Sometimes, our very best teaching and learning ideas are born out of chaos.

I was at a professional learning event in Winnipeg last week, and my middle school colleague and I were tasked with building a learning progression for teachers around assessment.

The end goal for our learning community was this statement:

“Students help design rubrics to measure growth, identify where they are in relation to the target, and set goals for reaching it. They do multiple revisions of work to reach mastery.”

Isn’t that just the dream right there?

So our task was to map out a learning progression for teachers: a set of steps that we and our professional teammates might follow to reach that goal.

From 0 to 60.

Here’s what we came up with:

• Step 1 (baseline): Learning activities are assigned to students with no criteria, rubrics, or learning targets. Students complete one edition of the activity in isolation (no follow-up).
• Step 2: Teacher discusses and explains the assessment criteria to students before the learning activity begins. There may be opportunities given for revision and reiteration (or a self-reflection by students).
• Step 3: The teacher invites input after discussing the assessment criteria with the class. The learning target is clearly identified. Students are given opportunity to reflect on their growth from start to finish of an activity. Second iterations are required.
• Step 4: Students co-create rubrics and assessment criteria to measure growth, identify where they are in their learning, and set goals for reaching the learning target. They use peer feedback to complete multiple revisions of work in order to demonstrate mastery. They reflect on their learning throughout the creative process and identify goals for further growth.

The arrows in the progression are hard to see, but if you look closely you can track the growth in the middle row from left to right.

The post-its are bits of warm and cold feedback offered by other educators from around the country.

It’s a thing of beauty.

But, wait a second.

The dream lesson plan

Yes, the ideal lesson plans come with learning targets, success criteria, and assessment rubrics (co-created with students) in place.

They activate prior knowledge, help students acquire and apply concepts, include adaptations that include all learners, provide means of formative assessment to inform teacher instructional decisions, and use anticipatory activities to set the stage for the next steps of learning.

Wouldn’t that be wonderful if we could do that every class?

Unfortunately, we can’t. Not every single time.

And when we burden teachers with this list of ideals at every turn, I think we actually run the risk of limiting student learning.

Sometimes, transformative learning appears in unexpected places.

If you’ve been in the classroom for long, you know that some of your best ideas were born out of sheer impulse.

That day that you slept in and walked into a class completely unprepared? Turns out you had an incredible epiphany that led to one of the best student-led learning activities that you ever came up with.

Aiming for ideals but saving room for messy beginnings

No, we don’t want last minute planning to be our standard operating procedure. But I believe we have to save space and give grace for messy beginnings.

Because sometimes, that’s where our very best teaching and learning is born.