2.3 Central Focus and Alignment

Whether writing a lesson plan for one lesson or a lesson sequence, it is important to consider the developmental and academic needs of your students as well as school or district requirements for your content area for the students at your particular age or grade level. In other words, your lesson is not just for any group of students, you will plan it to meet the needs of your particular group of students. If you will be using a specific curriculum for your plans, be ready to justify how knowledge of your students informed the decisions you made throughout the planning process, including revisions or modifications to the curriculum.

In addition to considering the academic and developmental needs of your particular students, you will indentify the central focus of your lesson(s), by considering one or more of the following:

• Minnesota Academic Standards and grade level benchmarks
• Content standards from professional organizations in your discipline (such as NCTM, ILA, or NCTE)
• District guidelines
• Grade level expectations
• Classroom curriculum maps
• Curriculum scope and sequence charts or pacing charts

These materials will assist you as you begin to plan. The next step in planning will be to write a learning goal. 

Learning Goal

What is the learning goal you have identified for your learners?

 The learning goal is an overarching statement that:

• describes the overall purpose of the lesson,
• describes in broad terms what the learner will gain from the instruction or learning experience,
• is usually articulated in more general terms than the objective,
• indicates the relationship of the lesson to the curriculum, program, and/or standards, and
• when relevant, may also identify which developmental domain (physical, social, emotional, cognitive, language, moral/spiritual) is the primary focus of the lesson.

A learning goal for the lesson should be identified first because it will help you think comprehensively about your teaching and the connection of the lesson plan to a larger all-encompassing goal or a state or national standard. Identifying learning goals will increase your ability to clearly identify the intent of your teaching (and of course the students’ learning) as well as guide you in composing a plan that supports curriculum and program goals.

You may hear the terms goals and objectives used interchangeably. However, this is wrong; they are different. Goals are broad and sometimes can be difficult to measure directly. The important thing about goals is that they help you focus on the big and important picture.

Standards

What state adopted academic or content standard(s) are you addressing? (Provide the name of the standards document, the grade level, the correct numerical citation, and the text of the standard(s) you select.)

State academic standards

 The lesson you are designing is often intended to meet content area academic standards or developmental learning standards that are officially adopted by the state. Use the officially adopted standards for your content or developmental area. Minnesota has adopted statewide academic standards in Arts, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies.   Minnesota also has Early Learning Guidelines for Birth to 3 and Early Learning Standards for 3 to 5. Minnesota uses national standards for English Learners and Physical Education. Minnesota districts determine local standards for World Languages (based on national standards) and Health.

Information on Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards and Early Childhood Indicators of Progress can be obtained from the Minnesota Department of Education website. (http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/EdExc/StanCurri/index.html)

For a complete list of official titles and links to standards documents, see Appendix E.

Additional standards documents

 It may be expected in your particular content field that you reference additional standards documents beyond those listed above as adopted by the state of Minnesota as you work to conceptualize and communicate the purpose and/or content of the lesson. This can include standards documents published by national professional organizations. These expectations will differ by education program area so you will need to pay attention to the directions provided by your content area instructors. For links to professional organizations where national standards documents can be found, see Appendix E.

Tips for identifying and listing standards

• Recognize that a lesson may address
  • an entire standard, just as it is stated
  • specific portions of a standard, but not the entire standard, or
  • multiple standards.
• Be aware that the standards most relevant to the learning goal may actually be listed at a different grade/age level than you are directly teaching in such circumstances where
  • your lesson is part of a developmental progression leading toward mastery expected at a later grade/age or involves scaffolding of skills to be applied in subsequent grades, or
  • your lesson is targeted to learners who have not yet mastered knowledge or skills listed at earlier levels.
• Do not list every standard that is related to your lesson content; select only those (or one) that are (is) most relevant to the learning goal.
• If a standard has multiple components or benchmarks, highlight the portion(s) of the standard(s) specifically addressed in the lesson.
• In addition, it is helpful to briefly explain how or why the particular standard is relevant to the learning goal and the objectives.

Relationships among goals and standards

Most often goals are informed by the set of curriculum standards you are working to meet. But occasionally you may identify and plan a lesson around an important learning goal which does not correspond precisely with published standards.

Note that in some disciplines the published statement of a standard, just as it is written, may serve as a sufficient statement of a goal. But in other circumstances, you may be writing goals in your own words and may need to provide a brief explanation of how the goal and standard(s) are aligned. 

Overall, you should use good judgment, seek input from your instructors, and aim to provide clear communication.

Learning Objectives

What is your objective(s) for this lesson? Identify what the learners will be able to do following instruction. Include an action verb (observable behavior), and criteria for success.

A learning objective is defined as a statement made in specific and measurable terms that describes what the learner will know or be able to do as a result of engaging in the learning experiences of the lesson.

The purpose of the objective(s) is to communicate the intended learning outcome. Keep these important points in mind:

• Learning objectives are central to all lessons that you develop yourself or adapt from other sources.
• Well-constructed objectives help you focus on the real purpose of instruction – the learning that is to take place.
• Well-constructed objectives clarify the purpose of instruction to all who have an interest in the outcome – students, parents, administrators, the community, and others.
• When you are able to articulate solid, well-defined objectives, you are better able to communicate the intended outcomes to your students and are better able to devise appropriate instructional and assessment strategies.

It is important to understand that learning objectives

•  are primarily about curriculum, not the methods of instruction, and

• are concerned with the intended learning outcomes more so than the strategies and activities which serve as a means of getting to those outcomes.

These are important points on which new teachers often experience confusion. You can avoid that confusion if you remember that there are often several different activities, tasks, or experiences that can result in students learning the same thing. Thus you and one of your teaching colleagues may choose to take different paths to achieve the same learning outcome. You share the same learning objective because the outcome is the same and that outcome is the focus of the objective.

Keep in mind the fact that well-constructed learning objectives are about the evidence of the intended learning; they specify what a student must demonstrate or perform in order for you as the teacher to infer that the appropriate learning has taken place.

It is important to understand that students’ learning cannot be seen directly. Instead, you must make inferences about students’ learning based upon observable performance and behavior, i.e. evidence you can see and measure.

Note that you may sometimes hear objectives being referred to as behavioral objectives, instructional objectives, or performance objectives. Although the different names may carry somewhat varying connotations in their context of use, the common feature is that they all refer to descriptions of observable performance or behavior that are used to make judgments about students’ learning.

Relationships among goals, standards, and objectives

In simplest form, one goal may correspond with one standard and one learning objective. However, as indicated previously, several standards may correspond with various facets of one overall learning goal. Likewise, from one overall goal you may determine there are several distinct measurable learning objectives encompassed by the broader goal.

This may seem a bit confusing at first, but you will sort it out and get a feel for it through experience. Focus on communicating the central focus of your lesson in a way that makes sense rather than in a manner that follows a formula.

Components of useful learning objectives

A statement of the learning objective includes audience (who), behavior/action (what), conditions (how), and criteria (how well).

• Who: The student
• State the learning objective in terms of what the student will be able to do as a result of the lesson. Do not describe what you, the teacher, will do during the lesson.
• It is common to embed the phrase “students will be able to…” into the objective. Please be aware that some of your instructors may not appreciate you taking a shortcut and writing SWBAT in formulaic fashion.
• What: The observable action
• Use behavioral verbs (action words) that describe an observable action, behavior, performance, or creation of a product.
• A useful objective identifies the kind of active performance that will be accepted as evidence the learner has achieved the objective. It is written in terms of what the student will be able to do or produce to be considered successful or competent.
• Some actions may be overt (visible) such as writing, drawing, or throwing.
• Some performances may be covert (not visible) such as solving, identifying, or distinguishing. Using forms of these verbs alone will be inadequate. Thus, when the main intent of the objective is covert, you should add an indicator behavior that is itself observable as a way to reveal whether the covert performance is happening.
• DO NOT use words such as ‘know’,’ learn’, ‘understand’, ‘grasp’, and ‘appreciate’. These are not observable; they can only be inferred indirectly based upon some other observable action.
• Please see Appendix F for resources on action verbs from Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy useful for writing lesson objectives. 

• How: Under specified conditions
• State the conditions under which the action is to occur or be performed. This can include materials, directions, circumstances, and other things that precede the action and are given to initiate it.
• Miscommunication can be avoided by the inclusion of relevant conditions. Be detailed enough so that the behavior you intend to see will be recognized by one of your peers and not mistaken for other possible behaviors.
• Be careful that you do not primarily describe the details of the instructional strategy or learning activity in the lesson that leads to the behavior stated in the objective; keep the focus on the intended outcome of the learning experience.
• Some guiding questions to consider when thinking about conditions include:
• What will the student be expected to use when performing the actions? (materials, tools, a partner, a list)
• What will the student not be allowed to use? (notes, calculator)
• What would be some real-world conditions under which the action would be expected to occur? (in front of an audience)

• How Well: According to specified criteria
• Include criteria that specify how well the student must exhibit the intended observable behavior to indicate meeting the objective. The criteria should infer assessment but does not directly describe all the details of the assessment. Specify the minimum level of performance acceptable as evidence of meeting the intended learning outcome.
• Criteria may be quantitative (showing 3 examples or matching 4 out of 5 correctly) or qualitative (arranging in descending order).
• As has been emphasized, be sure to focus on the learning that is to take place. You may have one objective or multiple objectives. Objectives may correspond to different developmental domains (cognitive, physical, language, social, emotional, spiritual/moral) depending on your goals.

Well-constructed objectives require careful thought and multiple revisions along the way to arrive at a clear, complete expression. Objectives are at the center of the lesson plan. Composing good learning objectives is a skill that is developed with practice and seeking feedback on your efforts. 

Writing effective learning objectives

Learning to construct clear, concise, and well-articulated learning objectives takes time and practice. It is a skill that is developed through persistence.

The following four-step process, adapted from materials by Dr. Bob Kizlik (2004, 2013) provides a guideline for developing efficiency and effectiveness in the skill of constructing learning objectives.

• Step 1 - Write a basic statement about what the students are to learn (i.e. the learning outcome).
• Don’t worry about having all the components or the exact wording for an objective; simply try to be clear about the intended learning outcome. Base the statement on the goal and standards.
• Step 2 – Formulate the statement using a behavioral action verb.
• Based on step 1, select a behavioral verb and write a statement that describes the observable performance, behavior, or action you expect to see as evidence demonstrating that the student has learned what was intended. In some cases you may use more than one verb. You may formulate several trial statements using different verbs. If the learning outcome is complex or has multiple components, you may need to write several statements to communicate it clearly. Take care in choosing verbs that represent things that are observable through some means.
• Step 3 – Add specific conditions.
• Using your previous statements, add a description of the specific conditions under which the action is to take place. These conditions should relate to the initiation of the intended behavior or action.
• Step 4 – Add the criteria for the performance.In some cases your criteria might be for the student to accomplish the task “perfectly.” In other cases, your criteria might involve the student making progress over a previous level of accomplishment.Work on revising the wording to communicate the intent in a clear and precise manner. Seek feedback from a peer or an instructor.
• Establish the criteria indicating how well the student must do to demonstrate successful learning. Think about how you can describe the level of performance that indicates when the objective has been met. In some cases your criteria might be for the student to accomplish the task "perfectly." In other cases, your criteria might involve the student making progress over a previous level of accomplishment.

Work on revising the wording to communicate the intent in a clear and precise manner. Seek feedback from a peer or instructor.

Examples of the Objective Writing Process

The following examples illustrate the process discussed above for writing clear objectives.

Example 1: Language Arts, Grades 4-7

        Step 1 – initial statement:

        I want the students to summarize the plot of the short story.

        Step 2 – use a behavioral verb:

        The student will read the story. The student will demonstrate comprehension of the storyline by

        drawing  a series of scenes that depict the major events of the story. The student will compose a

        bulleted list highlighting the main events of the story in chronological order.

        Step 3 – state the conditions:

        After reading the story independently, the student will demonstrate comprehension of the storyline by

        drawing a series of scenes that depict the major events of the story. After hearing the story read aloud,

        the student will compose a bulleted list highlighting the main events of the story in chronological order.

        Step 4 – include the criteria for performance:

        After reading the story independently, the student will demonstrate comprehension of the storyline by

        drawing a series of scenes that depict the four main events of the story in chronological order. After

        hearing the story read aloud, the student will compose a bulleted list highlighting at least six key events

        from the plot in chronological order.

Example 2: Mathematics, Algebra, Grades 7-8

        Step 1 – initial statement:

        I want the students to graph a line. They should do this by plotting points on the graph. In this lesson,

        they will graph the line by knowing the equation of the line.

        Step 2 – use a behavioral verb:

        The student will be able to sketch the graph of a line by plotting points from the equation.

        Step 3 – state the conditions:

        Given the equation of a line, the student will be able to sketch the graph of the line by plotting points.

        Step 4 – include the criteria for performance:

        Given the equation of a line, the student will be able to determine at least three ordered pairs

        representing points on the line, correctly plot these points, and accurately sketch the graph of the line

        including labeling the scale on the graph.

Continuity of Lessons

Describe how your current lesson fits in to the sequence of surrounding lessons. How do the prior and subsequent lessons affect what you will be teaching and what you will be expecting students to do? How will you build on what students have learned in previous lessons and use what they know to support them in meeting expectations of the next lesson? How have you made use of student assessment from previous lessons to make and or adjust these plans?

 Very rarely is a lesson an isolated or stand-alone segment of learning. Instead, each lesson fits within the context of instruction and learning that has previously taken place and will subsequently take place in the future for your students. Even though you may not always be teaching (or even specifically planning) the lessons before and after this one, you still need to take into consideration the following:

• how students’ learning from previous lessons will be applied in this current lesson,
• the specific prerequisite knowledge and/or skill that is necessary for students to successfully engage in this lesson; i.e. the student learning you will be building on in the current lesson,
• where or when students previously learned or engaged in the necessary prerequisite knowledge and/or skills and how you have (or can) determine whether or not students actually have the prerequisite knowledge and skill,
• when or where in the next or later lessons and learning activities students will be applying the learning from this lesson, and
• what specific knowledge and/or skill will students be accountable for applying to those future lessons or activities and how they be expected to use it.

If you are in a field placement, these should be discussed with your cooperating teacher so you understand the context within which your lesson fits. As part of your discussion with your cooperating teacher, find out what type of student assessment data may have been collected. Use the results of the assessment data to inform your lesson planning.

If your lesson is an introductory lesson to a new unit, it is still necessary to describe what preceded this lesson and how students performed as this information will guide the decisions you make about content, activities, grouping, and further assessment. 

Transform the objective into a learner-friendly/"I Can" statement: