Objectives, Objectives, Objectives
Language and content objectives make learning meaningful.
1. What are some advantages to writing both content and language objectives for students to hear and see?
- · Students will know what to expect throughout the lesson. There is no guesswork involved in what they will be learning. It's all clearly laid out for them and the teacher will be able to stay on track. Students will expect to see the objectives for every lesson and will be familiar with the wording and expectations tied to those objectives.
- · The more exposure students have and the more time students spend using academic language, the faster they will develop language proficiency. (Echevvarria, Vogt, and Short, 2013 pg. 30)
- · Learning objectives are planned to meet the learning goals for the students using ELL-friendly vocabulary while the content objectives list the specific state standards that is going to be taught. By giving both objectives, students can make a connection between them to help build vocabulary and understand how the two objectives relate to one another.
- · By assessing the language objectives, the teacher can determine if the students are progressing toward mastery in the lesson.
- · According to Mary Ellen Vogt (n.d.) in her video "Lesson Prep," she stated that it is important to assess constantly to ensure mastery. If they aren't mastering the material, adjust and reteach. It's an ongoing cycle to see if students have met content objectives.
How might written objectives affect teacher and student performance in the classroom?
- When the objectives are posted, read, and discussed, the teacher and the students alike know what is going to happen for each lesson. The teacher knows what to teach and will have an effective plan to teach it, and students will know what they are supposed to learn and will do what they need to do to learn it.
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· According to Vogt, Short, and Echevvarria (2013, pg. 43), lesson activities should be planned to promote language development in all skills while English learners are mastering content objectives. As teachers have objectives written out for every lesson, thorough planning will follow. The lesson will have activities that support the objectives, and it will be clear when students have mastered the content objectives because they activities and assessments will match. Student performance will increase because lessons will beautifully planned, and connections between the objectives will be made.
- The teacher will perform better because thoughtful planning leads to effective teaching. As objectives are written out, it is just natural to have activities, lessons, and assessments that go along with the objectives. It can be easy to skip out on writing objectives for each lesson, but it would also be easy for the teacher to start slipping and not following through with the objectives that were supposed to be taught.
- The students will perform better because they would be involved with the reading the objectives. I loved in the book how it said to get the students to read objectives, discuss them with a partner, or rephrase what will be learned. As this happens, students will have clear expectations for the upcoming lesson.
Callie Frank
NVVA 5th grade teacher
Email: cfrank@nvvacademy.org
Website: K12.com/nvva
Location: 9865 S Eastern Ave, Las Vegas, NV, United States
Phone: (702) 407-1825 .7054