There is no doubt that in most new facets of life we need to be provided
with some type of direction. The article by Whittington is a gave a
good example when it said to imagine trying to find a specific
destination without the use of a map, directions, or your iPhone.
These readings all go back to that one common core idea for our
teaching: begin with the end in mind. As the book says, in order to
properly create and enforce an objective we need to think where we want
our students to be after the lesson and what we want them to take from
it. I like the quote from the book, "it is very difficult to plan a
journey if you don't know where you are headed.
An important key characteristic as discussed in class and the book is
the fact that the objective be measurable. This means that it uses a
verb such as explain, describe, select, compare, contrast, define, or identify.
The book also stresses the importance of a good interest approach. I
could not agree more with the importance of this component of teaching.
It is difficult to think of interests approaches for a math class or
writing class, but for science (AG SCIENCE) we should be able to think
of lots of fun stuff. When I was in high school, my chemistry teacher
always started the class off with a demonstration. He still is one of
the best teachers I have ever had.
Something I have failed to include in my objectives is the conditions,
performance, and criterion. I will be honest, none of my teachers have
posted the objectives for the day at the front of the room before class.
They may have briefly touched on them, but never listed them in this
manner. Maybe it is because I did not have agriculture classes at my
school. I will say, however, that this is definitely a better way to get
the students to retain information. If one of the students zones out
for a bit and then comes back and looks at the objective on the board,
they have a better chance of getting back on track.
Objectives are useful in many ways: they help structure the class, they
determine the path we lead our students down, and they can act as a net
for loss of student engagement. Hopefully with practice we will master
objective-writing, and always remember begin with the end in mind.
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