Should Objectives Be Posted in Classrooms?

In this blog post, Grant Wiggins comments on administrators requiring teachers to post daily objectives on the wall, sometimes in the name of UbD-type backwards design of curriculum units. Some schools take it a step further: when students are asked what standard they’re working on, they chorus, “We’re working on ELA Standard B.2.a.i.” 

“This gets it all backwards,” says Wiggins. “The posting is the means; the end is understanding of the meaning of the work and a way to stay on track… The aim is to ensure that students understand goals and how current activities support those goals. Ideally, then, students have perspective and see the value of the work; they understand the why of the current work in order to find it more meaningful and to facilitate purposeful learning, and they have a touchstone for gauging progress (and thus use of time).”

The best test of posting goals on the wall is whether students can answer questions like, Why are we doing this? Why does it matter? and How does it connect to previous work? If students respond, “I dunno” or “Ask the teacher,” it’s not a good sign – and it doesn’t validate the efficacy of the sign on the wall. [Far better to have provocative, well-crafted unit Essential Questions on the wall and frequently refer to them as the unit unfolds.]

“Mandating the Daily Posting of Objectives, and Other Dumb Ideas” by Grant Wiggins

http://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/mandating-the-daily-po..., Dec. 5, 2013

From the Marshall Memo #514