Most objectives get written for the observer, copied from a standard, and then ignored by the teacher. That is a shame, because a sharp objective is the cheapest planning tool you have. It decides your exit question before you have written the lesson.
The test: can you write the question from it?
Read your objective and try to write the one question that would show a student met it. If you can write it in thirty seconds, the objective is working. If you stall, the objective is vague.
Compare these.
- Vague: Students will understand photosynthesis. What is the question? There is no single one.
- Sharp: Students will explain where the mass of a growing plant comes from, using the words carbon dioxide, water and glucose. The question writes itself: a seedling gains 40 grams, where did they come from?
Three parts worth including
- An observable verb. Something you could watch or read: explain, compare, solve, sort, justify, label, rewrite. "Understand," "know" and "appreciate" cannot be seen, so they cannot be checked.
- The content, narrow. Not "fractions" but "adding fractions with unlike denominators."
- A condition or a bar. With a number line, without a calculator, in two sentences, four out of five correct. This is what keeps the objective from being a wish.
Bad versus better, across subjects
| Subject | Weak | Better |
|---|---|---|
| Science | Learn about the water cycle | Draw and label the water cycle, and explain what causes evaporation and condensation |
| Math | Understand slope | Calculate the slope of a line from two points and say what the sign tells you about the line |
| ELA | Study theme | State the theme of a short story as a full sentence and support it with two details from the text |
| History | Know about the Constitution | Explain why the Articles of Confederation failed to hold the states together, citing two weaknesses |
Size matters more than wording
One lesson, one objective, roughly. If you need the word "and" to join two different skills, split them. A common failure is the objective that is really a unit: "Students will learn the causes of the Civil War" is two weeks, not a Tuesday. Break it into pieces you could check in a single exit ticket.
It also helps to pitch the objective at the right level of thinking. Recalling a definition and applying it to a new case are different jobs, and your question should match. The Bloom's taxonomy page lists verbs by level, and the page on standards and learning targets covers turning a broad standard into a lesson-sized target.
A student-facing version
Rewrite it as "I can" once you are happy. "I can calculate slope from two points and say what a negative slope means." If a ten-year-old cannot say it back, the original probably was not clear to you either.
Checklist
- Does it contain a verb I could watch or read?
- Is the content narrow enough to finish in one lesson?
- Is there a condition or a bar?
- Can I write the check question in under a minute?
- Does the verb match the thinking I actually plan to ask for?
- Could a student say it in their own words?
Where ClassSense touches this
Lightly, and honestly. When ClassSense turns an uploaded unit into skill packs, each pack shows a learning objective and a Bloom level at the top of its review screen. Read them as a draft. If your handout never stated what students should be able to do, the objective is inferred from the text, and it may be vaguer than you would write. ClassSense reads standards only if they appear in your document; it has no built-in standards library. In Create Content, the Custom Topic form has an optional Learning Objective field, which is a good place to paste a sharp one.
Common questions
How many objectives should a lesson have?
Usually one main objective, sometimes two closely linked ones. If you need several unrelated verbs, you are describing a unit, not a lesson.
Should I post the objective for students?
Yes if it is written in plain words they can say back. A jargon-heavy objective on the board is decoration. A clear one tells them what the exit question will ask.
Does ClassSense write objectives for me?
Each skill pack it generates has a learning objective, shown on the review screen. Treat it as a draft and sharpen it if it is vague. It does not tag standards unless they appear in your upload.
What is wrong with the verb understand?
You cannot watch it. Replace it with the thing a student would do to show understanding, such as explain, predict, compare or solve.