Be looking for our new and improved Target Tally! You'll find it in your child's Tally section of their Target binder. The new Tally is one sheet which stays in your student's binder for an entire marking period. The evening after your child's Target class they should ask you to review the Tally sheet and sign in the signature block for that week. Then leave the Tally sheet in the binder so your child can bring it to class each week with their materials. The new Tally should look and feel very familiar to many parents.
What are the benefits of a new Tally?
In the past Tallies were collected at the next class meeting and were filed away. Now an ongoing record stays in your child's binder and is available for parents to review weekly. The Tally sheet will be collected at the end of the marking period. It will become an important part of our Parent-Teacher conversation and communication.
The homework used to be written on the Tally. Where is that now?
Students now have a separate "Target Homework and Assignment Log" they keep it in the Tally section of their binder. The Log sheet stays in the binder and is also used for the entire marking period.
What happened to the Agenda and Reflection sections on the old Tally?
Each student has a spiral notebook "Learning Journal”. At the beginning of each class students will create a new entry which will include the Essential Questions and the Agenda for the day. At the close of class students will write a reflective response answering one of the essential questions or a focus question given to them by the teacher. This will become a long-term record of their learning in Target class. To see this, just ask your child to share their Learning Journal with you.
There are not a whole lot of marks on the new Tally is that good?
Yes it is! Only the area or areas your child needs to work on are marked with an X. Comments regarding these areas will be written in the comments section. The best situation is for their Tally to be nearly blank with the exception of your signature on it for each week and my initials in the comments section.
The goal of the Tally is to clearly communicate your child's progress in Target class to you, especially areas that need your attention. The revised Tally is based on feedback from parents over the past year.
Please let me know what you think of the new Tally. Is it meeting your needs? Is it informative? You are welcome to post a comment below to this blog entry with your feedback.
(Per county policy comments are not immediately posted and must first be reviewed by the blog author.)
