Lawn Mowing...A Clear Goal?
It's lawn-mowing season.
My family and I have lived in our house for 17 summers which means I have spent quite a bit of time "mastering" how to mow our lawn. We have a pretty large lawn, and I've developed an efficient routine for where to go, when to turn, and how to make patterns that I like to think make our lot look like a Major League baseball field. Almost as soon as we moved in, I "proclaimed" to my wife that she should not worry about mowing the lawn. (In actuality, she let's me mow the lawn so I won't mess with her flowers.)
Now back to those Major League baseball fields... I think they're awesome. Have you ever taken time to watch a baseball game on television and seen the patterns? The parallel lines, swirls, and even logos make for professional ballfield artistry. Unfortunately and even under the best of circumstances our lawn...my lawn...is absolutely not a professionally landscaped work of art, but Major Leage art is my goal or target.
Remember I mentioned how my wife doesn't really mow the lawn? Our daughters, however, are old enough to mow our lawn, and we think it's good experience for them to drive our tractor and get used to handling a moving vehicle. Since we expect our daughters to help keep our entire household running smoothly by helping with chores, I decided to teach my daughters to become lawn mowers.
Last weekend I officially got both of our daughters started. We are safety conscious so they understood the basics about when to turn the blades on and off and which hills they should leave for me to mow. My directions were clear...
With glorious gleams of independence and sheer joy shining on their faces, each girl commenced to driving around the lawn...in no pattern at all. They zoomed from corner to corner. They did "360s" (They're wording.) around trees and flower beds. They did their own version of zig-zags and swirls, but I can definitively state the lawn did not look like a Major League ballpark. I know now my expectations were not very clear. In fact, I forgot to explain the "pattern" goal.
Teachers in my building and district have been actively researching and implementing clear learning targets for our students. In other words, what...exactly...should kids be learning? Notice, I said learning and not doing. If we want our students to be successful learners, we must be clear in our expectations. Even better, our teachers put these learning targets in student-friendly terms. An example might be, "At the end of this lesson, each student will be able to put a fraction in lowest common terms." Or, "At the end of this unit, you will be able to demonstrate at least three different ways writers organize information for a persuasive essay."
Being clear in our expectations for our students is a critical first step toward their learning. Having common expectations/learning goals across a district requires a commitment towards working as a system. Our district has allocated literally thousands of development hours towards creating clear and common learning expectations for all students in all classes in all grades. You can learn more about and actually see our work here. In my opinion, this alignment process has been the most-powerful work our district has ever undertaken in my almost 20 years as a teacher and principal...and it's only getting better each year!
I want to publicly say, "Bravo" to the teachers and educators who have come together to create this system for our students. Also, I am so proud of how all of our teachers have used this system to better focus their instruction for our students. The process has been overwhelming at times, but the results have already been amazing. (On a sidenote, this tool is also a great resource for parents to better understand what their children will be learning. Even a little pre-teaching at home can make a huge difference.)
In the meantime, I've decided my daughters and I should make plans to go see the Detroit Tigers play in order to better "understand" the expectations for mowing our lawn!
My family and I have lived in our house for 17 summers which means I have spent quite a bit of time "mastering" how to mow our lawn. We have a pretty large lawn, and I've developed an efficient routine for where to go, when to turn, and how to make patterns that I like to think make our lot look like a Major League baseball field. Almost as soon as we moved in, I "proclaimed" to my wife that she should not worry about mowing the lawn. (In actuality, she let's me mow the lawn so I won't mess with her flowers.)
Now back to those Major League baseball fields... I think they're awesome. Have you ever taken time to watch a baseball game on television and seen the patterns? The parallel lines, swirls, and even logos make for professional ballfield artistry. Unfortunately and even under the best of circumstances our lawn...my lawn...is absolutely not a professionally landscaped work of art, but Major Leage art is my goal or target.
Remember I mentioned how my wife doesn't really mow the lawn? Our daughters, however, are old enough to mow our lawn, and we think it's good experience for them to drive our tractor and get used to handling a moving vehicle. Since we expect our daughters to help keep our entire household running smoothly by helping with chores, I decided to teach my daughters to become lawn mowers.
Last weekend I officially got both of our daughters started. We are safety conscious so they understood the basics about when to turn the blades on and off and which hills they should leave for me to mow. My directions were clear...
- Be safe. (i.e. Don't go too fast and stay away from the hills.)
- Don't blow grass into Mom's flowers
- Don't drive over any landscape rocks
- Don't hit any trees. (Actually, don't hit anything.)
With glorious gleams of independence and sheer joy shining on their faces, each girl commenced to driving around the lawn...in no pattern at all. They zoomed from corner to corner. They did "360s" (They're wording.) around trees and flower beds. They did their own version of zig-zags and swirls, but I can definitively state the lawn did not look like a Major League ballpark. I know now my expectations were not very clear. In fact, I forgot to explain the "pattern" goal.
Teachers in my building and district have been actively researching and implementing clear learning targets for our students. In other words, what...exactly...should kids be learning? Notice, I said learning and not doing. If we want our students to be successful learners, we must be clear in our expectations. Even better, our teachers put these learning targets in student-friendly terms. An example might be, "At the end of this lesson, each student will be able to put a fraction in lowest common terms." Or, "At the end of this unit, you will be able to demonstrate at least three different ways writers organize information for a persuasive essay."
Being clear in our expectations for our students is a critical first step toward their learning. Having common expectations/learning goals across a district requires a commitment towards working as a system. Our district has allocated literally thousands of development hours towards creating clear and common learning expectations for all students in all classes in all grades. You can learn more about and actually see our work here. In my opinion, this alignment process has been the most-powerful work our district has ever undertaken in my almost 20 years as a teacher and principal...and it's only getting better each year!
I want to publicly say, "Bravo" to the teachers and educators who have come together to create this system for our students. Also, I am so proud of how all of our teachers have used this system to better focus their instruction for our students. The process has been overwhelming at times, but the results have already been amazing. (On a sidenote, this tool is also a great resource for parents to better understand what their children will be learning. Even a little pre-teaching at home can make a huge difference.)
In the meantime, I've decided my daughters and I should make plans to go see the Detroit Tigers play in order to better "understand" the expectations for mowing our lawn!
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