be useful for them to keep a chart or table of their goals in a logbook. Students record in the morning, not only the goals but an action plan, and then reflect on strategies for improvement at the end of the day. At the end of each week, allow students time to reflect on their goals for the next week with structured prompts such as the following:

While a logbook is functional, it can be a more motivating experience to allow students to engage in creativity and personalization. Allow them to have fun with the process and create a goal journey map. They identify a goal, which is the end of the map. They also identify different benchmarks or steps to complete along the path or journey toward that goal. Students then have a visual representation of the progress of their journey.

High School

For high school students, l use a reflection sheet after each unit or chapter to create a regular habit of revisiting goals. Ask students the following questions:

What are some areas that you can improve upon? What are some areas that need more attention or focus? What could you do differently?

What specific and concrete actions can you do?

How can you advocate for yourself? In other words, how can your teacher, your peers, or others guide you toward your goal?

What were the wins for this chapter or unit? In other words, what things did you do well or what areas did you improve?

I always begin new units with an independent work day or two. During this time, the students are working on their reading skills, while I conference with their classmates independently.

Goal setting can help with classroom management and academic performance. It allows students to become more aware of expectations and concrete methods to achieve an outcome. It scaffolds the process, making it more manageable. With goal setting that is reflective and iterative, students establish a growth mindset as they engage in monitoring of their progress and reflecting on it as outlined by Zimmerman and Dale Schunk.

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Encouraging students to set goals for themselves-the first phase of self-regulated learning-helps them develop a growth mindset.

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I like the ideas of spiral warm ups, forward looking questions, and exit tickets. I've used variations of these, but with more consistency, they could be very useful.

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Is It Time to Rethink Your Pre-assessments?

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Changing how you give and use formative assessments can help you make better instructional decisions for all students.

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SEL Inclusive Learning Strategies

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Login - CAS – Central Authentication Service

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So many great ideas for students and teachers, and love that they include links to research sources... Thanks for including this in the content this week!

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With so many classroom research studies published daily, you can be forgiven for missing some. The techniques below are super-tactical and, for the most part, unsung strategies that you'll be excited to try tomorrow.

Just remember two things. First, there are always limitations and nuances in research, so we suggest you click the links and dig deeper into the studies. Second, studies are just words without you-your application and adaptations give them power.
Research on Engaging Students
1. Greeting students by name and including a positive statement at the beginning of class increased engagement by 27 percent.

2. The University of Virginia randomly selected one group of high school science students to write summaries of what they had learned in their class. Another group wrote about the usefulness of science in their own lives. The latter group earned significantly higher grades and reported more interest in science class.

3. Don't leave poor performers in the back row. When students in the back rows were asked to move to the front of the classroom, their participation and academic performance improved.
Studying Tips to Give Students Tomorrow
4. Taking practice tests prevents stress-related knowledge loss better than rereading material.

5. For cognitively demanding tasks, avoid music, TV, and using social media while studying. Nine deep breaths after multitasking with social media, however, enhances focus. So does looking at nature (or a photo of the outdoors) as long as it's green.

6. Handwritten notes aid recall better than typed notes.

7. Highlighting texts helps students score better on multiple-choice comprehension tests.

8. When compared with non-doodlers, doodlers remember more when asked to suffer through " tediously delivered information."

9. When practicing music, sports, and math, students benefit from applying the interleaving effect. In those subjects, switch out AAABBBCCC as a learning pattern and use ABCABCABC. Here's how that would apply to practicing tennis: forehand + backhand + volleys, and then repeat this sequence. Don't use interleaving when students are learning something completely unfamiliar.

10. Spaced practice (studying a little bit at a time over a series of days) is more effective than massed practice (binge sessions). Although massed practice does "lead to greater short-term performance," it impairs long-term performance.

11. Sleeping between vocabulary study sessions helps students learn new words faster.
Instruction They'll Remember
12. Asking students to retrieve information right after it has been introduced promotes retention: "Tell a neighbor what you just learned!"

13. Flooding the hippocampus with dopamine aids recall. To activate this "flashbulb memory" process, surprise students before or after introducing content you want them to remember. Jokes and YouTube videos will do the trick.

14. Curiosity puts the brain in a state that is conducive to learning. "When anticipating an answer, it's like curiosity is warming up the hippocampus (memory) ahead of time."

15. Deep encoding occurs when we think of the meaning of a concept and make connections. When introducing new content, ask students to reflect on how the idea specifically relates to them.
Improving Academic Achievement Scores
16. Some students overestimate their understanding of a concept, which can lead to unintended gotcha moments when they're put on the spot. But nine studies show that merely asking learners to think or write for 5-20 seconds about their understanding of a topic, like how to pass a bill, can effectively help them recognize gaps in their knowledge and fill them in. Note that this technique doesn't work for less complex subjects-with those, ask for a fuller explanation.

17. According to a Harvard study, white teachers who discussed what they have in common with their African American students helped close the achievement gap.
How to Minimize Teacher Stress
18. Suppressing negative emotions is less effective for teachers than situation reappraisal. Here's how one teacher uses reappraisal to avoid despairing about her students' lack of achievement: "I don't panic . . . if the student does not do so well, I know that it's a long-term process. This is only grade 7, and there's going to be grade 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12."

19. Don't hang out with whiny colleagues. Sadness is contagious. One way to condition chronic complainers to be more positive is to avoid eye contact when the rant begins.
Don't Contribute to Needless Cognitive Strain
20. Don't read the text on a slide during a presentation. That common practice creates cognitive overload, according to numerous studies.

21. Don't make students look at you when answering complex questions. " Eye contact drains our more general cognitive resources." In one study, children answered complex questions correctly only 50 percent of the time when forced to look at someone. " Their scores improved significantly when they were allowed to avert their gazes." (Another study demonstrates that this is true for adults as well.)

22. Minimize use of multiple-choice quizzes. Having a list of incorrect possible answers next to correct ones can inadvertently help students learn the wrong things.

23. Avoid concept confusion. Dr. Curtis Chandler identifies "comets and asteroids" and "adjectives and adverbs" as terms that befuddle students when taught back-to-back. "If the number of similarities [between two concepts] far outweighs the differences, then chances are my students will be confused." Teach these concepts at different times during the school year.
Research on Writing Instruction
24. There is no significant statistical advantage to marking many errors on students' drafts compared with minimal marking. Additionally, most students respond effectively to no more than five error corrections per paper and tend to ignore comments on their final drafts. The takeaway: Make just a few comments on early drafts.

25. Reading good essays and literature is not enough on its own to improve student writing. Teachers need to not only model composing but also provide explicit analysis of critical genre features to be subsequently practiced.

26. Praise-bombing struggling African American learners for mediocre essays damages their self-esteem and may speed up " academic disengagement." Feedback that is specific and critical and articulates an instructor's belief in her students' abilities elevates writing performance.

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26 Research-Based Tips You Can Use in the Classroom Tomorrow | Edutopia

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With so many classroom research studies published daily, you can be forgiven for missing some. The techniques below are super-tactical and, for the most part, unsung strategies that you'll be excited to try tomorrow. Just remember two things. First, there are always limitations and nuances in research, so we suggest you click the links and dig deeper into the studies.

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Reading strategies with activities

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Second Grade and Third Grade Student Center Activities Phonemic Awareness | Phonics | Fluency | Vocabulary | Comprehension