creative writing learning intentions

A Framework for Lesson Planning

Using learning intentions and success criteria can help teachers ensure that their activities align with what they want students to know.

Your content has been saved!

As an instructional coach, I collaborate with nearly 65 teachers at an urban high school. My goal is to support teachers of many subjects in embedding literacy in their lessons without disrupting their classroom objectives.

I often work with our novice teachers and student teachers by reviewing their lesson plans and recommending literacy skills that reinforce their learning intentions and success criteria, which are defined by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey as “what you want students to know and be able to do by the end of one or more lessons.” Without learning intentions and success criteria, they write, “lessons wander and students become confused and frustrated.”

When I ask new teachers to tell me the purpose of their lessons, they often describe the activities they’ve created. For example, recently I was collaborating with a student teacher who was eager to teach the Bill of Rights to her freshmen. She began our conversation by explaining that she was going to read real-life scenarios with differing perspectives and ask students to move to the front of the classroom if they agreed with a particular scenario or to the back of the classroom if they disagreed. Afterward, she would ask students to explain their decisions.

Her excitement was palpable. She showed me the scenarios she had written, the “Agree” and “Disagree” signs she had created, and the worksheet she had designed so that students could brainstorm their own Bill of Rights.

When she finished, I commended her on the work she had done. Clearly, she had thought about the activity in detail. Next I asked her about the point of the lesson—what she wanted students to get out of it.

What she wanted—for her students to know what the Bill of Rights is, where to find it, why it’s important, and why we still need it today—was not actually conveyed by the activity. She hadn’t written a learning intention and the accompanying success criteria yet because she had been so excited to refine her activity. Without them, however, all she had was an activity—one that was not aligned with her goals for the day.

Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

Crafting a quality learning intention takes planning. Often, teachers will use an activity as their learning intention—but a learning intention goes beyond an activity. It focuses on the goal of the learning—the thing we want our students to know and do. The learning intention helps students stay focused and involved.

It’s important to create the learning intention first, and then determine the success criteria that students can use to assess their understanding—and then create the activity and some open-ended questions that help students learn.

When I was working with the teacher on her Bill of Rights lesson, we took a step back to develop the learning intention and its success criteria. The learning intention was this: “I can explain the Bill of Rights, its purpose, and its relevance to my life.” The success criteria were built around students’ ability to annotate and paraphrase the Bill of Rights, and to explain its importance, both in general and in their own lives. Annotating, paraphrasing, and analyzing are skills that are based on ACT College and Career Readiness Standards and Common Core State Standards, and they could be seamlessly incorporated into the lesson with minimal effort.

Learning intentions and success criteria are valuable across all subjects. In algebra, for example, a learning intention might be “I can understand the structure of a coordinate grid and relate the procedure of plotting points in quadrants to the structure of a coordinate grid.” The success criteria for this intention could be that students can talk and write about that procedure, using the correct vocabulary; that they can plot and label points in each quadrant on a coordinate grid; and that they can create a rule about coordinates for each quadrant.

In environmental science, if the learning intention is “I can recognize the history, interactions, and trends of climate change,” the success criteria could be that students are able to locate credible research about the history of climate change and share their research with their peers, that they can demonstrate the interactions of climate change and explain the value of those interactions, and that they can show the trends of climate change utilizing a graph and explain the value of the trends.

A Way to Focus Lesson Planning

Although engaging students in their learning is certainly necessary, the student teacher I was working with became acutely aware of the value of the skills she was attempting to help students develop and why those skills—not the activity—should drive instruction.

During her next class, she posted the learning intention and success criteria where students could readily see them. Next, she asked her students to paraphrase the success criteria, making sure they understood what they were about to do. She referred to the learning intention and success criteria several times throughout the lesson so that students could determine their own level of understanding and, if necessary, decide which skills they understood and which ones still needed support. She followed up with an exit ticket, asking students what they had learned in the lesson, how they learned it, and why learning it was important.

No matter what subject you teach, as you plan your instruction, ask yourself these questions:

• What do you want your students to know? Why is that important?
• Can they learn this information another way? How?

Only once you’ve thought though your answers should you begin writing your learning intention and success criteria. Keep the activities you’ve created—but don’t make them the center of the lesson or the goal of the lesson. Spend your time designing a learning intention and success criteria that will support your students’ learning and skills that they can apply to all facets of their academic life.

The English Classroom

A GUIDE FOR PRESERVICE AND GRADUATE TEACHERS

Learning Intentions

The situation.

Students need to understand the overall purpose of learning.

The Solution

Students al ways need to understand why the learning is important.

Learning Intention

A learning intention is a statement that summarises what a student should know , understand or be able to do at the end of a lesson or series of lessons. The purpose of a learning intention is to ensure that students understand the direction and purpose of the lesson. These statements are presented at the start of a lesson (Something we call ‘visible learning’) and should be discussed with students throughout the lesson, or when necessary. They are used to summarise the learning; that is, we return to the learning intentions to evaluate whether students understand what they explored.

As mentioned, learning intentions are written with the stem: know , understand or be able to . For example:

• Know the definition of a metaphor.
• Understand how metaphors are used to create imagery in a text.
• Be able to identify three metaphors in a short poem.

As you can see, the stems a associated with levels of thinking . When sequencing your lessons, consider whether the skills students are learning are low order, such as know a definition, or higher-order, such as applying this knowledge to a text.

How to Present Learning Intention

The learning intentions should be presented on the whiteboard and/or powerpoint, depending on the context of your classroom. Unpack the language in the statement. If a word is unfamiliar to a student, tell them why. For example, know the definition of a metaphor. This might be the first time students have come across the word metaphor. That is okay. Reinforce that you will be looking at this new vocabulary at the beginning of the lesson and they can practice understand the term later.

The language needs to be clear and direct, much like a SMART goal. Furthermore, it needs to be something that they can achieve based on their current skill level. The skill itself cannot be so complicated that they cannot obtain a rudimentary understanding from their prior knowledge.

When introducing the learning intention, quiz students on what they know. You will be surprised at what information that they may come across or even how accurate their guesses can be. Use this prior knowledge to help guide their understanding of what they will learn.

Stop and reflect

After each activity, stop and pauses. Ask students whether they feel they’re working towards the learning intention successfully. This will help you understand whether they are on the right track or you need to adjust your teaching.

Share this:

Published by The English Classroom

View all posts by The English Classroom

3 thoughts on “ Learning Intentions ”

• Pingback: Success Criteria | Cosmik Egg
• Pingback: Designing Learning Programs | The English Classroom
• Pingback: Teaching…Propaganda | The English Classroom

Leave a comment Cancel reply

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

• Big Ideas Login
• Request a Sample

How to Use Learning Intentions and Success Criteria Remotely and in the Classroom

• Sophie Murphy

Discover the   most effective way s   to use learning intentions and success criteria and learn  why they   can provide   greater clarity for our students.   

The fast move from the classroom to teaching remotely from home has been challenging for many reasons. Over the past few months, I have written weekly blogs for Big Ideas Learning and National Geographic Learning. I hope that these have been useful for educators globally in assisting and supporting them in our ever-changing world.   

I recently asked several teachers what they would say has been positive in teaching remotely amongst this global crisis. I also asked them what they will take back into their classroom from this experience. Many suggested that their fast move online meant that they found lessons that worked well were ones where they created more deliberate learning opportunities for their students.  

As teachers began to evaluate their practice, all teachers said that the lessons that they believed had the most significant impact were those that had clarity and helped students make deeper - level connections.   

Th ese lessons included ones where:

• T eachers remind ed  students about their prior knowledge and understandings.   
• S tudents could see what success looked like with visible Learning Intentions and Success Criteria ,  moving from surface level to deeper levels of learning.   
• T here was purposeful dialogue relating to the intention of the lesson  and series of lessons .   

In further discussions, teachers unpacked their previous misconceptions about using L earning  I ntention s   and S uccess  Criteria . Such as knowing if they could use the L earning Intention   o r only the S uccess  Criteria ? Or not being sure how to use them and write them so that they created purposeful lessons and moved students from surface to deeper levels of understanding throughout the lesson  sequence .   T he us e  of L earning  Intentions   and S uccess  Criteria  in classroom discussion assisted students in reviewing and monitoring the learning. Students could actively develop a deeper understanding through dialogue with their teacher, peers or themselves (self-regulation).   

One teacher said that  remote online learning  felt like she was teaching under a microscope where everything felt magnified .  S he wanted  students  to understand where they were in the learning process, where they needed to go next and have the confidence and understanding of how to get there. She wanted them to know what to do when they don’t know what to do.     

Learning  Intentions  (LI) and Success  Criteria  (SC)  can  provide clarity for our students (Hattie, 2012). A common language of learning ensures that students understand what we are teaching them. Actively using L earning  Intentions  and S uccess  Criteria  provides a learning guide for students to answer the three feedback questions proposed by Hattie and Timperley (2007):   

Where am I going?   How am I going?   Where to next?  

I have been working with schools and teachers globally for many years  and  have found that teachers who plan and develop lesson sequences using L earning  I ntentions  and  Success  C riteria  as a significant part of their instructional practice love using them.   

I have  also  worked with some schools and teachers who say that they only use L earning  I ntentions  and / or S uccess  C riteria  because they  “ have to ”   but they do not find them useful . When digging deeper into why this is the case, I have found that this occurs when teachers feel the use of L earning  I ntentions  and S uccess  C riteria  are used more for compliance  rather  than purpose . T hey don't feel connected or comfortable  with  using them  and t hey often feel that their students don’t like them either.   

If you have used them before and they didn't work for you, please read on  to discover the  most effective way s  to use them and , more  importantly ,  discuss why and how they  can provide  greater clarity for our students.   

What are Learning  Intentions  and Success  Criteria ?  

Learning intentions  .

Learning  Intentions  are  (brief)  statements that explicitly describe what students should know, understand and be able to do as a result of the learning sequence. A learning intention clearly outlines what  students  will be learning rather than what  students  will be doing.  Learning Intentions should NOT change daily, as there needs to be the chance for all students to move through the learning sequence, which may go over a few weeks, e.g.  t o understand probability. Whil e  this sounds broad, it is an example of what the learning is.  N ot addition . No t measurement . The focus  is probability.  It clearly outlines the focus and understanding of the learning sequence (series of lessons) being taught at that time. The Learning Intention should focus on what we want students to learn/understand as opposed to what we want them to do (the task) or how we want them to do it (the activity). They should be linked closely to the standards and outcomes set out in curriculum documentation in whichever country/state you are based.   

In generating  Learning Intentions , teachers should avoid:  

• Repeating the  L earning  I ntention in the Success Criteria   
• Describing the task as the Learning Intention  
• Naming the end product as the Learning Intention  
• Giving the specific number of right answers you want  
• Having more than one Learning Intention with every Success Criteria  

A dditional tips  when using Learning  Intentions :  

• Learning  Intentions  should be shared at the   beginning of a lesson . They should  also  be  referred to throughout the lesson and again at the conclusion.   
• Learning Intentions provide a tool to assist in f ocus ing  on the importance of 'tuning in'; building on where learners are in their learnin g when introducing the Learning Intention.  This includes  setting the scene and explaining why  we are  learning this while linking to what is known.   
• Learning  Intentions  should be written in student‐friendly language, in a way that actively engages students in the learning process.  
• Use of Learning Intentions  should put greater emphasis on the process of learning over the completion of a task or the end product.   
• The y  should be meaningful  and inform assessment and reporting  and linked to curriculum outcomes

Success  Criteria    

Success Criteria  are the  measurable definitions of success  used to determine whether, and how well, learners have met the learning intention.  I suggest using  four  instructional verbs that progress from surface to deep. Use of the  SOLO Taxonomy   can  assist in creating  four S uccess  Criteria .  Two   ' I can ’ ... statements that are surface and two 'I can ’ ... statements that  provide  deeper level understandings . The Success Criteria should provide students with a range of entry points based on ability and leach students demonstrated level of understanding.  The  Success Criteria  should provide a scaffold and focus for pupils while involved in the activity as the basis for feedback and self and peer assessment.   

In generating  S uccess  Criteria , teachers should avoid :  

• R epeating the  L earning  I ntention in the  S uccess  Criteria   
• D escribing the task as the  S uccess  Criteria  
• N aming the end product as the  S uccess  Criteria  
• Answering  the problem in the  S uccess  Criteria  
• G iving the  specific  number of right answers you want  

Success Criteria should:  

• P rovide students with appropriate challenge s.    
• M atch teaching and learning activities and assessment tasks set by curriculum guideline s  
• Be provided as a tool for  the self-efficacy  of  ALL students  knowing that  can achieve  all of them over the learning sequence  (yet at their own level)  
• Provide clarity on the process so that students actively  seek feedback   
• Be  generalizable  to allow effective transfer of learnt skills to different contexts.   

To provide additional support for teachers, I have written Learning  Targets  and Success Criteria that are aligned to the Common Core in the Big Ideas  Math   t extbooks.  You can find many examples of what they look like and adapt them for your students.  The L earning Intentions  and  Success  C riteria  are supported by the vocabulary in Laurie's Notes to help teachers in using them effectively. Think ahead about the questioning strategies you can use and if teaching remotely, these could be used with the  ‘digital exit tickets’  from my previous blog .   

A few questions may be:   

• How are you progressing t hrough the Success Criteria ?   
• Where are you in  the Success Criteria ?   How do you know?   
• What helped you to improve towards your goal?     
• How did your learning connect with what you already knew and could do?   
• How can you move to the next success criteria?   

See below for a very basic checklist in starting to develop your own learning Intention and Success Criteria.   

✔   Checklist for creating effective Learning  Intentions  and Success  Criteria    

• L earning Intentions  begin with:  To understand… To be able to…….  
• S uccess  C riteria  address curriculum outcomes.  
• S uccess  C riteria  provides a range of entry points based on ability.  
• S uccess  C riteria  use s  instructional verbs from the SOLO Taxonomy chart that progress from the surface to deep.  
• S uccess  C riteria  includes two surface and two deep  levels of learning .  

I will be providing more examples of what Learning Intentions and Success Criteria look like in action on Twitter  @sophmurphy23  and through Big Ideas Learning and National Geographic Learning.   

If you have been using them online or in your classroom, please tag Big Ideas Learning  on  Twitter  or  LinkedIn . We would love to see how you are using some of these tools with your students.   

Stay safe and h ave a wonderful week  with your students.   

Sophie   

References:  

Hattie, J.  (2012).   Visible learning for teachers : maximizing impact on learning .  London ; New York :  Routledge  

Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback.  Review of Educational Research, 77 (1), 81–112.  https://doi.org

Related Articles

Interview with laurie boswell: supporting math educators.

Topics: Resources , Professional Development , Student Engagement

10 Summer Reads for Teachers

Topics: Resources , Professional Development , Educator Empowerment

Big Ideas Learning’s Mathematics Teaching Practices Series: Implementing Tasks That Promote Reasoning and Problem Solving

Topics: Professional Development

The benefits of outlining learning intentions and success criteria

Sarah-Eleni Zaferis

Teacher and School Enablement Leader at Atomi

As teachers, we tell students what they are learning every lesson, more than likely multiple times. However, setting clear learning intentions and articulating them to students, along with the relevant success criteria is an entirely different concept.

This approach is a high impact teaching strategy that shows students what they need to understand and how to complete each task as well as clarifying what success looks like.

In this article, we unpack what learning intentions and success criteria are, why they are beneficial for students (and teachers), and share some examples for easy and effective implementation.

Defining learning intentions and success criteria

A learning intention clearly outlines what the teacher wants the students to know, understand and be able to accomplish as a direct result of planned teaching and learning activities. These intentions are often linked to multiple learning outcomes and can help centre student focus¹. It is very important to note that it is not about the task students are going to complete, the sole focus should be on the learning².

Students should then also be exposed to the success criteria, which clearly describes what achievement looks like and often helps both educators and learners make informed judgements on the quality of learning³. The success criteria must be planned in advance and clearly linked to the learning intention¹. This way students have a strong understanding of what they need to be striving towards.

It is important to note that many teachers can feel the burden of setting up success criteria as it sounds like a huge increase in marking. While we will talk about implementation later in the article, teachers should encourage students to take ownership of their learning and responsibility for checking and using the success criteria provided². This way teachers are not bombarded with additional marking—something they definitely do not need.

The benefits of learning intentions and success criteria

Educators do not have the time to improve their classroom practice or try new things without knowing what the benefits are for both students and teachers. So let’s dive into two of the main reasons you would want to implement these strategies.

Quality of work improves

Hattie and Donoghue's ⁴ meta-analysis found that the use of learning intentions and success criteria had an above-average effect on the impact of student attainment. In particular, some research has found that not only student understanding increased but the overall quality of work as well⁵. This is half the battle in the classroom, encouraging students to put in as much detail and effort as possible to every task they are presented with.

In addition, when learners know what success looks like for each lesson they are more likely to reflect, plan and aspire to achieve⁶. Simply put, students know what they need to do and how to get there so there is very little wiggle room for arguing they didn’t understand the task or what was required of them to complete it successfully.

Feedback becomes more efficient and effective

If students have access to the success criteria they can consistently self-reflect and self-mark their work. Research has shown that by providing students with learning goals and success criteria, more tailored formative feedback is given within a lesson as well as an increase in self-reflective practices⁵. This means that students are taking more responsibility for their learning and shifting into a far more active role , which is a skill we want to develop in students from a young age. This is so that when they reach their final years of schooling, and beyond, they are less reliant on others for validation.

Furthermore, by encouraging students to do this themselves you can reduce the marking burden on teachers as they are not required to mark or provide individual feedback for every student each lesson. This is a big win.

Classroom implementation

Learning intentions.

The biggest tip for creating learning intentions is to keep reminding yourself that is it not about the task students are going to complete, but what you want them to learn and understand. By using this mentality the task itself becomes irrelevant and can change. This is so important because the classroom is full of disruptions and distractions. From swimming carnivals to staff shortages and student absences, we sometimes need to accept that an originally planned task is not going to work.

So, by taking some time to sit down with the scope and sequence, teachers can identify what they want students to learn throughout a lesson (or series of lessons) and focus on what matters: the student takeaway. This is also time effective as it allows you to plan in advance and over a period of time.

Another suggestion is to narrow the learning focus. Often we give students too much to tackle in one lesson. If you are struggling to write down what students should be learning, it may be that there is too much there for them, and you, to focus on. By breaking it down into small manageable chunks, not only will the focus be more clear, but teachers can articulate it far more easily to students.

Finally, in those moments where getting around to setting up some learning intentions was not possible, you can always lean on digital resources that are pre-prepared, such as Atomi . These resources have clear learning goals for each video lesson and direct student focus to the outcome at hand.

This is a great opportunity to differentiate your lesson by providing tiered learning intentions and success criteria. You can articulate this using a colour system or providing different wording choices such as “all, most and some”. You may also have individual learning goals for some or all of your students depending on the needs of your classroom. For more information on differentiation check out our simple guide to differentiated teaching .

Success criteria

The easiest way to implement success criteria effectively is to show students what success looks like. For example, if students are working on a maths problem, show them the answer and then have them work out the strategy from there. If you are asking students to create a presentation, show them what a top-mark response looks like, as well as modelling what middle and low-range responses are. By doing so, students can very clearly see what they need to do to be successful and teachers are providing them with the opportunity to be self-reflective and think about the learning process.

To formalise this you can create a success criteria checklist. This would include all of the steps students need to take or include to achieve full marks. For an added benefit, wording these with “I can” statements can help to motivate students and foster a more positive experience⁷. Take a look at some of the examples below:

Learning Intention

Success criteria 

We are learning about the parts of the atom

I can identify the nucleus, neutrons, protons, electrons and 

I can draw a label diagram of the first 20 elements

I can state the mass and charge of the subatomic particles

We are learning to write a narrative

I can write an opening paragraph that excites my reader

I can entertain my reader

I can use dialoge to add more interest to my story

I can use past tense 

I can use writing conventions (correct spelling and punctuation) to allow my reader to read my story easily

Final thoughts

It can be argued by some educators that providing all of this information to students is “cheating” or removes the learning from the classroom². However, if we reframe our thinking and focus on what we want students to take away from our lessons, it is clear that providing them with learning intentions and success criteria not only makes the learning more efficient but less daunting.

The classroom can be an overwhelming place for many students who find completing work, staying on task and understanding content challenging. By setting them up for success not only are we getting the most out of them, but motivating them to continue, which in my opinion is a huge victory.

Keen to implement high impact strategies in your classroom? But not sure where to start?

Discover the ultimate guide to HITS—an exploration of ten high impact teaching strategies, condensed into short chapters and paired with practical tips, tricks and templates to embed into your teaching instruction.

Download your copy now.

Sarah-Eleni Zaferis (Bachelor of Education and Science) writes on all things pedagogy, teaching strategies, student and teacher wellbeing. As a high-school educator herself, she is passionate about exploring the ways that educators can put time back in their day while boosting student engagement, motivation, and academic achievement.

• National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, 2015
• Hattie, J. 2012. Learning intentions and success criteria .
• Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2022, Learning intentions and success criteria
• Hattie, J. and Donoghue, G. 2016. Learning strategies: a synthesis and conceptual model , Science of learning
• Obilor, E. 2019. Enhancing students’ learning through assessment for learning and feedback, International journal of innovative psychology and social development
• Fisher, D., Frey. N., Amador, O. and Assof, J. 2019, The teacher clarify playbook, Corwin.
• The Department of Education and Training, 2022, High impact teaching strategies (HITS) , Victorian Government
• National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, 2022, Learning intentions and success criteria
• Robertson, B. 2019. A Five Minute Guide To… Learning Intentions & Success Criteria

Published on

January 15, 2023

Recommended reads

Help your students ace their exams with Atomi’s 2024 study plans

How explicit teaching and online learning boost literacy levels for high school students

A guide to using online learning for explicit teaching

What's atomi.

Engaging, curriculum-specific videos and interactive lessons backed by research, so you can study smarter, not harder.

With tens of thousands of practice questions and revision sessions, you won’t just think you’re ready. You’ll know you are!

Study skills strategies and tips, AI-powered revision recommendations and progress insights help you stay on track.

Short, curriculum-specific videos and interactive content that’s easy to understand and backed by the latest research.

Active recall quizzes, topic-based tests and exam practice enable students to build their skills and get immediate feedback.

Our AI understands each student's progress and makes intelligent recommendations based on their strengths and weaknesses.

• Skip to content
• Skip to search
• Staff portal (Inside the department)
• Student portal
• Key links for students

Other users

• Forgot password

Notifications

{{item.title}}, my essentials, ask for help, contact edconnect, directory a to z, how to guides.

• Explicit teaching

Sharing learning intentions

Teachers communicate what students are learning and why.

What is sharing learning intentions?

Sharing learning intentions allows a teacher to effectively communicate learning goals with students. They allow students to connect new learning to existing knowledge, skills and understanding. When used with success criteria students have a clear idea of the learning goal and how to get there (AERO 2024).

A learning intention is a short statement that clearly explains to students what they are learning.

Effective learning intentions are:

• aligned to syllabus outcomes and focussed on the concepts and skills being developed in that lesson, or series of lessons
• developed during planning and shared in ways that make sense to the students
• referred to throughout a lesson or lesson sequence
• focussed on what students should learn as a result of the teaching and learning activities
• used together with success criteria.

What could it look like in the classroom?

• Digital learning selector: LISC and WAGOLL
• Using sentence starters such as 'We are learning to' or 'I am learning to' can be useful for some students
• checking for understanding, where the teacher may ask questions relevant to the learning intention, reminding students what they are aiming for as well as indicating their progress towards that goal
• feedback to students, both from the teacher and peers
• self assessment as students monitor their own progress towards achieving this goal.

What it isn’t

• Statements that detail the task/activity rather than the learning
• Vague statements that don’t make sense to students
• Developed in isolation from previous learning
• Routinised in their presentation to students, for example, they do not need to be written into student books at the beginning of each lesson.

Further reading

• AERO (Australian Education Research Organisation) (2022) Explain learning objectives .
• Clarke S (2014) Outstanding Formative Assessment: Culture and Practice , Hodder Education, Great Britain.
• NSW Department of Education (2022) Determining why and what .

AERO (Australian Education Research Organisation) (2024) Explain learning objectives , AERO, accessed 16 April 2024.

• Teaching and learning

Business Unit:

• Curriculum and Reform

• STEM Ambassadors
• School trusts
• ITE and governors
• Invest in schools
• Student programmes
• Benefits and impact
• Our supporters
• Advertising and sponsorship
• Become a STEM Ambassador
• Request a STEM Ambassador
• Employer information
• Training and support
• STEM Ambassadors Partners
• Working with community groups
• Search icon
• Join the STEM Community

John Hattie: Learning intentions and success criteria

John Hattie explains the importance of sharing learning intentions.

The basic premise is that the students have the same idea as their teacher what is going on in the classroom, and what they should be learning as a result of doing. Many students are not going to know this unless it is clearly signposted - learning intentions (or objectives), and learning outcomes (or success criteria) provide this direction.

You could try several different ways to share and even co-construct success criteria with students for maximum impact:

1. Doing it wrong so the students correct you, or not completing them, so that they do.

2. Show a finished product, so that they can see what a good one looks like

3. A comparison of two products is even better as it gives an indication of quality (why is this one better than that one?).

4. Sloppy success criteria giving rise to incorrect methods or work. The students then decide together how to make the success criteria better.

5. Retrospective creation of success criteria is useful when the product or process is so big it’s not immediately obvious what went into it. This is especially useful in breaking down aspects of enquiry.

6. Revisiting existing success criteria, to see if you can make it better.

Active Learning Through Formative Assessment (Clarke, S. 2008) gives a great description of how you can use learning intentions and success criteria

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGyvDvOegXE

Show health and safety information

Please be aware that resources have been published on the website in the form that they were originally supplied. This means that procedures reflect general practice and standards applicable at the time resources were produced and cannot be assumed to be acceptable today. Website users are fully responsible for ensuring that any activity, including practical work, which they carry out is in accordance with current regulations related to health and safety and that an appropriate risk assessment has been carried out.

Share this resource

Did you like this resource.

• Rating Count
• Price (Ascending)
• Price (Descending)
• Most Recent

Writing intentions

2024 New Year's Craft, Writing , & Bulletin Board Goals, Intentions , Resolutions

Kindergarten Learning Intentions Bundle Reading and Writing Learning Objectives

Kindergarten Writing Learning Intentions Slips | Learning Objectives Checklist

Success Criteria and Learning Intentions : Grade 3 Writing Bundle

editable 5th Grade Learning Intentions + Success Criteria (Math, ELA, & Writing )

Success Criteria and Learning Intentions - Opinion Writing

5th Grade Learning Intentions + Success Criteria (Math, ELA, & Writing )

Kindergarten Writing Learning Objectives PowerPoint Success Criteria Intentions

Daily Intentions Quick Write Daily Journal Prompts Set 5

Success Criteria and Learning Intentions - Informative / Explanatory Writing

CCSD Kindergarten HMH Module 1 Writing -Learning Intentions /Success Criteria

High School Writing - COMPLETE PROCESS - Intentions Language Structure PLUS

Writing Process Pencil with learning intentions and success criteria

Daily Intentions Student Journal Writing Prompts and Conversation Starters

NARRATIVE WRITING DISPLAY BOARD | Features of | Learning Intention | Descriptive

Success Criteria and Learning Intentions - Narrative Writing

Intention Setting Writing Prompt

Kindergarten Writing Objectives Bundle | Learning Intentions PowerPoint & Slips

Writing Learning Intentions Year 0 to 3

How to write Learning Intentions

BOHO RAINBOW - 7th Grade Writing Learning Intentions

TC UNIT Lesson # 11 Reading With Intention to Write (Home Of the Brave)

TC UNIT Lesson # 5 Reading With Intention to Write (Home Of the Brave)

TC UNIT Lesson # 10 Reading With Intention to Write (Home Of the Brave)

• We're hiring
• Help & FAQ
• Privacy policy
• Student privacy
• Terms of service
• Tell us what you think