I was trying to explain must do, should do, and aspire to do to a colleague. Their argument was “If I tell a student they should do something then I mean it needs to be done.” How would you explain the three categories? - Classify This

Dear Classify,

Lesson classifications (like Must Do, Should Do, Aspire to Do; Mild, Medium, Spicy, or whichever naming convention you choose) helps facilitate differentiation in your Modern Classroom lessons. They help us plan our learning activities for each lesson or unit with the idea that some of our learners may struggle with understanding the learning objective and need more support while others quickly show mastery.

In my science classroom, all students were required to do vocabulary work, watch the instructional video, complete the practice activity to process the new concepts explained in the instructional video, and complete a mastery check to demonstrate what they have understood. These were the base of my lessons and Must Do activities. Regardless if a student was present for every class or absent for half the unit, they knew these were the four activities they needed to work on to master the lesson and work towards mastering the end-of-unit summative.

Should Do learning activities are scaffolded from your Must Do activities to provide opportunities for your learners to extend their thinking and apply their newfound knowledge from their Must Do activities. For example, some of the practice materials I had were repetitive in the questions they asked or the problems they had my learners practice. So I would remove the repetitive questions and put them into a Should Do activity for my learners who needed more support or remediation. I also had one Should Do activity in a different format (a game, sort cards, quizlet, etc.) for my learners, who paced quickly through the Must Do practice activity to extend their learning and thinking on the learning objective.

And then we have our Aspire to Dos. These activities provide a more significant challenge to students, allowing them to apply multiple learning activities and lessons to deepen their understanding of the learning objectives. Only some students will reach these activities, but we create opportunities for them to attempt the challenge. Each of my units, which were multiple lessons long, incorporated one real-world-based, challenging activity that culminated everything they should have mastered in that unit. Offering opportunities for students to remediate, extend their thinking, and challenge themselves allows them to reflect on what they have understood in the unit and take ownership of their learning while building self-regulation skills.

In short, Must Do: read this entire blurb; Should Do: check out these resources on Lesson Classification; Aspire to Do: let your colleague know we’re happy to dive in even more about lesson classifications in an upcoming VMP session with them.

Debbie Menard
Director of Virtual Mentorship

Debbie Menard earned her BS in Biology at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. After taking a gap year with Americorps NCCC, she earned her MAT at University of Virginia and has been teaching Biology in VA and DC ever since. As a high school teacher for the past nine years, she has facilitated students in Title 1 schools in increasing their critical thinking skills, and discovering science through exploring the world around them. Debbie has recently graduated from American University with her M.Ed in Educational Policy. She firmly believes that supporting teachers in creating a sound education will support students in becoming the best adults they can be.

Debbie lives in Washington, DC. When not on a zoom call, she enjoys finding amazing restaurants with rooftops and experimenting with different natural hairstyles.

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