LOs, Learning Objectives, are a fancy word for what they're going to learn. In a normal classroom setting, you'll often see 3 levels - an LO that everyone will hit, an LO most will hit and an LO some of the class will hit.
So for this blog post,
ALL will be able to describe what an LO is
MOST will be able to explain why LOs are important
SOME will be so inspired by the LO discussion that they write a book on LOs, make a million pounds, set up a home school for gifted cherry trees and live in bliss for the rest of their days. Or something like that.
That's your differentiation: leaving room for the more able pupils to go further but ensuring the less able still learn what they need to and get that all important sense of achievement.
A few tips to write successful LOs.
1. Be specific - your LO might be related to a piece of knowledge, a skill or an attitude (or all 3)
2. Make them measurable - use measurable verbs (like describe or explain rather than 'understand')
3. Check - are they realistic given your resources, lesson plan, children?
4. And finally : You might not need 3 levels if your class size is 1 or 2. Do not spend long writing them. They are just a tool. Use of LOs does not guarantee teaching returns. The attitude of your children may go up as well as down. Typical APR 10%.
So what does this mean to Home Ed? Surely this is one of those 'system constraints' or 'made up mumbo jumbo' or 'political correctness gone mad' that we must reject as the system tries to force learning on children's fragile little minds. Well maybe.
However teaching without LOs would be sailing without a map. Or flying without a unicorn. It's not about success in the box-ticking world, it's more about having a barometer for progress at a really micro level. In this 30 minutes, in this room, with these 2 kids.... what do I want them to take away from it.
And what about holistic learning I hear my EHE colleagues shout. Being so rigid you'll miss learning opportunities! You are right my lovely friends and therein lies the key to LOs - they're not the be all and end all. You will throw them out and ignore them when a better learning opportunity (LOp?) rears its creative head. You will fail to meet them and be annoyed that the kids and/or the lesson didn't work like it was supposed to. But my goodness, don't start a journey without some idea of where you're going.
