Tea Time: Cup# 2

A Little Cup of Teaching Tips & Tricks

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Now, Recently, Previously

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First, I am going to be absolutely honest here. I am not a fan of writing objectives, “I can” statements, and learning goals on the board for students to read at the beginning of the period or for them to jot down in their daily notes. I think the process of putting objectives on the board is not purposeful. It is often just a checkmark for a teacher’s required lesson plan.

Since as a good teacher I have always clearly communicated what students will be learning in the lesson, I feel like written statements on the board need to have a new purpose. This year, I experimented with two ideas.

The first idea is writing “I can” statements on the board that show the connection between topics covered in today’s lesson, during a previous lesson, and earlier in the year. I like this idea because I can open the class with a discussion about how these topics connect and what prior knowledge is needed for the new lesson.

The second idea, which I believe I saw on Twitter, is the idea of writing the objective of today’s lesson on the board and having students put up post notes of topics that they did recently and way back earlier in the year. The purpose of this activity is to get students to think about the connections and prior knowledge on their own. This activity also allows me to assess the class and highlight common themes.