Maybe writing objectives on the board isn't a waste of time?
Are my slides ready? Did I print what I needed? Is the assignment created in Canvas? Did I get grading done? Who will be absent today? Do I have alternate work for them to “catch up”? Are those two students still mad at each other? Do I have an observation coming up? Did I write my objective on the board?
We, teachers, ask ourselves many questions at the start of each school day to ensure we are prepared to teach. When observations/evaluations come around, though, and I know that I've double- and triple-checked everything, there's typically one question I haven’t answered: “Did I write my objective on the board?”
Short answer: no.
I know what I want my students to be able to achieve. I know that I’ve crafted a learning experience to help them meet the objective. And with so little time for everything else we have to do, what’s the big deal about forgetting to write the objective?
Recently, though, I’ve been thinking: Is it enough that I know where we’re going if my students don’t?
Gaslight: We don’t post objectives because it doesn’t work.
I have been told since I started teaching that writing learning objectives on the board was best practice. However, no one ever really explained why it was best practice. Teachers, with limited time, understandably brush off writing objectives because preparing and writing the objectives can take a lot of time. As people, I think we all fall victim to the desire for instant results. We were told that writing objectives is best practice, but the payoff doesn’t seem worth the effort. Sure, I might get a slightly higher mark on my evaluation if my objectives are posted, or if my students can tell my evaluator what we’re doing. But, if I’m only writing my objectives on the board to check off a box on an evaluation, I wasn’t writing objectives for the right reason anyway.
Furthermore, students are watching. If they see that I write objectives but don’t reference them, or if I only write them when an evaluation is happening, they’ll assume the stated objective doesn’t matter because I haven’t acted as if it mattered.
So I’ve been thinking: what if writing the objective on the board wasn’t the problem, but the way we were (not) taught how to use it was?
Gatekeep: Well-written objectives can support student self-regulation.
If you caught episode 37 of SLAyyy, you’ll know that the current course I’m taking started by discussing learning strategies for language learners. That episode laid a foundation for me in understanding what self-regulation means in the classroom, why it’s important, and how to help students develop skills to understand how they learn.
Self-regulation, in essence, is the ability to monitor your own progress toward a goal. It’s just a fancy way to describe what we teachers do every day: we have the goal to teach students, we check that materials are ready, and we know what “prepared to teach” looks like, and we know (sometimes) what to do when we aren’t as prepared as we could be.
Students need to be able to do that with learning. They need to be able to ask themselves at the end of class, “Did I do what I was supposed to do today?” However, to answer that question, students have to know what they’re supposed to be doing.
When we were told to write objectives on the board, we were probably told to use the SWBAT (Students Will Be Able To…) format. That is a GREAT phrase to use for internal teaching documents. But in my opinion, talking about students in the third person removes the individual’s role in learning. It sets a blanket expectation for the teacher to evaluate students against, rather than something the student can actually use to self-assess.
Girlboss: The fix is pretty simple; it takes a small but intentional shift in how we write objectives.
Take a traditional objective like: SWBAT describe the causes of the Spanish Civil War.
As a student, I read that, and I don’t know if we’ve met that objective. I can only speak to my own ability.
Now flip it: I can describe at least two causes of the Spanish Civil War.
That’s it. Shout-out to ACTFL-NCSSFL for their work on the Can-Do statements, which give us loads of examples of what student-facing objectives can look like (ACTFL-NCSSFL 2026 Can-Do).
Because the objective is written in the first person, students can actually use it. Additionally, the objective is specific enough that, at the end of class, the “I can…” statement becomes a true-or-false statement. Post it at the beginning of class so students know what to focus on during the lesson. At the end of class, take thirty seconds, point to the objective, and invite students to ask themselves: CAN I describe at least two causes of the Spanish Civil War? Did we have the opportunity to try this today? Did I do my part to support myself so I could do this?
Same reflective questions at the end of class, every day, until students start reflecting without prompting.
Some days you’ll forget to write objectives. That’s where unit-level objectives come in. Post the unit objectives on the wall and leave them for the duration of the unit. They won’t be as specific as the daily objective, but they give students something to orient themselves to on days when we haven’t self-regulated enough to post the objective.
Takeaway
Writing the objective on the board was never a bad idea. But we were never given the tools to do it in a way that actually helped students; instead, it was presented to us as “something to do” for evaluations. Moving from evaluative objectives to something students can use to reflect on their learning lies in teachers knowing where learners are going and how they will get them there. But if your students don’t know where you’re heading, they are along for the ride, constantly asking, “Are we there yet?” because we haven’t told them what the destination is or what the plan to get there is.