Writing Objectives: A New Spin

How many of you are writing your objectives on the board like a good little compliant teacher? ME, I was!

SWBAT ** insert something that sounds amazing, but has ZERO meaning to your kiddos.

Yet, every time I asked them what they learned that day, all they could do was regurgitate what I had written. I decided I wanted to make my daily objectives meaningful and purposeful.

So, my team and I made a change. We called it the WHAT, WHY and HOW board.

Everyday, with three minutes left to class, we go to our W, W, H board. I, of course, tie it into my point system.

I'll say, "OK, time to close out class. Let's talk about what we did today."

Example:

• We identify which behavioral objective(s) we used that day to understand WHAT we did in class.
• Then, we fill in the blank: To deepen our understanding of ___________________________, to understand WHY we learned what we did.
• I fill in the HOW every morning (day's agenda).

Wanna try this new technique? Follow these easy steps!

#1 Find a place in your room for the WHAT, WHY, and HOW board. Here's mine!

#2 Begin by closing out class and modeling for students how to do this. I teach 9th grade and it takes at least half the year to catch on. They struggle with figuring which behavioral objective fits. But that's ok! They're thinking about WHAT they've done in class. This is really important to their learning. 

#3 Don't be afraid! I have NEVER had an administrator give me any push back on this. They are just as blindly compliant when looking for your objectives during an observation. I always discuss this classroom technique with them and have ALWAYS received positive feedback. 

This works for all classes and content areas. Some examples:

ELA: 

We COMPARED the main characters in Great Gatsby to better understand character development.

We READ Hatchet out loud in class and DISCUSSED some quotes to better understand the themes of the novel. 

Math:

We APPLIED associated and commutative properties to better understand algebraic expressions. 

History: 

We PRESENTED a group project about Enlightenment thinkers to deepen our understanding of

the transformation Europe was going though in the 18th century.

We TRANSLATED the Bill of Rights to better understand how the Constitution remains a living document. 

Biology: 

We EXPLAINED and DEFINED metabolism and homeostasis to deepen our understanding of fundamental biological processes.

Below is a video of my class in action closing out class with out What, Why and How board. 

#4 LAST but not least, grab my freebie here.