Lesson Planning and Writing Educational Objectives

Every good lesson is based on a well thought-out plan.

Step one: The first step of this plan is deciding what you want the students to take away (learn) from your
lesson.
For a 50 minute lesson, students usually cannot take away more than one or two things well, so as
you plan your lesson think of the most important aspects you want them to learn.
These points may be taught and reinforced in different ways throughout the lesson.
Step two: Decide on the ways you will teach these objectives. A suggestion would be to present the same
material in different waysshort lecture, an exercise, pair work, a game, etc.
Step three: Decide how you will assess your students to find out if they learned the objective/s you set out to
teach them. The assessment does not have to be a formal test or exam; it can be done informally in a game, a
crossword puzzle, a Discussion Web, for example.
Writing Educational Objectives: The Key to a Good Lesson
Good educational objectives meet the following criteria:
They should be observable:
We should be able to see some evidence that the objective has been reached.
Students will define the following 5 new vocabulary words . . .
After studying the four cardinal points (north, south, east and west), the
students will be able to mark the path on a map the teacher will instruct
them to follow with 100 % accuracy.
Students will write a 5 sentence paragraph with a clear and arguable thesis
sentence.

Do not use abstract terms such as know, understand, appreciate, or be aware. We cannot
see how any of these objectives are being met. However, if this is your goalknowing,
understanding, being aware--then you must add an observable behavior to the objective. For
example:
Students will demonstrate they comprehend simple American English
sentences by listening to a short dictation and writing it down with 80%
accuracy.
Students will demonstrate they understand spoken English by participating

in a

short conversation with a native speaker.

They should be measurable:
We should be able to measure how well the objective has been reached by indicating an expected
or an acceptable level of performance.
Examples:
After reading a selection, the students will list the five reasons for . . .
The students will write a paragraph of at least five sentences
The students will participate in a short skit where they will correctly use at least
four of the phrases and vocabulary words we have studied in the lesson.

Parts of an educational objective:

The performance:
Describe the desired outcomes.
State clearly and precisely what you want the students to gain from the lesson.
State clearly what the students will do.

The conditions:
Indicate what the conditions will be under which the objective will be measured. For example, After
reading three realistic fiction books, the student will be able to identify 5 common characteristics of
realistic fiction for children.

The criterion:
The criterion is the level of accuracy or performance you will require to make sure the student has
met the objective.