4 Steps to Sequencing Learning - Number 3 Might Surpise You

Did the click-bait title intrigue you?  I am often drawn in to these types of "news" and don't get my curiosity satisfied.  But rest easy dear teacher, I will not leave you disappointed.  

How can we sequence learning within a unit in such a way that learning is comprehensible to students?  As educators we are given the state standards and a district and/or curriculum resource, creating learning progressions for each unit or standard helps you create a mini scope and sequence to help the students advance and acquire the necessary skills for the standard.

Step 1 - Determine an essential standard for your students.  These standards are often foundational concepts and skills; required for future learning; or assessed at a future time.  

 

Step 2 - Highlight of circle skills and underline the concepts.  Concepts are usually communicated through the nouns and noun phrases within a standard.  Skills are expressed through verbs and verb phrases.  Quite simply the nouns indicate the knowledge and dispositions that students will need to learn. The verbs and verb phrases speak to the types of evidence and tasks students will engage in to show they have learned the concepts. 

 

Step 3 - Chart the concepts and skills.  Here is the surprising part! Determine the progression of the skills from least complex to most complex.  I like to quickly reference Webb's DoK Wheel.  I know this can be a bit controversial, as this was not how Dr. Webb planned on this concept to be used, but teachers always do what works for them!

 

 

 

 

 

 Step 4 - Finally, when you have done finished charting the skills and concepts and considered the depth and complexity of these, you are ready to establish the daily learning intentions and the success criteria for the unit.   More to come in my next post!

For more information please see the following resources: 

The Teacher Clarity Playbook. This is the source I use when presenting PD and strongly encourage teachers and Teacher Based Teams to dig in!

 

This ASCD article by W. James Popham entitled, All About Accountability/ The Lowdown on Learning Progressions.  This article discusses the purposes and potential pitfalls when establishing learning progressions.

Teacher Clarity Basics post from May 2022. 

Planning with Clarity post from July 2022.

Additional Samples:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special Note: images were created for this post using resources Canva and Google Slides.

Thanks for stopping by!