Standards, goals, and objectives should be at the basis of every lesson and curriculum created. Standards are the main basis that should always be looked at. Either the state or national level is good to include in a curriculum. Many schools want the state standards to be used when creating a curriculum because they are often more specific and include the same concepts that are created in the national standards.
Goals are created to specify the standards more to the curriculum. They are still broad statements, but they often break down the standards into areas to different elements that the curriculum hopes to meet. Objectives are another break down of standards and goals. Often, objectives are written carelessly and are not specific enough for someone to read and understand what will happen in the lesson. An objective should give enough information so that someone could read them and understand what learning will go on during the lesson and curriculum.
The goals and objectives I wrote today were focused on the Health Standards for Massachusetts. I wanted to focus on health education because I often find it more difficult to write health objectives. Before writing these objectives, I read over the information on the ABCD’s of objectives. This is a quick way to remember what is necessary in an objective. The A (Audience) focuses on the who in the lesson, which would be the students. The B (Behavior) is what the students will be doing during the lesson, which should be the measurable portion of the objective. The C (Condition) is information on when the activity will take place. The D (Degree) gives the criteria for how well a student should do the activity.
Today I realized that the ABCD's helped create the objectives that I write in all my lessons very much because it is often forgotten to add the D in a health lesson. I realized that when looking at my objectives, as well as the objectives of my classmates, Ithaca College has truly prepared me to create very good goals and objectives. Standards, goals, and objectives are necessities for lesson plans and quality objectives can really make or break any lesson.