Writing clear and effective learning objectives for your lesson is very important.
Remember, your learning objectives are what your whole lesson is about. Teachers must know exactly what behavior we want our students to show. We need to see behavior to know our students understand the lesson objectives. And, behavior is an action. This means that our learning objectives must clearly state what we want students to DO. We want to explicitly state what behavior we want to see. The focus of the action is on what the students do. This is called an external performance
Reading example
Let's look at a bad example followed by a good example.
Students will be able to understand the story.
Why is this bad? This one is bad because I need an action that will help me measure if the students actually do understand the story. Remember, we must be able to measure or see the actions that show learning.
Students will be able to write a short summary of the text.
Students will be able to explain why the Tortoise won the race.
Students will be able to explain what mistakes the Grasshopper made.
Why is this one better? This is better because I can observe the behavior of writing the summary. And, I can read and check the summary to see if they really did comprehend the story. As a teacher, if I read a story with the children and they can not write a short summary, I then know that they did not comprehend! Also, in the second example, I can hear the student explain the answer; this is observable behavior...
Speaking example
Students will understand how to say 'thank you'.
Why is this one bad? It's bad because I can't measure this. How will I know they can understand the concept of thank you?
Students will be able to say 'thank you' at the appropriate time in a conversation.
This one is better because I can observe the students' behavior. I can see them and hear them say thank you when it is a correct time.
For example, imagine that you say hello to the students and they say: Thank you. Does this demonstrate understanding? No, it does not.
Now, imagine the you give the student candy, and they say 'thank you'. Does this demonstrate understanding? Yes, it does because you observed behavior that demonstrates understanding.
Writing example
Students will know how to write a paragraph
The problem here is really the same. How do I know they know? I need to see an external performance.
Students will be able to write a 50 word paragraph using good connectors.
This is better because the action is an external performance, This means that I can see it and evaluate it and give feedback on it.
Listening example
Students will listen to the video about food.
Again, this does not really help the teacher measure learning. The student is silent at her desk, but is she listening? We need an external behavior.
Students will be able to write down four ways to maintain a healthy diet.
Students will be able to create a poster that shows people how to have a healthy diet.
Students will be able to create a role play that communicates the ways to have a healthy diet.
If the students can write down four ways to maintain a healthy diet, then this demonstrates some understanding. If the students can create a poster, then this demonstrates understanding. If the students can role play, this demonstrates understanding.
Here are some important general rules
1. Focus the action verb on the student behavior, not the teacher behavior.
2. Use action verbs that can be observed and show learning.
3. Avoid using 'know' and 'understand' because they can't be measured or observed.
Take this short quiz and check your understanding.(Please note, you must be on a laptop to take the quiz)
Make sure to press the submit button after each question. There are 7 questions. Review quiz after it is over.