Writing objectives that make goals measurable is a vital part
of teaching. In teaching writing, setting goals and objectives
is essential because even the term writing itself can have
many different meanings.
What are writing goals?
Goal statement provide a general definition of what you mean
by writing skill. For example, your goals will make clear whether
when you use the term writing skill you are speaking of handwriting,
nonfiction writing, or imaginative writing.
Your writing goals describe in general terms what you
want all students to achieve by the end of your
course. (Teachers need to set annual goals and objectives because
they typically have a group of students only for a year.)
Goal statements:
Teachers need to set annual goals and objectives because they
typically have a group of students only for a year. Schools often
have goals that they expect students may take years to achieve.
For example, a school might want students to use resources to
improve their writing or to apply their knowledge of writing to
new situations. Neither of those goals ends at the end of a course.
Note that goals may include attitudes as well as content
knowledge and skills. Attitudes are very often long-term learning
goals.
What are writing objectives?
Writing objectives describe in specific terms what writing
standards your students must meet to prove you accomplished your
annual goals or made substantial progress toward longer-term goals.
Objectives are measurable. They contain information precisely
worded so that an outside observer could determine whether the
learner met the standard or not. If an objective says the goal
is a score of 65 on the final test, anyone with a basic knowledge
of arithmetic can tell whether a student who scored 68 passed
or not.
Writing teachers must attempt to write their objectives so that
an outside observer can determine with equal ease whether the
student did or did not meet it.
Intermediate and terminal objectives
Objectives may describe either intermediate or terminal
behaviors.
An intermediate objective describes a checkpoint the learners
have to pass in order to proceed further. For example, passing
a written test to get a learner's permit is an intermediate objective
for a teenager whose goal is a driver's license.
By contrast, terminal objectives may be achieved any
time during a course without affecting the subsequent learning
activities.Many writing objectives fall into this category.
(I prefer to call such objectives ultimate objectives
to avoid the negative connotations of the word terminal.)
If your school has institutional goals, you need to have
objectives in your curriculum that move students toward those
goals. Writing objectives that link a writing program to broad
educational goals is usually a piece of cake.
Set writing within course context
Most of us have to teach writing within the context of an English
course or communications course. If so, you need to identify the
terms, concepts, procedures, and skills
that someone must know to work in that field.
Having objectives for that content allows you to use the content
as topics for writing.
Using writing as a tool to accomplish your other learning goals
makes your teaching of the total course content more efficient
and effective.
