Roadmap to Successful Objectives

Just as teachers need to use objectives to plan a unit or lesson, students need objectives stated at the beginning of class to provide clarity and reasoning before every lesson. Jumping right into a lesson can cause students to take a wrong turn and loose the "big picture" benefits of the lesson. But if the teacher just writes on the board or states three things the students should be able to follow the rules of the road and understand the lesson and its connections to the overall unit and class.



As teachers, objectives help us to plan a lesson or unit. All good directions start with the location you are leaving from. The objectives are the starting point. From formulating good, clear objectives we are able to process thoughts and make the beginning steps of content sequencing and instructional evaluation.



Clear objectives fall into the three domains of learning; cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. Cognitive being facts, knowledge, basic content of the lesson. Psychomotor uses cognitive skills and motor skills to activities. Thinking of these two together my brain is shouting,"this is why agricultural education rules!" Last affective or the students emotions and values to the lesson or learning occurring.

Ok so for this to work teachers need major clarity when talking to students. A map that isn't clear for everyone to read means nothing just like unclear objectives will only be understood by half the class. One way to do this is to use action verbs that students can clearly understand how to achieve the objective. Words like explain, describe, select, compare, are good verbs to use. Steer clear of vague verbs like know, list, and cover.

Objectives also serve as a guide when deciding upon evaluation of instruction. The questions, exam, or final project students are given should all be answered within the objectives. A clear, detailed map will lead the driver to the correct location, like wise good concise directions and plans will lead students to the finish line.