Objectives.
At first, I wasn't sold on the idea of writing objectives, to me, it seemed like busy work with no benefit to the teacher or students. And why is the wording so important anyway? It seemed like I would never master or appreciate objectives in my planning. However, I'm definitely starting to change my mind. The more objectives I write, the better I am becoming (still have a long way to go) and the more we discuss and learn about them, the more I understand the pedagogical reasoning behind objectives.
In our readings this week, we explored the importance of well-written objectives and one excerpt from the Agricultural Education Magazine, stood out to me. The article, written by Dr. M Susie Whittington at Ohio State, started by explaining the value of objectives, relating them to a roadmap for student learning.
At first, I wasn't sold on the idea of writing objectives, to me, it seemed like busy work with no benefit to the teacher or students. And why is the wording so important anyway? It seemed like I would never master or appreciate objectives in my planning. However, I'm definitely starting to change my mind. The more objectives I write, the better I am becoming (still have a long way to go) and the more we discuss and learn about them, the more I understand the pedagogical reasoning behind objectives.
In our readings this week, we explored the importance of well-written objectives and one excerpt from the Agricultural Education Magazine, stood out to me. The article, written by Dr. M Susie Whittington at Ohio State, started by explaining the value of objectives, relating them to a roadmap for student learning.
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"When teachers fail to provide objectives at the beginning of class, students have not received the important pre-directional mindset that is necessary for learning."
The article then addressed proper word choice in objectives, which has been a struggle for me. While I agree that objectives that include the words 'know' or 'understand' are not measurable, I really didn't see how that mattered all that much. Dr. Whittington explained that proper word choice in an objective brings clarity to students and we all know that clarity is one of the five essentials of effective teaching (#BECOVislife). When you tell a student to understand something, it is hard for them to grasp what it is you want from them. However, telling students that their objective is to define, identify, label, list, etc they know exactly what they need to do and what they need to learn to accomplish that!
Whittington also points out that objectives set the stage for the level of cognition that will take place. The levels, which are adapted from Bloom's Taxonomy, are remembering, processing, creating, and evaluating. Recognizing which level of cognition your objective is asking for is crucial in your planning process because you must also teach at that level for students to truly benefit. Your objectives should line up with both the level you are teaching on and assessing on, otherwise, students can struggle to shift between cognitive levels.
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So, what did I learn this week?
1) Objectives matter.
2) Word choice matters.
3) Level of cognition matters.
I guess I'd better pull out that lesson plan I was working on and check to see how my objectives are looking.
References
Whittington, M.S. (2005). Writing objectives in secondary agriculture courses that challenge students
to think. Agriculture Education Magazine. Retrieved from
http://www.naae.org/profdevelopment/magazine/archive_issues/Volume77/v77i5.pdf
I had initially thought the same way in high school when teachers would state their objectives. Little did I know, subconsciously this primed me to know where we were heading for the day! Definitely very critical.
ReplyDeleteThe quote from Dr. Whittington's article really stood out to me as well! I remember from high school that when I sat down in a class, I would still be thinking about who and what I had just seen in the hallway. If my teachers didn't state objectives or at least didn't say what we were doing that period, I'd be lost and not focused at all. Objectives are SO important. I also really enjoyed how you listed your main learning points at the end!
ReplyDeleteObjectives, while not the most exciting aspect of life are valuable not only in an educational context but also in strategic planning and goal-setting. Objectives, in either context get everyone on the same page as far as where "we're" heading. Whether it be in a classroom, an organization, or a workplace. I'm very glad to see you draw the connections between wording of objectives and objective effectiveness. Keep on keepin on!
ReplyDelete