Michael Soguero Hosts TeachingPartners Office Hour

Each week since the end of April, education startup TeachingPartners has been inviting classroom teachers and education thought leaders to share and learn from one another online. Using TeachingPartners.com and the hashtag #TPOfficeHour on Twitter, participants submit questions and thoughts about the week’s topic, and then gather at 6pm PT / 9pm ET on Thursday evening for a one-hour ‘edchat’ about the topic at hand.

Well in advance of each week’s production, TeachingPartners asks one thought leader or educator to share their own ideas and host the week’s Thursday night gathering online, also known as Office Hour.

As you can see from the image above, this week, Eagle Rock’s own Michael Soguero is the host of TeachingPartners Office Hour. As Eagle Rock’s director of professional development, Michael has much to say about the art of education and creating intentional learning environments.

TeachingPartners recorded a video ahead of tonight’s online event featuring Michael’s thoughts on success criteria for student performance. In the short video available here or by clicking on the image above, Michael helps teachers understand the concept of establishing learning targets and developing clear success criteria for student performance.

First, he says, educators must establish learning targets utilizing knowledge — the basic content of the lesson — skills, which are behavioral demonstrations, and reasoning, which employs analysis and categorization by the students.

By developing performances during a lesson, students do more than just listen to a teacher. They perform writing or speaking or sketching exercises in the midst of learning in order to enhance that experience.

The criteria for success is established when the students have evidence that they have learned what they set out to learn. What are they looking for? In the case of a debate, for instance, the teacher might be looking for active listening and eye contact with the audience.

But, Michael says, none of this is effective if it is not well communicated. Teachers must engage students in paraphrasing, or by putting a learning target on their own Facebook page, or having students enter their own version of what that learning target means to them. Ultimately, he says, educators should strive toward having students speak in an informed way about what they’re learning.

To participate in tonight’s live discussion about Michael’s topic of establishing success criteria for students, just tweet your thoughts using the #TPOfficeHour or #WeeklyWall hastags. Then join Michael and your fellow educators on Twitter at 6pm PT/9pm ET (search for and follow the #TPOfficeHour hashtag to participate live).

We hope you’ll join us.