Standards and Objectives
Descriptor 1: All learning objectives and
state content objectives are explicitly communicated.
Descriptor 4: Expectations for student
performance are clear.
Last year, I sent out a note about
objectives, comparing them to planning a road trip. After all, every well-planned road trip has
both a clear destination and a pretty good idea of all of the places where you
want or need to stop along the way.
Over the years, there have been a
number of different schools of thought on defining proper objectives. Everyone from Madeline Hunter to Robert
Marzano seems to have an opinion on the matter, and we have refrained so far at
Goshen High School from providing an expected structure for daily objectives. The TAP Career Teacher Handbook (did you know
we have one of those?) defines three components of a clearly written objective:
- Observable verbs or actions
- Clear description of a learning outcome
- Measurable standards
One might say that the standards or
learning goals are what we teach and that
the way we communicate them to our students falls into the category of how we teach. Using the three bullets above
as a guide, the goals we communicate to our students must be observable, measurable, and clear.
Let's take a look at one of the
reading learning goals for English.
- Students will be able to identify, understand, and explain figurative language.
While our learning goals certainly
provide a guide for our student learning, this goal is not observable, measurable, or clear. If you ever enjoyed or struggled your way through
a literature course, you know that "figurative language" is a pretty
broad term. One would never expect in
any kind of realistic lesson that students would be able to demonstrate mastery
of that learning goal if it were expressed as a daily objective. What if we break it down, choosing one
component of figurative language that can
be taught in a day?
- Students will be able to identify metaphor.
It is narrower in scope, but the
teacher's expectations for student performance could be made more clear by
identifying what is to be observed
and how it is to be measured. Adding language that specifies exactly what
is to be learned and how it will be assessed provides this clarity.
- Students will be able to define metaphor and provide three examples of metaphor from Of Mice and Men, Chapter 3.
Is the above daily objective observable, measurable, and clear? It identifies the concept that is to be
learned (metaphor), what it is the student must do with it (identify, define), and
how it will be assessed (Is there a definition? Are there a minimum of three examples?).
Additionally, this approach provides
an opportunity to provide expectations for student performance that are demanding and high (the 5-point
descriptor) by providing a
differentiated objective for those students seeking to go above and beyond in
seeking the Marzano 4 or as an honors objective, by tacking on language that
indicates higher-order thinking.
- Students will be able to define metaphor, provide three examples of metaphor from Of Mice and Men, Chapter 3, and explain the author's purpose in using those metaphors.
Of course, depending upon reading level,
demanding and high might mean that they
are able to define metaphor consistently.
The point is that we need to ensure
that we are communicating to our students on a daily basis regarding where we plan
to take them today on the road trip that is your class. It isn't enough to just say that we are driving
to New York (the learning goal or standard), but for the students to have a clear
idea of where we are going today (Columbus, OH) and how we will know if we met our
expectations for getting there (Exit 45 by 8 pm). When you do so, you are doing so in a way that
provides a clear statement of what they are
to learn today and how you will know they
have learned it.
No comments:
Post a Comment