Module 2: Assignment 1
Questions
1.What are some advantages to writing both content and language objectives for students to hear and see?
When objectives are shared with students orally and in writing (in student friendly language), the students will know what they are supposed to do each day.
Incorporating language objectives with content objectives also provides an advantage in that the teacher will have a deeper understanding of student needs. Echevarria, Vogt, and Short (2008) state, “It also requires you to know your students’ proficiency levels so the language objectives can be targeted to what they need to learn about the academic language of history, science, mathematics, or other subjects, but not be at a level too high for their current understanding” (p.29).
Another advantage to using both content & language orally and in writing is that it will assist students with making connections between what they know & what they are learning in an authentic way. This is because the activities will be meaningful and truly related to the content. As noted by Echevarria, Vogt, and Short (2008), “Authentic, meaningful experiences are especially important for English Learners because they are learning to attach labels and terms to things already familiar to them. Their learning becomes situated rather than abstract when they are provided with the opportunity to actually experience what they are being taught” (p.43).
2. How might written objectives affect teacher and student performance in the classroom?
Written objectives affect teacher and student performance by giving both the teachers and students a clear goal. In the lesson preparation video, Vogt (n.d) stated that in order to ensure the students met the content and language objectives there had to be constant assessments throughout the lesson to see whether or not the students were understanding what they were being taught. Those constant assessments informed the teachers of whether or not they needed to move back, adjust, and reteach.
I feel that without the objectives it is unlikely that the teachers would be able to maintain such a clear direction of where they wanted their students to be.