Sometimes life is like a windy, rocky road that seems to lead nowhere. But that is because there is no planning and we are letting ourselves being taken away by the circumstances of life and not by our own decisions and plans. Sometimes the classes we teach are just like that for exactly the same reasons. The difference,though,lies in the fact that in the above situation it is our life what is at risk while in the second case, it is someone else´s destiny what is at risk. We, as educators, cannot play with the life and future of our pupils for they depend on us to open the doors and windows for a brighter life. It is in this sense that every single class or lesson taught needs a plan, an objective.
The A.B.C.D. method for writing objectives is a very simple and useful way of creating clear and precise classes. It includes four elements (audience, behavior condition, and degree) that produce a fine educational product that has as core element the student or participant. With the A.B.C.D. method for writing objectives, class planning has a very helpful tool that saves not only time in both planning and teaching, but also guarantees that the instructor will focus on what is really needed for the total success of the student´s learning process.
Many times in life,the road seems to be dark, cloudy and with no sense. What is needed, however, is organization; a plan that will lead the way to a brighter spot where fulfillment can be achieved.
Let´s remember how many classes we really loved when we were students because we learned and had fun at the same time. Why was it? Well, the answer my friends, to put it in Bob Dylan´s words,lies there with the creation of effective and simple objectives. It is our turn now to do the same for our students. Regards from Paradise!
Hello Hector!
ReplyDeleteI really like reading your posts and comments because it is obvious that you are so into literature and your thoughts are always nicely formulated and inspiring.
I completely agree with you in that creating simple and effective teaching objectives can be very helpful for all of us who teach. It is both time-saving and it puts the main focus on the final outcomes of the teaching-learning process we want our students to achieve at the end. I am totally aware of the fact that having a clear organization and a plan is more than a half way to accomplishing our goals.
But, when you say that 'we, as educators, cannot play with the life and future of our pupils for they depend on us to open the doors and windows for a brighter life', I simply cannot resist the feeling that , at least sometimes, we have to loosen up the strings we hold in our hands and let our students spread their wings and search outside the given frameworks in order to find the right answers on their own. Don't you think so?
Respectfully,
Izela
Hi Izela. Thank you for stopping by and reading my thoughts on this journey we are just starting.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your observation, I completely agree with you. Maybe I was not clear enough when I said that "we, as educators, cannot play with the life and future of our pupils for they depend on us to open the doors and windows for a brighter life," what I really wanted to say was that we cannot go into a classroom without planning it for the ones suffering the consequences will be our students. I mean, I totally agree with you with your idea of loosing things a little bit; in fact, i do it most of the times, but there is always a purpose behind it. There is always an idea behind everything done in class; otherwise it would be chaos or anarchy.
Kind regards,
Hector.