Chart paper.  I.  Love.  It.  I’ve scoped out the cheapest, yet high quality versions.  I’ve determined my favorite line spacing.  I’ve had an easel made to match said favorite easel paper.  Yep, I love chart paper.  Do you love chart paper?

Objectives are always on my mind (ahh, I like the Pet Shop boys version myself…see here if you want a throwback!)  But I digress!

I continuously striving for increasing the language skills I am teaching and expecting of my students and trying to push their language learning because of my objectives and tasks.  Typically objectives come first off in a lesson — what’s the point, what will be learning, how will you be improving this class?

But sometimes, a review or quick connection is necessary before the objectives are explained.  Why?  Sometimes, I find that students need to get back to that mental pathway, that place where they had stored their information, before they can think about objectives and the new information they will learn — students need to review so they can figure out where to place the new knowledge.  Without sometimes reviewing first, students don’t quite understand the objectives and are therefore not as clear as to what they will be learning.  After that review or connection, we’re off to the objectives.

Some food for thought…

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So one of the best things about Thanksgiving is the free HBO that miraculously shows up on my television for 4 days!  This past weekend, I spent many a moment flipping through the guide and setting record for movie after movie after movie.  Who doesn’t love a good free HBO movie?

So tonight, I sit down, ready to unwind with a solid HBO movie.  Hmm, how about a rousing rendition of Mamma Mia?

Onto the screen comes this girl and an ocean…ahh, I’m making connections of the last time I was at the ocean.  Okay, I’m being hooked.  Next, comes Pierce Brosnan, okay, hook remains — it works.  Suddenly, this girl does a girly giggle and runs to her friends, flaunting a diary…and launches into song!  Have these people read Making Content Comprehensible?  The giggly girl and dancing friends didn’t work for me — but songs, why not?

Nope!  I was asleep on the couch within 30 minutes.  Even on the best days, you can’t catch everyone with a song and connection.  Perhaps tomorrow, I’ll last more than another 30 minutes.

There’s always another day,  just as there’s always another lesson.

Amy

A late night blog post as my eyes flutter…no coffee tonight…it’s getting close to my monthly detox.  My one cup of coffee this morning was such a treat…smuggled in through my door by a colleague.  Made perfectly and hand-delivered — a perfect Wednesday surprise!

Enough.  I imagine you want some information you can use in your classroom…although I do highly recommend a monthly coffee detox!   Does me wonders!

I’ve been working with several teachers on making their objectives more explicit and at a higher ordered level of thinking.  This chart of Bloom’s Objective Verbs is a great help when considering your activities for each lesson.

It’s a handy chart – I keep mine posted beside my school desk and my home desk.  Let me know what you think!

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Sounds like a Shakespearean reference…but alas, no, it’s a look at being explicit in how we are teaching.  We need to remember that being explicit and specific in every step that we take in a lesson and every explanation we give will make learning more enjoyable and understandable for our students, especially our ELL students.

Picture this:

Now, something’s wrong with this picture.  Imagine my confusion when asked to pay a fine…after instant death!  In addition to a much needed laugh after the first day of MEAP, this sign reminded me that scaffolding and explicit teaching…did I go through each student and ensure that all students understood what I was *really* teaching before I moved on…was necessary.  Tomorrow’s review on Prime Factorizations is definiately going to be explicit — off to plan it!

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So the first day of school is around the corner. You’re frantically trying to set up your room and implement those new ideas that you have for this year. One of those ideas is to post each lesson’s language and content objectives — but just where should they be posted? How can middle and high school teachers find space for objectives when they teach different students (and often different subjects) every hour?

Well, relax…there’s time yet to make your room perfect – perhaps the following ideas will help!

* Post the objectives beside the schedule and written on a whiteboard

Objectives on Whiteboard beside Schedule

* Post objectives in a pocket chart for easy modification and re-use

Objectives in a Pocket Chart

* Create an objectives/assignment board

Objectives and Assignment Board

Other ideas:

* Type objectives ahead of time, print, post in a stack, and rotate them during class change time

* Have the objectives pre-typed in a powerpoint or on overheads to slap up when students arrive after class change time

Content and Language Objectives are most effective when they are:

a) posted for students to see

b) written in student-friendly langauge

c) read to/by the students at the beginning and end of class

What are ways that you’ve addressed objectives at the end of class?  A favorite stand-by of mine is thumbs up/down or drumming on the desk to show understanding.

Find that perfect way to post objectives and let me know what you come up with!

This is Amy Signing Out.