WIT 2003

Aligning learning objectives with interest-based activities

In this lesson, you will take the steps needed to make sure that the activities you have in mind address the learning objectives for which you are responsible. By the end of this lesson, you will created a table that pulls together your learning objectives and your theme-based activities. This will become the basis for your development of projects and certifications.

Read on to see more about how alignment works. Or just jump into three steps (you will go back and forth between all of these steps as you work):

• Choose learning objectives
• Generate activities
• Align objectives and activities
  

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What is alignment, and why is it important?

Alignment is simply connecting specific learning objectives to specific activities. In this process, you ensure that each activity is set up so that students learn important ideas and skills, and that the most important ideas and skills get repeated, so that your students get to practice them.

Choose learning objectives

As a teacher in your district, you may be responsible for a variety of standards in your grade level and disciplinary area (click here for the Illinois State Standards). . You may also have other ideas in mind that you want your students to learn. Begin to create a list of key learning objectives. This list will organize your design work, your instructional thinking, your assessment of student work, and your reflection on your own unit. You will probably want to keep this list very short. What are the three or four big ideas and skills you want to be sure your students will learn?

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Generate activities

Your theme will bring to mind a wide variety of activities -- what do adults do when they work or play in this field? What are the most enjoyable aspects of this work or play? What are the most challenging aspects? Which activities are complex enough that you think your students can learn from engaging in them? Begin by create a list of activities -- just brainstorm, even if you can't think of a way to offer those activities in your classroom just yet. You may want to fill these activities right into the alignment table below. Eventually, you'll reduce your list to the activities that give you the most value in terms of supporting learning, and that you are prepared to support in your classroom.

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Alignment

You might think of the alignment table below as a game. Fill in the table using the following "rules." (click here for a for a word processor document of this table (don't forget to save with your own filename).

• Brainstorm activities related to your theme, and fill them into the cells in the left-hand column. You are creating a row associated with each activity
• Decide what learning objectives you will take on in this unit, and fill them into the table in every row where they relate to the activity in that row.
• Think about what else students might learn from each activity, and fill those ideas into the learning-objectives column.
• Go back and forth between these steps until you are satisfied that each activity is carrying all of the learning objectives it can, and that each of your critical learning objectives comes up often.

Click here for an example of an alignment table (excerpt) from the Video Crew.

Click here for Janet's geology curriculum, which includes an alignment table.

Click here to download a Microsoft Word version of the alignment table form.

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