Classroom Non-Negotiable Focus: High Quality Learning Objectives

This week's Lyon Academy Instructional Blog post focuses on the classroom non-negotiable of High Quality Objectives. 

Objectives are the specific, measurable learning targets for a particular lesson. Objectives should be written in student-friendly language, be aligned to a standard, and include both what a student will know and do as a result of the lesson. Objectives should be written in one of the following or similar formats:

• SWBAT (Students will be able to...)
• IWBAT (I will be able to...)
• I can....
• I will...

The Objective most be posted and updated as part of the classroom BBC daily. Additionally, teachers should state the objective and re-state it throughout the lesson. Here are some exemplars from our building that reflect the components of effective objectives:

Ms. Tuthill writes her students' objectives as "I can.." objectives. Even though she has many objectives during her lessons, she writes all of them and includes specific actions/outputs of the students. 

Ms. Colacino's BBC includes objectives for Reading, Writing and Spelling that use strong verbs-- "compare and contrast," "create," and "determine."

Ms. Weininger's Math objectives are specific, student-friendly and simple. 

Mr. Murphy's more complex objective addresses a larger project that students are creating in his classroom.

To improve your Learning Objectives, incorporate some of the following strategies:

• Connect objective to how the students will be assessed.
• Write "know/do" objectives: Students will know _____ by doing _____.
• Look at test questions beforehand to be sure the skills assessed on the test were worked into the daily lesson.
• Write an assessment of the skills immediately after the objective, at the top of the lesson plan.
• First write assessment questions that align to objective; then break the objective into smaller chunks that will ensure mastery of all the skills needed to answer each question correctly.
• Use verbs from Bloom's taxonomy to ensure that the objective is rigorous. 

See additional examples and resources for Learning Objectives that you may think about using in your classroom:

Writing Objectives Using Bloom's Taxonomy- http://teaching.uncc.edu/learning-resources/articles-books/best-practice/goals-objectives/writing-objectives

"4Ms" Strategy for Learning Objectives from Teach Like a Champion- http://tlacashleyb.weebly.com/the-4ms.html 

SWBAT: Communicating Learning Goals- https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/making-lesson-objectives-clear