Teachers should plan with the end in mind, and base instruction and assessment on what it is students are expected to learn. The assessment, planning, and instruction cycle can be summarized as follows:
- Determine what students are expected to know and be able to do by the end of the course by examining the overall expectations for the grade.
- Develop learning goals for the course based on the overall expectations.
- Consider how to gather evidence of student learning from different sources, using a variety of structures and strategies (e.g. conversations, observations, products).
- Develop a final performance task that allows students to clearly demonstrate their achievement.
Refer to Table 3 for example learning goals developed for the overall expectations of a Grade 9 course in Healthy Active Living Education (HALE). With clear goals, teachers can generate performance tasks to gather evidence of student learning over the course of a semester/year, as well as final performance tasks to be completed at or near the end of the course.
Table 3: Overall Expectations and Corresponding Learning Goals
| Overall Expectations | Learning Goals |
|---|---|
| 1. demonstrate personal and interpersonal skills and the use of critical and creative thinking processes as they acquire knowledge and skills in connection with the expectations in the Active Living, Movement Competence, and Healthy Living strands for this grade. | We are learning to use our personal, interpersonal and critical thinking skills when we actively participate in physical activities and when we learn about concepts in health. |
| A1. participate actively and regularly in a wide variety of physical activities, and demonstrate an understanding of factors that can influence and support their participation in physical activity now and throughout their lives. | We are learning what it means to actively participate in a variety of activities so we know what motivates us to be active and how we can overcome barriers and challenges to being active throughout our lives. |
| A2. demonstrate an understanding of the importance of being physically active, and apply physical fitness concepts and practices that contribute to healthy, active living. | We are learning why it is important to be physically active and to apply our understanding of physical fitness concepts and practices so we can take responsibility for our own healthy living. |
| A3. demonstrate responsibility for their own safety and the safety of others as they participate in physical activities. | We are learning to demonstrate safe behaviours and follow safety procedures while participating in physical activities so we can take responsibility for our safety and the safety of others. |
| B1. perform movement skills, demonstrating an understanding of the basic requirements of the skills and applying movement concepts as appropriate, as they engage in a variety of physical activities. | We are learning to use a variety of movement skills and apply movement concepts so we can actively participate in a wide variety of physical activities. |
| B2. apply movement strategies appropriately, demonstrating an understanding of the components of a variety of physical activities, in order to enhance their ability to participate successfully in those activities. | We are learning to use appropriate movement strategies so we can increase our chances of success when participating in a variety of activities. |
| C1. demonstrate an understanding of factors that contribute to healthy development. | We are learning about the factors that impact our overall health. |
| C2. demonstrate the ability to apply health knowledge and living skills to make reasoned decisions and take appropriate actions relating to their personal health and well-being. | We are learning to apply our knowledge and our skills to make healthy choices to benefit our personal health and well-being. |
| C3. demonstrate the ability to make connections that relate to health and well-being – how their choices and behaviours affect both themselves and others, and how factors in the world around them affect their own and others’ health and well-being. |
We are learning how our health choices and behaviours impact us and those around us. We are learning how external factors affect our own health and well-being and the health and well-being of others so we can take action to promote our own health and the health of others |
Sample Final Performance Tasks
The following sample Grade 9 final performance task provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their learning through a variety of respectful tasks.
Movement Competence
Overall Expectations: 1, B1, B2
Sample Final Performance Task 1
Learning Goal:
Students will apply movement skills, concepts and strategies in a variety of activities.
Task:
In a sports/games-day format, using modified Territory and Net/Wall games, students will perform movement skills and apply movement concepts (stability, locomotor and manipulation). Evaluation will focus on performing sending and receiving skills while travelling and moving to open space. Students will apply sport and game strategies (one offensive strategy and one defensive strategy appropriate to each game form). Students will apply their communication, teamwork and decision-making skills to increase their chance of success during the activities.
Sample Final Performance Task 2
Learning Goal:
Students will perform stability and locomotor skills to perform a movement sequence of their choosing.
Task:
In an individual performance, students will perform stability and locomotion skills in combination (e.g., perform three fitness, yoga or dance moves in sequence)
Healthy Living
Overall Expectations: 1, C1, C2, C3
Sample Final Performance Task 2
Learning Goal:
Students will demonstrate an understanding of what they have learned about active living and healthy living and communicate how they will apply their learning to make healthy choices, sustain positive healthy relationships and enhance their future well-being.
Task:
Using the evidence from their course portfolio, students will create a product of their choosing (blog, video/audio recording, scrapbook) in which they demonstrate their understanding of their learning in healthy living and how it will help them make healthy choices, be active, and support their positive mental health. Students will use the following statements to organize their thinking and evidence: “This is what I have learned,” “This is how I relate it to my own life,” “This is how I will use it to lead a healthy active life and promote healthy active living with my family, my friends and in my community.” Students will also make connections to what they have learned in other aspects of the course (e.g., developing their personal fitness, learning a new skill, acquiring a safety certification). Students will share their product in a student-led conference.
