Objectives

At my school (and I assume many many other schools around the nation), we have to post our standards every day for each class. For several years I posted the exact standard--number and all. I got the box checked off on my observations but that is about it. It wasn't useful. This past year I used the following format and I found it to actually be useful. I was able to refer to it often. The students got used to coming in and reading it. It gave them a good idea of what to expect for the day. It was a tool that was actually used instead of just "checked off". Anyway...here it is:

Today I will learn...
To do this I will...
My teacher will know I learned it because...

Simple but effective. After the first sentence starter I would put the objective in student-friendly terms. For example, "Today I will learn...how to solve equations with variables on both sides." The second sentence starter would be the actual agenda. It would list any learning activities that would be taking place during that lesson. For example, "To do this I will...take notes and then get with a partner to solve problems." The last sentence starter would be the day's assessment. This could range from "she will check my homework" to "she will grade my quiz and provide feedback" or even "she will ask for thumbs up/thumbs down responses" possibly "she will check our whiteboards"....you get the idea. It was the way students would know what the assessment of the day's work would be.

Now that I am working on SBG, I think I like this even more. I will continue to use the three sentence starters with "kid friendly" language. However, I will add somewhere in there the learning goal number because they will have a numbered sheet of learning goals handed to them at the beginning of the year. That will make it easier for them to keep track of what they are working on.