Talk for learning focus 2: The use of learning objectives and language within the classroom to ensure students know what they are expected to learn and how they will demonstrate it – explanatory talk.
“The analogy that might make the student’s view more comprehensible to adults is to imagine oneself on a ship sailing across an unknown sea, to an unknown destination… very quickly, the daily life on board ship becomes all important…the daily chores, the demands, the inspections become the reality, not the voyage, nor the destination.”
Mary Alice White’s view from the students’ desk from Dylan Wiliam’s, Embedded Formative Assessment.
Why focus on learning objectives?
Learning objectives help both teachers and students to see the destination and chart the voyage. Great learning objectives can provide challenge, encourage persistence, develop higher order thinking and encourage us all to aim for excellence. We may think that we all know what learning objectives are, yet it’s always worth revisiting the notion in order to analyse quality and effectiveness. Time and effort spent framing learning objectives and developing success criteria that promote opportunities for all students to achieve excellence is time well spent indeed. As Dylan Wiliam says: “this is why good teaching is so extraordinarily difficult…it is hard…because it has to be designed backwards”
1. What is a learning objective? Why should we use learning objectives?
Learning objectives should be brief, clear, specific statements of what learners will be able to do at the end of a lesson as a result of the teaching and learning that has taken place. They are sometimes called learning intentions or outcomes. The learning objective or objectives that you use might be seen as belonging to three broad areas of learning: knowledge, skills and attitudes. Learning objectives define learning outcomes and focus teaching. They help to clarify, organise and prioritise learning. They help you and your students evaluate progress and encourage them to take responsibility for their learning. They’re also a great opportunity to link (or ask students to link) to the Tallis Habits they will be developing that lesson.
Important features of learning objectives – John Hattie
In his book Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning, John Hattie identifies a number of important features of learning objectives from his extensive analysis of the research. He suggests the following principles:
Learning objectives should be:
Clear to students
Lead to a shared understanding of learning goals
Transparent – show how tasks relate to learning intentions
Inclusive of all students
Appropriately Challenging
Referred to – to help students chart their “journey”
Build in mechanisms for knowing that learning has been achieved
Hattie goes on to outline five essential components related to learning objectives and success criteria:
Challenge
Related to prior knowledge and learning
Relative to a student’s current performance and understanding
Not unattainable – students must be able to see a pathway to challenging goals
Create positive tension – error is welcomed and encouraged
Commitment
Greater commitment from students = greater performance
More powerful when related to challenging tasks
Confidence
Supported by scaffolding along the learning journey
Helps build resilience amongst students to tackle challenging goals
High expectations
Support the development of students having high, appropriately challenging expectations of themselves
The most powerful influence on enhancing achievement
Conceptual understanding
Move understanding from the surface level to deep and conceptual levels
2. Putting the theory into practice - How can I use learning objectives more effectively in my lessons?
The following lists and tables contain examples of active verbs which describe the sorts of things you might want your students to be able to do and may help you to write useful learning objectives.
Set 1: Based on the ‘3 areas of teaching’
Knowledge
analysis
arrange
calculate
circle
cite
classify
compare
contrast
compare
define
describe
differentiate
group
identify
interpret
label
list
match
name
outline
plan
record
revise
select
solve
state
tabulate
evaluate
recognise
give examples
Skills
adjust
assemble
chart
collect
use
draw
employ
establish
illustrate
imitate
interact
locate
maintain
measure
modify
operate
organizes
rearrange
return
set up
practice
manipulate
master
fit
perform
demonstrate
Attitudes
accept
adopt
advocate
approve
assess
challenge
characterise
choose
criticize
defend
evaluate
formulate
judge
justify
manage
model
persuade
recommend
resolve
select
specify
value
reassure
empathise
Set 2: Based on increasing level of difficulty and challenge (Bloom’s Taxonomy)
Emphasis – link to Bloom’s Taxonomy
Relevant Action Verbs to use in your lesson objectives:
Knowledge
‘To find or remember information memorising information’
Tell, uncover, show, state, define, name, write, recall, recognise, list, label, reproduce, identify, acquire, distinguish, state, order, locate, repeat, count, describe, enumerate, find, match, read, recite, record, select, sequence, state, view
Comprehension
‘To understand the information and restate in your own words, paraphrasing, summarising, translating’
Comprehend, appreciate, select, indicate, illustrate, represent, formulate, explain, classify, translate, extrapolate, convert, interpret, abstract, transform, select, indicate, relate, experiment, simple comparisons, demonstrate, explain, reword, discuss, cite, conclude, describe, discuss, estimate, generalise, give examples, locate, make sense of, paraphrase, predict, report, restate, review, summarise, trace
Apply/Application
‘To use information to solve problems, transfer abstract or theoretical ideas to actual situations, identifying connections and relationships and how they apply ’
Assess, change, chart, choose, demonstrate, determine, develop, establish, produce, relate, report, select, show, use, try, diagram, perform, make a chart, put into action, build, report, employ, relate, draw, construct, adapt, apply, sequence, carry out, solve, prepare, operate, generalize, plan, repair, explain, predict, instruct, compute, use, implement, solve,
Analysis
‘To take information apart, identifying components, determining arrangement, logic and semantics’
Analyze, study, combine, separate, categorise, detect, examine, inspect, discriminate, take apart, generalise, scrutinize, estimate, compare, observe, detect, classify, discover, explore, distinguish, catalogue, investigate, breakdown, order, determine, differentiate, dissect, contrast, examine, interpret, identify, dissect, characterise, correlate, diagram, illustrate, infer, limit, outline, point out, prioritise, relate, separate, subdivide.
Synthesis
‘To create new ideas or things, combining information to form a unique product, requiring of creativity and originality’
Write, plan, integrate, formulate, propose, specify, produce, organize, theorize, design, build, systematize, combine, summarize, restate, argue, hypothesise, predict, create, invent, produce, modify, extend, design, formulate, develop, build, compile, discuss, derive, relate, generalize, conclude, combine, précis, discuss, integrate, conclude, adapt, categorise, compose, construct, create, design, generate, incorporate, integrate, modify, organise, perform, propose, reinforce, reorganise, rewrite, structure
Evaluation
‘To make judgements about knowledge, to make decisions and supporting views, requires understanding of values. ’
Evaluate, interpret, decide, solve, rate, appraise, verify, assess, test, judge, rank, measure, appraise, select, check, evaluate, determine, support, defend, weigh, judge, justify, attach, criticise, weigh up, argue, choose, compare and contrast, conclude, critique, defend, predict, prioritize, prove, reframe
Bloom’s Taxonomy with teaching and learning ideas and strategies:
To summarise:
DO have a learning objective clear in your mind before you plan your lesson
DO share it with students
DO draw links between your objective(s) and Tallis Habits – or even better, ask the students to
DO have success criteria against which progress can be measured
DO refer back to your learning objective at various points in the lesson
What are we NOT saying:
PLEASE DON’T just get students to copy them down in their books and tick them at the end of the lesson. Copying objectives for 3 mins per lesson = 10 school days (50 hours) ‘wasted’ per pupil per year.
References and further reading:
https://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Writing-Learning-Objectives-6096896
A blog by Dan Brinton on ‘Better Learning Intentions’: https://belmontteach.wordpress.com/2014/01/03/better-learning-intentions/
A post from David Didau entitled, ‘Learning Objectives and why we need ‘em’: http://www.learningspy.co.uk/learning/learning-objectives-why-we-need-em/
This is a really clever visual model for learning objectives based on Bloom’s revised taxonomy:
http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching-resources/effective-practice/revised-blooms-taxonomy/