Writing objectives: some late year review

Hello everyone,

I think a sign of a great teacher is the ability to take a difficult concept and make it understandable and memorable.

That begins with a clear objective.

You should have two things in mind when you write lesson objectives: 1, what will the students know or be able to do at the end of the lesson, and 2, how will they demonstrate their knowledge?

(The second part of the objective will be your assessment.)

Let me show you the process I might take to develop objectives for a lesson in English.

Let me pretend that I'm teaching 10th Grade English, second semester. Let me pretend that Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is still one of the required works of literature for 10th grade. At the end of this email, I have included all the California State Standards for Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text. Right now, pretend that I've chosen Standard 3.4: "Determine characters' traits by what the characters say about themselves in narration, dialogue, dramatic monologue, and soliloquy."
I have chosen this objective because in our class reading, we are approaching Act III of Julius Caesar, and I know that Antony's famous funeral speech ("Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!") is a perfect time to teach Standard 3.4.

Here is the first half of my objective: "Students will be able to determine Mark Antony's character traits (ie, duplicity, manipulation, cynicism, and political opportunism) by what he says in his dramatic monologue at Caesar's funeral." (Note how easy it is for me to reword the standard to reflect my objective.)

The second half of my objective will show how I will assess them: "Students will demonstrate this ability by giving oral responses to teacher questions requiring the students to interpret clues to Antony's character in the final portion of the speech with 80% accuracy or better after being randomly selected to give an interpretation." (It's a long speech; I can save the last hundred lines or so for my assessment and use the rest to teach the standard.)

Put the two elements together, and that will be my objective. It will also tell me my assessment. In between, I will need to plan a variety of things. There is some language they won't know, including the words I'm using to describe the character traits (we'll have to do some vocabulary scaffolding); they might not understand the historical setting; they will likely assume that Antony is being straightforward, and that since he has been called a "noble" Roman, he really is (we will have to review some of his previous actions); and they won't notice or understand why Brutus spoke in prose, but Antony is speaking in poetry (and how that gives the lie to Antony's declaration that he is not a great orator like Brutus).

I see that we might have to go slowly. I may need to take a few days, and then it will get really boring if I'm not careful. What can I do to make it interesting? Staged readings? Rewritten speeches in modern language? Improvisations based on the characters Brutus and Antony? Games based on the scaffolding I'll be doing with vocabulary? In all of this, I will need to leave the last part of Antony's speech untouched so that I can use it for my assessment.

I have enough possibilities in mind now to go ahead and plan the rest of the lesson, including some of the activities that I had in mind.

But I've started with a two part objective that is clear and specific and based on the state standards and includes an assessment.

And there's a much better chance that they won't be confused about what I'm trying to teach them (despite all the scaffolding and side tracking over vocabulary and versification) because I can tell them right from the start where we're headed with all this.

Of course, when I'm finished, I might find out that I'm not yet a great teacher (my students might be totally confused), but I know where I was supposed to go, and I know what I wanted from the journey, and if my students don't get it, I'm at least smart enough to try to figure out why.

Besides, it's a long play. I can reteach in Acts IV and V if I have to.

Jeff Combe




3.0 Literary Response and Analysis

Students read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of literature that reflect and enhance their studies of history and social science. They conduct in-depth analyses of recurrent patterns and themes. The selections in Recommended Literature, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students.

Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text

3.3 Analyze interactions between main and subordinate characters in a literary text (e.g., internal and external conflicts, motivations, relationships, influences) and explain the way those interactions affect the plot.

3.4 Determine characters' traits by what the characters say about themselves in narration, dialogue, dramatic monologue, and soliloquy.

3.5 Compare works that express a universal theme and provide evidence to support the ideas expressed in each work.

3.6 Analyze and trace an author's development of time and sequence, including the use of complex literary devices (e.g., foreshadowing, flashbacks).

3.7 Recognize and understand the significance of various literary devices, including figurative language, imagery, allegory, and symbolism, and explain their appeal.

3.8 Interpret and evaluate the impact of ambiguities, subtleties, contradictions, ironies, and incongruities in a text.

3.9 Explain how voice, persona, and the choice of a narrator affect characterization and the tone, plot, and credibility of a text.

3.10 Identify and describe the function of dialogue, scene designs, soliloquies, asides, and character foils in dramatic literature.