by Allison Hand
When I first started teaching, one of the requirements at my campus was writing and posting content and language objectives. I am a rule follower, so I posted objectives daily on my board…in the back of the room. I wasn’t sure what to do with them, and the only person who looked at them or talked to me about them was my administrator. They stayed in the back of the room for far too long, and not one student looked at them.
I was frustrated that they were reducing my board space and doing nothing to enhance my lesson. I moved them to the front of the room and read them to the class. Now, I just felt like Charlie Brown’s teacher: “Wah wah wah wah wah.” After reading, I would ask, “What do you think we will do today based on the objectives?” Most of my students would shrug their shoulders or say some version of “I don’t know.”
It got me thinking about how I could use objectives as part of my lesson in a way that was beneficial to students. I did all the heavy lifting for the class by reading and often answering my questions before we started, but I already knew the plan and had written the objectives. So, how could I get students to interact with the objectives?
Then, I had the opportunity to attend a SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) professional development. SIOP focuses on how to integrate language through content area classrooms. Part of the protocol is writing and using objectives as part of the lesson. This training gave me a deeper understanding of why and how to use objectives.
What Are Content and Language Objectives?
Content and language objectives clarify the “what” and “how” of a lesson. Content objectives focus on the content students will learn that day, while language objectives let students know how and what language they will use to demonstrate their understanding. Together, they provide a roadmap for the lesson.
Language objectives are connected directly to the content, but they focus on building students’ proficiency in every classroom. Therefore, students will listen, speak, read, and write about math, science, art, and whatever content the class is teaching. This is an opportunity for teachers to help students understand and build their knowledge of their academic vocabulary (content-specific and general), language functions, cognates, and word parts (Echevarria, 2017). If the only class where students have focused language practice is in ESL, building their language skills will take significantly longer.
Using Objectives at the Beginning of the Lesson
Students are moving from class to class, content to content to content. Often, my students got to class barely remembering what they had for breakfast, much less what we learned the day before. Objectives gave me two clear sentences that I could use to get them thinking. Consider some of the following options to engage with objectives at the beginning of the lesson:
- Fluency Practice: Have students chorally or partner read the objectives to give them a first practice with the academic vocabulary of the lesson. Academic vocabulary can be highlighted or color-coded to draw students’ attention to the words.
- Annotating the Objective: The goal is to introduce or reinforce the academic language of the lesson. Annotating by giving simple definitions or adding pictures to these words can help students understand the vocabulary without removing the targeted language that students need to succeed.
- Structured Conversation: Ask students to discuss the objective. For example,
- What is one vocabulary word you can explain to your partner? Draw a picture or write down a synonym to represent the word.
- What do you predict we will do/learn today?
- Tell your partner in your own words what the objective says.
- What connections can you make to what we have already learned?
Using the QSSSA structure for conversation supports students beyond Turn and Talk, by providing think time, language into the conversation, and clear expectations for sharing. For more information on the QSSSA structure, check out Dr. Stephen Fleenor’s blog.
Returning to Objectives at the End of a Lesson
Another opportunity to purposefully integrate objectives into the lesson is to return to them at the end. If objectives are the lesson’s goals or roadmap, returning to them lets the class decide if we achieved what we said we would do.
- Check-In: Review the objectives and have students rate how well they completed them during the lesson. This is another opportunity to review target vocabulary with students.
- Exit Ticket: Embedding a sentence stem in the language objective is a great way to close a lesson. Using a QSSSA conversation structure where all students write their answer as their exit ticket using the sentence stem brings the lesson full circle with a check for understanding.
Conclusion
Utilizing content and language objectives as part of your lesson can be done with quick, thoughtful opportunities to get students interacting with them. Think of these options as a menu. It doesn’t have to be the same every day, but doing something daily with them will provide students, especially language learners, with a focus for the lesson.
It took me some time, opportunities with my instructional coach, and plenty of practice to get good at writing objectives. But I did find that the more I used them, the more focused and clear my goals for the lesson and for my students became.
For more details on how to integrate the Texas English Language Proficiency Standards into any content area with language-focused strategies to build students’ proficiency, we are excited to announce the 2nd Edition of the ELPS Flip Book, with the updated standards scheduled to begin implementation in the Fall of 2026.
Bibliography
Echevarria, J. (2017, May 3). Writing language objectives: 4 categories to consider. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/writing-language-objectives-4-categories-consider-jana-echevarria/
Fleenor, S. (2024, January 26). QSSSA: The secret ingredient to language-rich, interactive classrooms. Seidlitz Education. https://seidlitzblog.org/2024/01/26/qsssa-the-secret-ingredient-to-language-rich-interactive-classrooms/
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