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A Look Back: Now This Is A Student Goal-Setting Strategy That May Actually WorkFor the next several months, each week I’ll be republishing posts from the past that I think readers might still find useful. This post first appeared in 2017.
I posted “Everyone Is A Teacher” Is A New Engagement Strategy I’m Using & It Seems To Be Working earlier this week, and it was – rightfully, I think 🙂 – a very popular post. In it, I discussed how I was trying to build a classroom culture in my Beginner ELL class where everyone would feel they had a responsibility to be a teacher. It’s early, but has gone very well, and some of my colleagues have already begun to replicate it in their classes. On Friday, I tried a next step to the strategy. I created a simple form listing the actions the class had determined they could do as “teachers” and had them glue it in their notebook. You can download it here. I explained that each Friday, they would grade themselves on how they had done in that area during the previous week, but that I would not look at it. I would ask that they would share their grades with a partner of their choice and also identify one – just one – area they wanted to improve on in the coming week. I would ask that they share that goal with the entire class. Students approached it eagerly. Then one student came up to me and said she wanted to show me her grades. They were accurate, and also not very good. I publicly praised her for her honesty and then everybody wanted to show me their grades. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was brutally honest with themselves. Here are a couple of examples:
Students liked sharing with a partner, and then everybody picked an area for improvement. And just about every student picked the area that I would have chosen for them! I have tried tons of different goal-setting strategies over the years (see Best Posts On Students Setting Goals) with varying levels of success and failure. This one might end up being one of the more successful ones.      No Sh_T Sherlock, Another Study Finds That Just Because Your Students Do Well At Advantaged School Doesn’t Mean You’ll Have The Same Success At A Low-Income One
Ah, this recent study brought back memories of a Sacramento Bee editorial that suggested that since the one district high school that required high-grades and test-scores to enter had high achievement measurements, then those educators could show the rest of us what we were doing wrong (I previously wrote about that at New Study Reaffirms What Most Teachers Know – Student Test Scores Don’t Provide Accurate Assessment Of Schools). This recent study, Evidence from the Random Assignment of Transfer Incentives, found that teachers who received a $20,000 bonus to transfer from high-achieving schools to lower-achieving ones weren’t really able to get the same results from their students. Huh. Who would have thought? I’m adding this info to The Best Places To Learn What Impact A Teacher (& Outside Factors) Have On Student Achievement. Addendum: Matt Barnum has written a good summary of the study. And here’s a good summary of the study:
The 74 also has a summary: Why Even Top Teachers May Struggle in Low-Performing Schools And the study’s authors have also compiled a summary.
 SEL Weekly Update
I’ve begun this weekly post where I’ll be sharing resources I’m adding to The Best Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resources or other related “Best” lists. Also, check out “Best” Lists Of The Week: Social Emotional Learning Resources. Here are this week’s picks: What Does It Take to Make Systemic Change in Education? is from Greater Good. How Do I Stop Procrastinating? is by Charles Duhigg. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Teaching Students About The Dangers Of Procrastination. I want to make the world a better place. (So how do I do that?) is by Charles Duhigg. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles On Building Influence & Creating Change. World Happiness Report is from The Washington Post. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About…Happiness? I’m adding Motivation and Learning to Best Posts On “Motivating” Students. Playing the Long Game: The Power of Self-Control is from Angela Duckworth. I’m adding it to Best Posts About Helping Students Develop Their Capacity For Self-Control.  Yes, A Big Study Came Out Today Highlighting Plummeting Test Scores But, No, I Don’t Think It Tells The Whole Story OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay
I’ve got links below to the best articles covering the study that was unveiled today highlighting plummeting student test scores over the past ten years. As everyone looks for causes affecting the student test downtown, research shows that income disparity between low-income & high-income families widened considerably more in 2015/25 than 2005/2015. Research suggests that if students don’t see a chance for economic mobility, their academic persistence suffers. I’m not saying that cellphones are not a contributing factor (though I’m a bit skeptical of NCLB nostalgia). But I think we’re missing something if we don’t look “outside the box” of the ed researchers’ paradigm. Here are articles about the study:
> — Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) May 13, 2026 at 3:09 AM
A Look Back: “Everyone Is A Teacher” Is A New Engagement Strategy I’m Using & It Seems To Be WorkingFor the next several months, each week I’ll be republishing posts from the past that I think readers might still find useful. This post first appeared in 2017.
We’re going into the home-stretch of the new year, and I’m always trying to figure out new ways to finish strong (see The Best Ways To Finish The School Year Strong). In fact, On Monday, April 17th, at 8:00 PM Eastern Time, I’ll be hosting an Education Week Facebook Live discussion on this topic, and will share more information as the date grows closer. Last weekend, I had a brainstorm and tried out something new with my English Language Learner Beginners in order to help everyone get a “second wind.” It began with me having individual conversations with some students about the question, “Who else (apart from myself) is going to benefit from what I am doing?” (see Here’s A Great Motivating Question For Students To Consider…). On Monday, I introduced this question to the entire class and, in the middle of discussion, I thought of the phrase, “Everyone is a teacher.” I shared that English is hard to learn, they only had a few years of high school left, and that it was going to take more than one teacher to help everybody learn. So we all had to be teachers. I shared some ideas to illustrate the concept (“I’m a teacher when I speak English because I’m an example”; “I’m a teacher when I come to school because I’m a model for others”) and then invited students to contribute other ideas. They came fast and furious, and students made posters like the one at the top of this post. Students have taken it seriously at different levels but there is clearly one huge benefit – It’s far more energizing to students and to me if I say to off-task student “Everyone is a teacher!” than saying “Angela, please get back to work.” We’ll see for how long it’s effective, but it certainly can’t hurt…. I’m adding this post to The Best Ways To Finish The School Year Strong The Best Posts On Helping Students Teach Their Classmates — Help Me Find More The Best Posts & Articles On Student Engagement  More Recent Articles |
