2. Learning Objectives: Why
bother?
@Htleadteacher
#whatsthepoint

3. The Big Objective:
Your stepping stones to success are:
Our bigger picture is: For all lessons in College to improve
presentation and application of lesson objectives (students)
• To understand why it is important to bother with objectives
– To Explain why objectives are important
– To summarise the best way of communicating objectives
– To demonstrate good practice in preparation for next
session

4. So … why bother?
• Here are your success criteria. Who’s unhappy with their
level? Would it have helped to know what we wanted in the
first place? So can we see the point of objectives?
3 4 5 6 7
You have As in 3 but A completed A correctly A fully
drawn the you have drawing with draw fish annotated
outline started to all the main with all fish showing
add features features bodily gills, fins,
features bubbles etc.
further to within its
the norm of habitat
fins, mouth,
eyes etc.

5. What the Objectives were for the
lesson
• By the end of the lesson you will be able to:
• Draw and label a fish in its habitat
• Draw the outline of a fish
• Label the main features
• Illustrate the habitat for the fish

6. Have you ever had the following
experiences

7. What we would expect from an
objective
• Think, Pair, Share.
What worries you about
learning objectives or
what questions do you
openly want to ask about
them?

8. Different types of objectives
Open Closed Long-term Short-term
Describes skills where Describes skills or Describes the over- Describes what they are
even if the success knowledge which are arching objective(s) for doing this lesson.
criteria is given to the closed - either right or the topic/SoW/time at
students there will always wrong. All knowledge school.
be a difference in quality Learning Objectives are
of work produced. closed
E.g. Be able to write a E.g. Be able to know the E.g. Be able to punctuate E.g. Be able to use
persuasive argument. key events of the correctly question marks
gunpowder plot.
You should have success You should not focus You should always have This should be one big
criteria to avoid wholly on these for all the big picture and every objective which can be
minimalistic approach. objectives lesson should be an over- split into differentiated
Only if the success arching objective in itself pieces
criteria are met can the
objective be ticked off
(this can however be ‘It’s great because we know what we are
differentiated by doing now and all my learning is
outcome) expanding’ – Nine-Year-Old

9. But what language should I use?
• Jargon can get in the way of what you actually
want the students to learn
• Always use student friendly language
• Do not use the word analyse if they do not know
what the word means
• Finding students focussing on the wrong aspects
is down to the objective being badly worded E.g.
To investigate reactions of acids – a student
would focus on the ‘reactions of acids’ part rather
than the skill of ‘investigation’ that is more
important for the future.

10. Your objectives should not just be a
series of tasks
• Carry out a practical
• Draw a graph
• Write a conclusion
• Investigate how temperature affects the reaction
rate
• Clearly present data in an appropriate way to
show the trend
• Explain using science what the experiment has
shown

11. Don’t give the game away
• You will know that Henry the
VIII created the church of
England so that he could
divorce his first wife.
• Look at the evidence to give
the reason why the church of
England was founded.

12. Mix knowledge and behaviour
• Outstanding lessons revolve around both context and skills
• Making sure that the objectives do not include the context or activity can have a dramatic
impact on teaching and learning
• The objective is what you want the pupils to learn i.e.
To write a newspaper report
To analyse data
To be able to paint in the style of Monet
• The context is simply the activity or vehicle through which the learning objective will be
taught i.e.
To write a newspaper report About pollution in Hartlepool
To analyse data In comparing the climate s of London and
Cairo
To be able to paint in the style of The scene of the local park
Monet
• Problems arise when you mix the two together to make one learning objective – the students
focus on the context not the transferable skill – so if you make it clear which are the actual
objectives and which are the context they can understand how they are transferring skills
within and across subjects.

13. Reflection throughout
• You lesson should feature multiplenary
opportunities to allow for
– Assessment of progress
– Correct any misconception
– Allow those that have “got it” to move on
• On a post-it review
Recap
State how the success
is linked to levels
Link where they are to the
next objective and how
they are using what they
have done

14. How important are the success
‘I think success
criteria?
criteria help me
because I know In order to have maximum impact, success criteria …
what I need to
do, and what I
• Need to be known in a basic form and by teachers first
need to do to • Should be the same for all learners in the class – differentiation
improve my then occurs
own work.’
Eight-year-old • Must be generated by pupils, or they have little meaning and less
impact
• Can be used across the curriculum (and make that link – teacher
observation standards)
• Need to be constantly referred to by the pupils and seek guidance
• Again – One success criterion can be used as the focus for a lesson,
broken down into further success criterion
• Again – It needs to be part of a bigger picture in defining quality

15. Link to Objectives Prezi

16. Your task for a follow-up
• You will now have some time to develop some ‘best practice’ when
looking at objectives.
• What we would like you to do is to work on the computers to look at
your lessons next week and to use the information to create objectives:
• With clear language;
• That are not muddled with the context;
• Which have an overarching lesson objective;
• Which when you ‘split’ the objectives they are not just a series of tasks
but they develop the learner for a deeper outcome;
• That are based around a ‘success criteria’;
• That are given a space at key points in the lesson to reflect upon;
• And … that are delivered in a way that you haven’t delivered them
before.
• When we meet again we can then discuss your thoughts on various
impacts, successes and areas for development and share good practice.

17. Round-up/Plenary
• Give your learning to day a mark out of 5
– 5 / 5 is fully understood and completed all
objectives
– 1/5 is made no progress towards objectives
– Give a next step target.
Objectives
Golden Rule 3 –
Golden Rule 2 –
Golden Rule 1 – Always develop the
Never prioritise objectives rather
Use simple
context over than having separate
language tasks
skills

18. Further Research
Suggested Books -
• ‘Active Learning through formative
assessment’ – Shirley Clarke,
• ‘Evidence-Based Teaching’ – Geoff Petty
• ‘The lazy Teacher’s handbook’ – Jim
Smith
Feedback to us - @Htleadteacher
#whatsthepoint