The Power of Learning Objectives: A Guide for New Teachers

By Aviv Weiss, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Educators at Khan Academy and former Teacher

Hey there, as a new teacher, one of the most important things you can do is set clear expectations for what your students are meant to achieve. This is where learning objectives come in. They’re like a road map that guides both you and your students. In this blog, we’ll explore the benefits of setting learning objectives in the classroom and guide you through creating specific and measurable objectives that can help your students succeed. We’ll also share some helpful tips to ensure your students’ success with implementing learning objectives and explore how AI-powered applications like Khanmigo can save you time and help you achieve your teaching goals faster. Let’s get started!

Benefits of Learning Objectives in the Classroom

Setting clear learning objectives has numerous benefits for both teachers and students.

First and foremost, learning objectives provide direction and focus for lessons,which helps teachers maintain a clear vision of what they want to achieve. This ensures that students understand the purpose of the lesson. By knowing what they’re supposed to learn and achieve, students are better able to stay engaged, motivated, and interested in what they are learning.

Plus, by setting clear objectives, teachers can more easily assess student progress and adjust their teaching style and strategies to ensure students are getting the most out of each lesson.

How to Set Specific, Measurable Learning Objectives for Your Students

To create strong learning objectives, let’s be specific and measurable in our statements. This way, we can easily determine if students have met the objectives and make it clearer for them to understand what we expect. So, start by pinpointing the most important outcomes you want your students to achieve. Then, let’s create a statement that clearly explains what students will know or be able to do by the end of the lesson. For example, “students will be able to differentiate between adjectives and adverbs in sentences.” Let’s make sure the objective is achievable and realistic for your students’ level. You’ve got this!

Align Your Learning Objectives to State Curriculum 

Aligning your learning objectives to the state curriculum is super important for ensuring educational effectiveness. By mapping your objectives to the curriculum, you can provide students with a structured and comprehensive learning experience that meets all the required standards. This alignment not only helps students acquire the necessary knowledge and skills, but it also supports their overall academic growth and success. So, take the time to carefully analyze and align your learning objectives to the state curriculum, and get ready to see your students thrive in their educational journey!

Let’s give an example of developing a learning objective with Khanmigo:

Khanmigo: Let’s write some learning objectives! What standard are you working on today? (Please provide the text of the standard.)

Teacher: My students need to tackle standard 6.G.A.1. Can you help me break down what they need to be able to do to master this standard? 

Note: This is from Common Core standards.

Khanmigo: Great! Now, let’s think about what we want the students to be able to do by the end of the lesson. Based on the standard, it seems like we want them to find the area of various shapes. Is that correct?

Teacher: Yes.

Khanmigo: Fantastic! Now, let’s think about the specific action we want the students to take. We want them to “find” the area, but that’s a bit vague. How about we use a more specific verb, like “calculate”? This way, we can observe them doing the calculations. What do you think?

Teacher: I would like to observe my students doing the calculations.

Khanmigo: Great! Now, are there any tools or references the students would need to calculate the area of these shapes? For example, would they need a formula sheet or a calculator?

Teacher: Calculators only.

Khanmigo: Perfect! So, here’s a draft of our learning objective:

“By the end of the lesson, students will be able to calculate the area of right triangles, other triangles, special quadrilaterals, and polygons using a calculator.”

Does that sound good to you, or are there any changes you’d like to make?

Now, if you think this is too much work for your students to get done in one class, we can split learning objectives further down:

Teacher: Could you break down this learning objective into five lessons?

Khanmigo:

Absolutely! Here’s how we could break it down:

1. “By the end of Lesson 1, students will be able to calculate the area of right triangles using a calculator.”
2. “By the end of Lesson 2, students will be able to calculate the area of other types of triangles using a calculator.”
3. “By the end of Lesson 3, students will be able to calculate the area of special quadrilaterals using a calculator.”
4. “By the end of Lesson 4, students will be able to calculate the area of other polygons using a calculator.”
5. “By the end of Lesson 5, students will apply these techniques to solve real-world and mathematical problems involving the calculation of area.”

How does that sound? Would you like to make any changes?

Tips to Ensure Your Student’s Success with Successful Implementation of Learning Objectives

• Set clear learning objectives: Clearly define what your students should be able to accomplish by the end of the learning period.
• Align objectives with curriculum: Ensure that the learning objectives are in line with the curriculum and educational standards.
• Break down objectives into smaller tasks: Divide the learning objectives into manageable tasks to facilitate better understanding and progress.
• Provide regular feedback: Give constructive feedback to students to help them track their progress and make necessary adjustments.
• Foster a supportive learning environment: Create a positive and supportive atmosphere that encourages students to actively engage in achieving the learning objectives.

Setting learning objectives in the classroom is a fantastic and meaningful way to help students achieve academic success. Clearly defined learning objectives provide direction and focus for both teachers and students. With the help of AI-powered applications like Khanmigo, teachers can tailor their teaching to achieve their goals faster and save time. By setting realistic and achievable objectives, communicating them clearly to students, and tracking progress every step of the way, teachers can help their students reach their full potential and set them up for lifelong success!