Writing Learning Objectives to Promote Student Thinking!

           One month in, three more to go! I know I say every week how fast time is going but boy is it ever true! This week in AEE 412, we learned about interest approaches, hooking students, and Lancelot’s Primary and Secondary Principles of Interest. I thoroughly enjoyed this week because “hooking” my students and creating motivation to learn is something I hope to do with every lesson I will teach. Utilizing interest approaches was also the focal point of lab this week, something that gave me practice as a pre-service teacher and also generated new ideas for future interest approaches.

         As I prepare for the upcoming week, the focus will be on learning objectives and teaching in groups. Whittington’s article on writing objective’s provided some great insight into writing learning objectives as a teacher. One point from the article that really stuck out to me was the idea that when writing objectives, we as teachers want to encourage students to think and form connections, not simply memorize information. She gave an example of an objective stating that students will be able to “list the compartments of the ruminant digestive system” versus students being able to “explain the compartments of the ruminant digestive system.” This is something I will keep in mind as I write objectives. What cognitive level of thinking do I want my students to reach?

           I also took a lot of information from the Groseta article on cooperative learning and hope to incorporate it into my future classes. As Groseta states, cooperative learning, a teaching strategy in which learners work in small groups, allows students to develop social skills including the ability to listen to others, explaining oneself clearly, taking turns, and respecting others opinions or ideas. I really like the idea of cooperative learning and promoting small group work. I have already incorporated small group work into some of my lessons. This group work will range from simple tasks such as creating a poster to more in depth tasks such as reading an article and working through a case study.

            Newcomb also provides seven group teaching technique ideas in his book as well. These include lecture, discussion, demonstrations, field trips, role playing, resource people, and cooperative learning. As I read this chapter, I felt somewhat ahead of the game so to speak because I have already incorporate most of these teaching techniques into my lesson plans before completing this reading! One article I found online from Iowa State’s Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching described seventeen creative learning techniques. Some overlapped with Newcomb, which demonstrated their importance and effectiveness.

          Reflecting on the week and looking ahead to the next, I understand the importance of learning objectives and their need to encourage students to think. In my lab this past week, I neglected to include learning objectives in my presentation, which did not enhance the effectiveness of my lesson. I want my students to do more than simply recall facts or memorize lists. I want them to form connections, draw conclusions and understand why or how things work the way they do. Effective learning objectives are arguably the best start to promote these levels of thinking!

References: Techniques for Creative Teaching. (2014). Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. Retrieved September 21, 2014, from http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching- resources/classroom-practice/teaching-techniques-strategies/creativity/techniques- creative-teaching/