Writing Language and Content Objectives

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Writing Language and Content Objectives

• CESDP

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Discuss and Create a Venn Diagram

• What is a content objective?
• What is a language objective?
• What is the difference between the two
  objectives?
• What do both objectives have in common?

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Objective for Today

• SWBAT create content and language objectives
  specific to their content area of instruction.

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Important Points on Language Objectives

• Remember for those students who are ESL students,
  it is important to keep in mind that acquiring a
  second language is a process.
• Language Objectives may cover a range from
  process-oriented to performance oriented
  statements so that students have a chance to
  explore, and then practice, before demonstrating
  mastery of an objective.

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Examples of Language Objectives Over Several Days

• SWBAT
• 1. Recognize similes in text.
• 2. Discuss the functions of similes.
• 3. Write three similes.
• 4. Write a paragraph that describes a setting
  using similes.

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Process-to-Performance Verbs

• Process-Oriented
• Explore
• Listen to
• Recognize
• Discuss in small groups

• Performance-Oriented
• Define
• Draft
• Write
• Give an oral
  presentation
• Edit

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Research

• We cannot focus our language objectives only on
  reading and writing.
• We know from research (Guthrie Ozgungor, 2002),
  that absence of planned speaking practice
  formal or informal) by ELs in content classrooms
  is detrimental to the development of academic
  English.

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More Research.

• Gibbons (2003) argues that skillful teachers
  should take advantage of oral interaction to move
  students from informal, everyday explanations of
  a content topic to the more specialized academic
  register or the formal written and spoken code.

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When Determining Language Objectives

• Important to distinguish between receptive and
  productive language skills.
• English learners tend to develop receptive skills
  (listening and reading) faster than productive
  skills (speaking and writing) Should be worked
  on in a unified way.

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Language Objectives

• In some cases, language objectives may focus on
  developing students vocabulary.
• Other lessons might include reading
  comprehension skills, writing process, helping
  students brainstorm, outline, draft, revise,
  edit.

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More on Language Objectives

• More lessons justify opinions, negotiate
  meaning, summarizing, stating conclusions,
  comparing, contrasting.
• Also, specific grammar points (Example
  Capitalization when studying famous historical
  events and persons
• Depending on the English proficiency of your
  students, an objective may focus on sequencing
  words.

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Supporting Content Objectives with Language
Objectives

• Hallmark of the SIOP Model.
• Challenging for many content teachers
• Requires teachers to know their students
  proficiency levels so the language objectives can
  be targeted to what the students need to learn
  about the academic language of science, math,
  history, art, etc., but not be at a level too
  high for their current understanding.

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Know Your Students English Proficiency Levels
and Know Your Students!

• Language objectives for more proficient students
  might involve higher expectations involving
  reading, writing, listening, speaking, and
  viewing to support the content objective.

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Writing the Language Objectives

• Write an objective that all students should
  attain based on the content concepts in the
  lesson, but adjust the intended outcomes to match
  the students ability levels.
• (Some students may master the language objective
  by the end of the lesson others will reach
  mastery at some point after practice)

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Teachers Need To.

• Think about how language will be used in their
  lesson in their speech, in class discussion, in
  the reading assignments, in the lesson
  activities.
• Given the content topic and an understanding of
  the students degree of academic language
  acquisition, the teacher then writes an objective
  that complements the topic and can be explicitly
  addressed in the lesson. This objective can be
  the How it will be done portion of the lesson
  integrating a language skill.

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Examples of Language Objectives(which could
occur over several lessons)

• Key Vocabulary needed to discuss, read, or write
  about the content of the lesson.
• Language Functions ways students use language
  in the lesson (Ex. - describe, compare, or
  summarize)
• Language Skills reading, writing, listening and
  speaking skills students need to learn and do.
• Grammar

• Lesson Tasks Consider what language is embedded
  in a lesson assignment. Will students take notes
  or explain a procedure to one another?
• Ex SWBAT read and summarize a text passage
  with peers and then teach the main information
  to another student.)
• Language Learning Strategies rereading,
  predicting, visualize

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5th 8th Benchmark Understand the structure of
organisms and the function of cells in living
systems. 7th Grade PS. 1 Understand the basic
function of cell growth and division)
mitosis)Content Objective SWBAT identify and
put in order the 5 stages of mitosis.

• Task
• Write 2 Language Objectives Specify English
  Proficiency Level of Students. (Beginning,
  Nearing Proficiency, Proficiency, Advanced)

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8th Grade Math Geometry Develop and use
formulas for area, perimeter, circumference, and
volume.

• Write 1 content objective
• Write 1 supporting language objective.