TeacherReady Learning Ladder

 In Tips for Teachers

Learning LadderTeaching methodology is a widely discussed topic in the education world.  Who’s Engaged? introduces The Learning Ladder. As part of the 30 day lesson development process teachers establish an overall learning goal that is represented at the top of the ladder. Teachers then create daily targets that build on each other to help students take each step up the ladder. As students try to climb the ladder, teachers create ways for students to receive very specific feedback.

Teachers and students alike identify student strengths and learning gaps so students can improve their performance. As students continue to move up the ladder they gain more confidence in their learning ability, become more engaged each day, and work hard to achieve the final learning targets.

Anytime students take steps down the ladder, teachers intervene with new instructional strategies to move them back up rather than down. Each step represents a small segment of instruction that helps students achieve the final learning goals. They see how the first step connects to the second step and so on. They also see that if they first tackle step one they will be more likely to make it to step two. Naturally then, moving from step one to step five bypassing the steps in between becomes an illogical and less successful path to take. The right side of the ladder shows as students successfully take each step they build confidence and become more engaged learners.

What’s the key to getting to the top?

  • Aligned learning targets all the way up
  • Practice sessions for students to apply their learning
  • Coaching from teachers and peers using specific feedback in between steps




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