Setting Clear Objectives (That You Can Actually Measure)
Why vague objectives ruin lessons
Most lesson plans have terrible objectives. 'Students will learn the present perfect.' Learn it how? To what degree? How will you know if they learned it? A good lesson objective is specific, observable, and achievable in the lesson time. You should be able to look at your students at the end of the lesson and say with confidence: 'Yes, they can do this now' or 'No, they cannot.' Bad objectives describe topics. Good objectives describe what students can DO with language.
Bad: Students will learn about comparatives.
Vague. What does 'learn about' mean?
Good: Students will be able to compare two products using comparative adjectives in a shopping role-play.
Specific, observable, contextualized
Bad: Students will practice reading.
Practice is not an outcome.
Good: Students will be able to identify the main argument in a short opinion article.
Clear skill, clear text type
Tip
Start your objectives with 'Students will be able to...' (SWBAT). This forces you to use action verbs.