Learning Objectives

1. Learning Objectives An Essential Step in Differentiating Instruction September 5 & 6, 2006

2. Differentiated Instruction Differentiated instruction is an approach to teaching that responds to the learning needs of all students.

3. Rests on: • Clarity of outcomes and expectations for all students • Assessment of student progress towards these outcomes • Planning for different kinds of progress and needs among students Differentiated Instruction

4. What are Learning Objectives?

5. Learning Objectives are: • Statements of what students should Know and Be Able To Do at the end of a lesson • Expressed in terms of the curriculum • Written and communicated to the students

6. Learning Objectives are Student-centered and expressed in student-friendly language. At the end of the lesson, students (or you) will be able to ……

7. Learning Objectives are Specific in terms of curricular knowledge. At the end of the lesson, students (or you) will be able to explain three types of evidence to support the theory of continental drift to each other.

8. Learning Objectives are Concrete and able to be assessed. • For example, by the end of the lesson, students (or you) will be able to: • Demonstrate • Describe • Explain • Define and give examples of • Compare and contrast • Synthesize • Evaluate

9. Learning Objectives are Appropriate. This means they are: • Linked to Standards, and State and District curricula • Worth knowing • Matched to students: challenging and attainable

10. Learning Objectives vs. Activities • A learning objective focuses on what students will learn, not what they are doing in order to learn. • If the objective is student learning, the teacher will have students do something that will increase their likelihood of acquiring a particular knowledge or skill, but the goal is the learning, not the activity.

11. Learning or activity? • Students will be able to describe to each other the principal causes of World War I. • Students will watch a video on earthquakes using an organizer, then answer questions based on their notes. • Students will go to the Museum of Fine Arts and write a paper on their favorite painting. • Students will apply the rules for stem-changing in the subjunctive by generating “what if” questions.

12. Clarity of expected student outcomes related to the curriculum is an essential part of Differentiated Instruction. • Components of DI: • High quality, guaranteed curriculum • Clear outcomes • Ongoing assessment • Differentiated responses to assessments

13. Students will identify the qualities of an effective leader as proposed by Machiavelli in The Prince. Students will evaluate the impact of drug use on teenagers in American society. Students will compare and contrast daily teenage life in the native and target cultures Students will read about effective leaders in The Prince by Machiavelli. Students will understand the impact of drug use on teenagers in American society. Students will appreciate the contrast of daily teenage life in the native and target cultures. Are these Learning Objectives? YES NO

14. Are these Learning Objectives? NO YES • Students will memorize the electron configurations for the first four rows of the periodic table. • Students will play a three-on-threebasketball game. • Students will be able to write the electron configurations for elements 1-36 using only a periodic table. • Students will apply the rules of traveling and double dribble in a small sided basketball game.

15. Checking on Learning Objectives Is this learning objective… • Student-Centered?At the end of this lesson, students (or you) will ……. • Expressed in student-friendly language? • Specific in terms of curricular knowledge?At the end of this lesson, students (or you) will be able to name and define the Five Pillars of Islam. • Concrete and able to be assessed?At the end of this lesson, students (or you) will be able to define, explain, describe, etc. • Appropriate (linked to Standards, worthwhile and of reasonable challenge)?