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Rockwood School District

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Teaching and Learning Cycle

The teaching and learning cycle used in Rockwood classrooms is designed to focus on the individual needs of each learner. The cycle focuses on the four critical questions that teacher teams answer as they plan and implement learning experiences.

Phase 1: What Is It We Want Our Students to Know and Be Able to Do?

A teacher helps a student with her lesson

The curriculum documents and corresponding proficiency scales developed by each curriculum writing team clearly define what we want students to know, understand, and do.

  1. Getting Started
  2. Building Blocks to Mastery
  3. Mastery
  4. Exceeding Mastery


Teach the curriculum.

Phase 2: How Will We Know If Each Student Has Learned It?

Marking a grade on a test

Using various data resources (such as pre-assessments, student self-assessments, background data, and classroom formative assessments) we determine:

  • Which learning targets have students mastered?
  • Which learning targets require (re)teaching?
  • Is enrichment necessary?


Reassess.

Utilize proficiency scales and curricular resources.

Reteach.

Phase 3: How will we respond when some students have not learned it?

Using what has been learned about students both personally and academically, what is the best way to (re)teach learning targets not yet mastered?

A student writes during class


Is it an essential course outcome?

Phase 4: Intervention

Essential Outcome
  1. Evaluate
  2. Reteach
  3. Reassess
  4. Repeat
Not an Essential Outcome
  • Record student progress so far using the proficiency scale.
  • Move on to teach other course outcomes.
  • Adjust student proficiency as their mastery level changes throughout the course.
A stack of papers by a pair of reading glasses

Phase 3: How will we respond when some students have mastered it?

Are the opportunities that can be provided for students to take their learning to a deeper level?

Science teachers attend a Professional Learning day


How do we extend the learning for students who have demonstrated mastery?

Phase 4: Extension

Create personalized opportunities for students to apply, synthesize, and/or evaluate their learning.

A computer science student works on their code in class