This chapter discussed the debate over the use of behavioral objectives.Do you feel that behavioral objectives are beneficial, why or why not?
37 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I believe behavioral objectives present a teacher with a definite basis for teaching. It allows a teacher to focus his/her creativity on planning the activities and interacting with the students. Establishing behavioral objectives allows the student to know exacly what is expected of him/her. Finally, I think these objectives allow teachers the opportunity to collaborate with one another, sharing ideas and strategies to enhance the learning process.
I think the most important part is that the teacher is able to communicate with the students about what is expected for achievement. I feel that it is easy to teach a lesson and when you get to the end the students are not sure what they should have accomplished. I think if we started with that it is more of a fair game. This also allows teachers to use their strengths to teach the students.
For a division, I do believe that behavior objectives are beneficial. I travel between schools in the same town/county and have seen how teachers at the same grade level are teaching completely different objectives. Tightening up on some of these objectives have given some of our schools more focus. Schools are now concentrating on the reading and math skills that all students need at a particular time and grade level. At first, I think there was a lot of resistance and a lot of teachers saw this as taking away their creativity and choice, but narrowing this focus, for some, has given teachers time to do some of the things that they wanted to do and thought they didn't have time for. They have "bought back" time because some skills have moved to other grade levels. Previous to this realignment, there were cases where some skills were duplicated and overlapped while others were not taught at all. It has taken a little time, but teachers once again are finding time to use their creativity and add life back into the curriculum. More and more teachers are finding ways to pre-access and show that students have mastered these behavioral and instructional objectives....and can now add extensions to what the students are learning.
I do believe that behavorial objectives are beneficial. It gives the teacher direction on where to focus her attention. Then using this basis, she is able to use her creativity and knowledge of her students’ learning style to come up with the best way to convey the information. It also allows the students to become more in tune with their learning because they are aware of the given expectations. As Diane mentioned, I also think that behavioral objective help to give schools, possibly struggling schools, an area of concentration. These objectives can help them to evaluate their instruction styles and possibly share strategies to help improve the learning process
Behavioral objectives can be very beneficial to the classroom. Some students need boundaries and expectations in social and behavioral areas as well as academic areas. The nice thing about it is the majority of students are going to naturally adhere to the objectives; the ones who have difficulties will have more direction and support from teachers and students who know exactly what is expected of them. Behavior plans which include behavioral goals and objectives are often very successful for students who experience difficulty in and out of the classroom and have been used for quite some time in special education.
I agree with most everyone else. Behavioral objectives are a good baseline to start. It gives students and teacher a place to start and grow outward. I don't see why people think that it limits creativity.
Behavioral objectives have definitely made me a better teacher. These objectives force a teacher to plan effectively and with much thought to the outcome of the instruction. I believe teachers who have problems with these specific objectives are missing out on the beauty of the process in that it makes all of us accountable and insures continuity within the curriculum.
Behavioral objectivies do have a place in the classroom as we teach our students social responsbility and expectations. They can help students struggling in a particular area socially or academically. As discussed in the text behavioral objectives can be dehumanizing and can limit creativity for some.
Clear expectations are always beneficial. In special education, writing IEP's is all about behavioral objectives. It gives the student and teachers clear expectations (and consequences if necessary). At the high school level it is important to colloborate with teachers and the student in identifying and evaluating the objectives.
Behavioral objectives are good to have in teacher's lessons. These goals help the teacher to focus on what is being required of her to teach. Students also benefit from behavioral objectives because it allows them to be informed of what they will be learning as well as what will be expected from them. I agree with Diane that behavioral objectives help teachers focus on their lessons. A great deal of our content requirements have been placed in other courses and therefore we have fewer topics to teach. We can use this time to create lessons that involve cooperative learning groups, hands-on activities, and the use of technology. Creativity is not limited by behavioral objectives. Instruction can be as exciting as the teacher allows it to be.
I do believe that behavorial objectives are beneficial. I feel that students benefit from behavioral objectives because it allows them to know what they will be learning as well as what will be expected from them and the consequences if it is not learned. I think that behavior objectives are important because it helps students at an early age learn that there are consequences for everything we do, good or bad. Clay Moran
I do feel that behavioral objectives are beneficial to instruction. As many others have said, objectives can narrow the focus and communicate to students what they are to learn. This type of guided instruction allows each teacher the opportunity to be creative, but also ensures that every child is being introduced to the same material. While the use of instructional objectives in accountability testing is a controversial debate, using behavioral objectives to structure what is being taught is a practice I think many educators tend to agree with.
I believe that behavioral objectives are beneficial. It offers teachers a basis for what they will teacher and students have a clear idea of what is expected of them. Special educators have followed this process for quite some time. The outcome is identified and teachers are able to see how students are progressing toward the outcome. Teachers are also able to identify where instructional adjustments are needed in an effort to move students toward the planned goal.
I think behavioral objectives are beneficial. It gives a teacher a direction. They also let a studetn know what is expeted from him/her. They allow teachers the ability to work together. I also agree with what ANita siad about giving children boundaries. A clear expectation is beenficial for the student and it helps a teacher plan more effectively.
I think that behavioral objectives are very useful. They give a teacher the basis or plan for what they are going to teach and it helps the students easily identify what is expected of them.
Behavioral objectives are obviously beneficial, but I think it's important to keep in mind the "under what conditions" and "criterion to mastery" aspects of these objectives. I worry that sometimes our behavioral objectives are devolving to the level of "The student will be able to answer the corresponding question correctly on the SOL test." We need to make sure that our behavioral objectives continue to require higher order thinking, and reflect our high expectations for students. Writing good behavioral objectives can be very challenging...
Knowing what we want the students to be able to do helps guide teaching. However, I always ask students to behave at higher levels in bloom's taxonomy. Our teaching should never have an upper limit. Most standards are written to be the lower limit.
I agree, that behavioral objectives are beneficial for students and instructors/teachers. The fact that teachers can communicate expectations thus accountability is possible is worth money and time! I also think the precision of identifying what is to be accomplished is necessary for effective teaching and learning.
Any opportunity to establish objectives for learning can be beneficial as long as reasonable discretion is applied. Concerns regarding "limits of creativity," and "dehumanizing efforts" can be applied to any form of objectives, but we have to trust ourselves and colleagues to do what is best for our students. Often the best idea is to establish parameters and extend expectations through such objectives.
Behavioral objectives are needed in classroom to ensure multiple assessments are available to evaluate student achievement. Educators whom depend only on benchmark style objectives means could possibly set up a curriculum where students are only evaluated using standardized assessments. Every successful student will not perform well on standardized tests; behavioral objectives need to be in place to ensure that students are being evaluated as they progress through academic material. It is the actions of the students in relating the information to real world scenarios that conveys real learning, and behavioral objectives are needed to ensure this.
Behavioral objectives are useful in that they help the teacher, students and parents know the expectations at the end of a unit of study, or a lesson. Teaching with behavioral objectives, helps everyone have an understanding of not only the gaols of a unit, but the depth of the learning that is expected to take place.
Just as others have stated, I feel that behavioral objectives are beneficial. They certainly have their place. They give teachers a good starting point, without them as Terri stated there would be no continuity in the classroom. We can and should be creative enough to teach all of our students. I also agree with Jenny in that the objectives do allow collaboration with other teachers.
I agree that giving students the expectations up front will allow the students to focus on their task, and the teacher to focus on what must be taught. I do not see it as limiting creativity, the teacher should allow for creativity within the objectives.s
I would agree that behaviorial objectives are beneficial for teachers today, especially in light of the requirements being placed on educators by No Child Left Behind. They do keep you focused and help you communicate to students what is expected of them. I also agree with Jonathan that, if not careful, they can result in a too narrow and limited educational experience.
Behavioral objectives are an important part of education. Teachers know what their students must learn, prepare the lessons, teach both the knowledge and the behaviors that the student must reproduce on the evaluation. The student then has a complete knowledge of what to know and the way in which to present it.
Behavioral objectives are the basis for laws and functioning in society. Students need to know what teachers and adults expect of their behavior. Learning behaviors appropriate for certain situations is a big piece of childhood. School gives students practice for life in following rules and receiving consequences when they are broken.
I agree that behavioral objectives provide teachers with a good starting place and also let students know what is expected. They can also open doors of communication for teams of teachers to discuss what is expected of all children and can create a collaborative environment.
Whereas behavioral objectives indicate the specific behaviors students must demonstrate to indicate that learning has occurred, there are several advantages for their use. They are easily written. They are easily categorized by domain. They are easily evaluated by objective methods. They can easily be written to be consistent with the overall goals of the school. They can guide the teacher when he or she designs instruction. They guide the learner when he or she self-assesses growth and progress.
It seems to me that there shouldn't be only one approach to writing objectives or instructing children. However, behavioral objectives appear to be a way of ensuring proper documentation during this age of accountability. Personally, I see them as useful when teaching lessons that require skill acquisition not when building conceptual understanding.
I agree with what many have said that they allow for focus and give direction for students and teachers. In my experience it helps for instruction to move in a logical sequence. Students understand throughout the learning process what is expected of them.
Behavioral objectives are important in that they enable the teacher to focus his/her instruction by identifying what the student is to learn/demonstrate, the manner in which the behavior will be demonstrated and the manner in which the behavior will be measured. In fact, you could say that behavioral objectives are the blueprints for the teacher.
I do feel that behavioral objectives are beneficial. One of the benefits that was pointed out in some of the responses is that it allows teachers to communicate to their students exactly what is expected from them. I also think it would be beneficial for parents to know exactly what their child needs to be expected to learn and comprehend.
I believe that behavioral objectives are important as well. Students need to know what the teacher expects from them. If possible, teachers should try to work together to allign these objectives so that there is a sense of normalcy from classroom to classroom. Through creating these objectives, teachers are able to effectively teach their material.
I believe behavioral objectives allow teachers to communicate to students what needs to be accomplished. They also allow for proper sequencing and adequate assessments.
I agree with Kelley's comment that there shouldn't be just one way to writing objectives or instructing children. One thing we should keep in mind is that behavioral objectives can be used to describe higher-order thinking as well as basic skills. In math, we can write behavioral objectives that have students solving complex problems, communicating their thinking clearly, and engaging in effective reasoning and proof. It's time-consuming, but writing rubrics with this level of detail at least once per grading period is very beneficial to student learning.
I do believe that behavioral objectives are beneficial to students. Students know what is expected and there is consistency between classes and grades. I used to work at a school that was a free-for-all, as far as behavior goes, for several years and it was always so challenging to keep students on task who had learned in previous years that there weren't consequences for behavior. I would much rather have the teachers collaborate and come up with a plan for everyone to follow to create the consistency so students can maintain focus on school.
I believe that behavior objectives are beneficial. They not only provide the teacher with a purpose for teaching but it provides the students with a purpose for learning. I believe that all students want to know why they have to learn the things we are teaching them. As an eighth grade math teacher, my students want to know the purpose of the SOLs they have to learn. When I provide them with a purpose, they seem to be more willing to learn the material.
37 comments:
I believe behavioral objectives present a teacher with a definite basis for teaching. It allows a teacher to focus his/her creativity on planning the activities and interacting with the students. Establishing behavioral objectives allows the student to know exacly what is expected of him/her. Finally, I think these objectives allow teachers the opportunity to collaborate with one another, sharing ideas and strategies to enhance the learning process.
I think the most important part is that the teacher is able to communicate with the students about what is expected for achievement. I feel that it is easy to teach a lesson and when you get to the end the students are not sure what they should have accomplished. I think if we started with that it is more of a fair game. This also allows teachers to use their strengths to teach the students.
For a division, I do believe that behavior objectives are beneficial. I travel between schools in the same town/county and have seen how teachers at the same grade level are teaching completely different objectives. Tightening up on some of these objectives have given some of our schools more focus. Schools are now concentrating on the reading and math skills that all students need at a particular time and grade level. At first, I think there was a lot of resistance and a lot of teachers saw this as taking away their creativity and choice, but narrowing this focus, for some, has given teachers time to do some of the things that they wanted to do and thought they didn't have time for. They have "bought back" time because some skills have moved to other grade levels. Previous to this realignment, there were cases where some skills were duplicated and overlapped while others were not taught at all. It has taken a little time, but teachers once again are finding time to use their creativity and add life back into the curriculum. More and more teachers are finding ways to pre-access and show that students have mastered these behavioral and instructional objectives....and can now add extensions to what the students are learning.
I do believe that behavorial objectives are beneficial. It gives the teacher direction on where to focus her attention. Then using this basis, she is able to use her creativity and knowledge of her students’ learning style to come up with the best way to convey the information. It also allows the students to become more in tune with their learning because they are aware of the given expectations. As Diane mentioned, I also think that behavioral objective help to give schools, possibly struggling schools, an area of concentration. These objectives can help them to evaluate their instruction styles and possibly share strategies to help improve the learning process
Behavioral objectives can be very beneficial to the classroom. Some students need boundaries and expectations in social and behavioral areas as well as academic areas. The nice thing about it is the majority of students are going to naturally adhere to the objectives; the ones who have difficulties will have more direction and support from teachers and students who know exactly what is expected of them. Behavior plans which include behavioral goals and objectives are often very successful for students who experience difficulty in and out of the classroom and have been used for quite some time in special education.
I agree with most everyone else. Behavioral objectives are a good baseline to start. It gives students and teacher a place to start and grow outward. I don't see why people think that it limits creativity.
Behavioral objectives have definitely made me a better teacher. These objectives force a teacher to plan effectively and with much thought to the outcome of the instruction. I believe teachers who have problems with these specific objectives are missing out on the beauty of the process in that it makes all of us accountable and insures continuity within the curriculum.
Behavioral objectivies do have a place in the classroom as we teach our students social responsbility and expectations. They can help students struggling in a particular area socially or academically. As discussed in the text behavioral objectives can be dehumanizing and can limit creativity for some.
Clear expectations are always beneficial. In special education, writing IEP's is all about behavioral objectives. It gives the student and teachers clear expectations (and consequences if necessary). At the high school level it is important to colloborate with teachers and the student in identifying and evaluating the objectives.
Behavioral objectives are good to have in teacher's lessons. These goals help the teacher to focus on what is being required of her to teach. Students also benefit from behavioral objectives because it allows them to be informed of what they will be learning as well as what will be expected from them. I agree with Diane that behavioral objectives help teachers focus on their lessons. A great deal of our content requirements have been placed in other courses and therefore we have fewer topics to teach. We can use this time to create lessons that involve cooperative learning groups, hands-on activities, and the use of technology. Creativity is not limited by behavioral objectives. Instruction can be as exciting as the teacher allows it to be.
I do believe that behavorial objectives are beneficial.
I feel that students benefit from behavioral objectives because it allows them to know what they will be learning as well as what will be expected from them and the consequences if it is not learned. I think that behavior objectives are important because it helps students at an early age learn that there are consequences for everything we do, good or bad.
Clay Moran
I do feel that behavioral objectives are beneficial to instruction. As many others have said, objectives can narrow the focus and communicate to students what they are to learn. This type of guided instruction allows each teacher the opportunity to be creative, but also ensures that every child is being introduced to the same material. While the use of instructional objectives in accountability testing is a controversial debate, using behavioral objectives to structure what is being taught is a practice I think many educators tend to agree with.
I believe that behavioral objectives are beneficial. It offers teachers a basis for what they will teacher and students have a clear idea of what is expected of them. Special educators have followed this process for quite some time. The outcome is identified and teachers are able to see how students are progressing toward the outcome. Teachers are also able to identify where instructional adjustments are needed in an effort to move students toward the planned goal.
I think behavioral objectives are beneficial. It gives a teacher a direction. They also let a studetn know what is expeted from him/her. They allow teachers the ability to work together. I also agree with what ANita siad about giving children boundaries. A clear expectation is beenficial for the student and it helps a teacher plan more effectively.
I think that behavioral objectives are very useful. They give a teacher the basis or plan for what they are going to teach and it helps the students easily identify what is expected of them.
Behavioral objectives are obviously beneficial, but I think it's important to keep in mind the "under what conditions" and "criterion to mastery" aspects of these objectives. I worry that sometimes our behavioral objectives are devolving to the level of "The student will be able to answer the corresponding question correctly on the SOL test." We need to make sure that our behavioral objectives continue to require higher order thinking, and reflect our high expectations for students. Writing good behavioral objectives can be very challenging...
Knowing what we want the students to be able to do helps guide teaching. However, I always ask students to behave at higher levels in bloom's taxonomy. Our teaching should never have an upper limit. Most standards are written to be the lower limit.
I agree, that behavioral objectives are beneficial for students and instructors/teachers. The fact that teachers can communicate expectations thus accountability is possible is worth money and time! I also think the precision of identifying what is to be accomplished is necessary for effective teaching and learning.
Any opportunity to establish objectives for learning can be beneficial as long as reasonable discretion is applied. Concerns regarding "limits of creativity," and "dehumanizing efforts" can be applied to any form of objectives, but we have to trust ourselves and colleagues to do what is best for our students. Often the best idea is to establish parameters and extend expectations through such objectives.
Behavioral objectives are needed in classroom to ensure multiple assessments are available to evaluate student achievement. Educators whom depend only on benchmark style objectives means could possibly set up a curriculum where students are only evaluated using standardized assessments. Every successful student will not perform well on standardized tests; behavioral objectives need to be in place to ensure that students are being evaluated as they progress through academic material. It is the actions of the students in relating the information to real world scenarios that conveys real learning, and behavioral objectives are needed to ensure this.
Behavioral objectives are useful in that they help the teacher, students and parents know the expectations at the end of a unit of study, or a lesson. Teaching with behavioral objectives, helps everyone have an understanding of not only the gaols of a unit, but the depth of the learning that is expected to take place.
Just as others have stated, I feel that behavioral objectives are beneficial. They certainly have their place. They give teachers a good starting point, without them as Terri stated there would be no continuity in the classroom. We can and should be creative enough to teach all of our students. I also agree with Jenny in that the objectives do allow collaboration with other teachers.
I agree that giving students the expectations up front will allow the students to focus on their task, and the teacher to focus on what must be taught. I do not see it as limiting creativity, the teacher should allow for creativity within the objectives.s
I would agree that behaviorial objectives are beneficial for teachers today, especially in light of the requirements being placed on educators by No Child Left Behind. They do keep you focused and help you communicate to students what is expected of them. I also agree with Jonathan that, if not careful, they can result in a too narrow and limited educational experience.
Behavioral objectives are an important part of education. Teachers know what their students must learn, prepare the lessons, teach both the knowledge and the behaviors that the student must reproduce on the evaluation. The student then has a complete knowledge of what to know and the way in which to present it.
Behavioral objectives are the basis for laws and functioning in society. Students need to know what teachers and adults expect of their behavior. Learning behaviors appropriate for certain situations is a big piece of childhood. School gives students practice for life in following rules and receiving consequences when they are broken.
I agree that behavioral objectives provide teachers with a good starting place and also let students know what is expected. They can also open doors of communication for teams of teachers to discuss what is expected of all children and can create a collaborative environment.
Whereas behavioral objectives indicate the specific behaviors students must demonstrate to indicate that learning has occurred, there are several advantages for their use. They are easily written. They are easily categorized by domain. They are easily evaluated by objective methods. They can easily be written to be consistent with the overall goals of the school. They can guide the teacher when he or she designs instruction. They guide the learner when he or she self-assesses growth and progress.
It seems to me that there shouldn't be only one approach to writing objectives or instructing children. However, behavioral objectives appear to be a way of ensuring proper documentation during this age of accountability. Personally, I see them as useful when teaching lessons that require skill acquisition not when building conceptual understanding.
I agree with what many have said that they allow for focus and give direction for students and teachers. In my experience it helps for instruction to move in a logical sequence. Students understand throughout the learning process what is expected of them.
Behavioral objectives are important in that they enable the teacher to focus his/her instruction by identifying what the student is to learn/demonstrate, the manner in which the behavior will be demonstrated and the manner in which the behavior will be measured. In fact, you could say that behavioral objectives are the blueprints for the teacher.
I do feel that behavioral objectives are beneficial. One of the benefits that was pointed out in some of the responses is that it allows teachers to communicate to their students exactly what is expected from them. I also think it would be beneficial for parents to know exactly what their child needs to be expected to learn and comprehend.
I believe that behavioral objectives are important as well. Students need to know what the teacher expects from them. If possible, teachers should try to work together to allign these objectives so that there is a sense of normalcy from classroom to classroom. Through creating these objectives, teachers are able to effectively teach their material.
I believe behavioral objectives allow teachers to communicate to students what needs to be accomplished. They also allow for proper sequencing and adequate assessments.
I agree with Kelley's comment that there shouldn't be just one way to writing objectives or instructing children. One thing we should keep in mind is that behavioral objectives can be used to describe higher-order thinking as well as basic skills. In math, we can write behavioral objectives that have students solving complex problems, communicating their thinking clearly, and engaging in effective reasoning and proof. It's time-consuming, but writing rubrics with this level of detail at least once per grading period is very beneficial to student learning.
I do believe that behavioral objectives are beneficial to students. Students know what is expected and there is consistency between classes and grades. I used to work at a school that was a free-for-all, as far as behavior goes, for several years and it was always so challenging to keep students on task who had learned in previous years that there weren't consequences for behavior. I would much rather have the teachers collaborate and come up with a plan for everyone to follow to create the consistency so students can maintain focus on school.
I believe that behavior objectives are beneficial. They not only provide the teacher with a purpose for teaching but it provides the students with a purpose for learning. I believe that all students want to know why they have to learn the things we are teaching them. As an eighth grade math teacher, my students want to know the purpose of the SOLs they have to learn. When I provide them with a purpose, they seem to be more willing to learn the material.
Post a Comment