Watching My Students Grow with Progress Learning
By: Christiane Henderson, Guest Author
Hi, my name is Christiane Henderson. I’m a physical science teacher and school technology facilitator at Ware County Middle School in Georgia. I’m also a brand ambassador for Progress Learning.
Today, I’ll be sharing with you how I use my “Watch Me Grow” resource throughout each unit in coordination with Progress Learning.
Overview of Progress Learning Instructional Resources
Before we dive into how I use “Watch Me Grow,” I first wanted to give an overview of Progress Learning’s instructional resources and how they’ve impacted my teaching.
Progress Learning’s instructional resources have truly enhanced my classroom teaching and made my lessons even more engaging for my students. In particular, goal-setting with the data from Progress Learning allows my students to see their growth and reflect on their goals and what they need to do to achieve them. These resources also help me track progress and make learning more data-driven, which has allowed me to better plan and adapt my lessons.
Now, let’s dive into how I use the “Watch Me Grow” resource in my instruction…
Beginning of the Unit
I start each unit by giving my students a pre-test from Progress Learning. Then, my students fill in the bar graph on their “Watch Me Grow” resource with the score they got on the pre-test. Next, they fill out the “My Goal” section and what score they hope to achieve on the unit test at the end of the unit. Finally, they circle all the standards they would like to focus on within the domain to help them achieve that goal. This is a great way for students to take ownership of their learning and cultivate a sense of accountability and responsibility.
During the Unit
As we work in the unit, my students practice in their Progress Learning Study Plan. They watch videos and answer questions related to their specific standards. Students can also check their progress by using the progress report option within their Study Plan. This allows them to see how they are currently progressing on mastering each standard and the domain as a whole..
Throughout the unit, I check my students’ average grades in their Study Plans. This allows me to see where my students are struggling and plan my whole-class instruction to meet their needs.
The “Watch Me Grow” resource also has a checklist at the bottom that acts as a guide for my students. They can keep track of their current scores and whether or not they earned a practice ribbon. For example, in the image above, the domain is Unit 1: Force, Mass, & Motion (S8P3). Within this domain, there are 3 standards: S8P3.a (Speed, Distance, Velocity, & Acceleration), S8P3.b (Balanced & Unbalanced Forces), S8P3.c (Force & Inertia). Students fill out their mastery progress (current score) and check off if they received a practice ribbon for those 3 standards.
Even if students don’t earn a green dot on a standard (a score of greater than 80%), I still reward them for their hard work and effort. To do this, I give them bonus points for each practice ribbon they earn in their Study Plan. This ensures students stay motivated in their learning and don’t become discouraged.
*Note: To earn a ribbon on each standard in their Study Plan, students should consistently score 80% or above on both practice questions and videos.
End of the Unit
At the end of the unit, I give my students a unit test with Progress Learning. After the unit test, students go back into their bar graph and fill it in with their score. By now, the bar graph is fully completed with their pre-test score, domain assessment score, and unit test score. Students can see how much they’ve grown throughout the unit and feel a sense of accomplishment for all their hard work. This further motivates them to grow and keep working hard.Overall, “Watch Me Grow” has been a powerful goal-setting resource for my classroom. It allows my students to stay engaged in their learning, visualize their growth, and feel a sense of accomplishment. I love using it in my classroom and watching my students grow. Likewise, my students love using it and watching how much they’ve grown!
Access Similar Instructional Resources
Join me in using Progress Learning and get access to instructional resources like this.
Student Data Goal Setting Templates and Intervention Choice Boards
