Planning lessons can be a drag, especially when students show no interest in the lesson you have spent so much time planning. How long does it take you to write a lesson objective and what format do you use?
Benefits
It is useful to know why we do what we do. It is equally important to know that teachers aren’t the only ones who write objectives. Have you been to a training recently, in person or online? Did your trainer share the objectives of the session? I am sure they did, right?
Government, CEO’s department heads, hospital administrators, you name it, everyone has long and short term goals.
I am sure those in the medical field have a daily goal for COVID patients. Teachers aren’t the only ones writing lesson objectives, though sometimes it appears that way.
Lesson objectives helps us as teachers to determine what it is we want our students to know. It outlines the specific learning outcomes for the lesson. Lesson objectives enables us as teachers, to know what our students need to know and be able to do at the end of a lesson; similarly students know what they are expected to know and be able to do when they enter your classroom. As the teacher, if you know what you want to achieve , then you are better poised to determine the content you want to teach and the assessment that best matches your content and outcomes.
Some teachers often ask, why do I need to write them? I already know what I want to teach and this is just taking up so much of my time. Yes, you need to write them and no, writing them should not be taking up much of your time.
How to write lesson objectives?
The first place to look when determining your lesson objective is your course unit, your scheme of work or your syllabus. Some units are very detailed and requires little or no modification for the teacher, others require the teacher to take the goal or sometimes the learning objective and modify it so it reflects the learning for that day.
Today there are so many ways to write lesson objectives, that new teachers can become confused. Some schools require that learning objectives, sometimes called learning goals be written a specific way. I will examine three of the methods used for writing lesson objectives and compare the benefits of each.
Strategy 1
Today I will …
So that I can …
I know I’ve got this when …
I am not sure who coined this strategy, but I have seen it used in schools quite a bit. I myself have used it. While this method allows students to be able to determine what they need to learn and identify the way they will demonstrate their knowledge, the middle portion can sometimes be difficult for many teachers. I have often heard teachers ask, so they can what…? I find myself going back to the unit, looking for linkages for future learning and applicability for real world application.
Strategy 2: What are we learning today?
WALT- We are learning to…
This structure allows the teacher to make the content that students will learn clear to them.
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WALA- We are learning about …
WILF- What I’m looking for …
This lets students know how they will demonstrate their learning.
TIB- This is because …
If you need to know more about these acronyms see this post from Australia https://teachling.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/meet-walt-wilf-wala-tib/
The purpose of this format is to make learning intentions intentions and outcomes clear for students.
The Success Criteria Method
The success criteria is another way to determine how students will demonstrate their learning. The success criteria goes alongside the learning goals. The learning goal addresses the knowledge and skills to be taught in the class while the success criteria indicates how students will demonstrate the learning. The learning goal and the success criteria in this mode are inseparable. For more about writing learning goals and success criteria see Oregon.gov.
So really, if you are still just writing a lesson objective without indicating how students will demonstrate their learning, maybe it is time to try a new approach.
Let me know what you think.