Once a year, the kids in my congregation\u2019s Sabbath School classes are called to the front of the sanctuary. With smiles on their faces, they are given certificates and, in many cases, \u201cpromoted\u201d to their new classes.<\/p>\n
On one particular Sabbath several years ago, I watched this ceremony with fear and trembling as it ushered in a new season of my \u201ccareer\u201d as a Sabbath school teacher. I had taught adult classes, teen classes, elementary school classes, and pre-K\/K classes. However, I had most recently taught the 2-3-year-olds. And if teaching 3-year-olds wasn\u2019t intimidating enough, all three of my consistent 3-year-olds were being promoted to the pre-K class. I\u2019d be embarking on a new frontier for our congregation (ominous music, please): teaching 1-year-olds. Three of them. (And I say this with a ton of love because one of them was my daughter!)<\/p>\n
What\u2019s so intimidating about teaching 1-year-olds, you ask? After all, they are only one-year-olds. Just sing Bible songs and read them a story and let them play. If they have fun and don\u2019t cry too much or distract their parents from their classes, then the class is a success, right?<\/p>\n
Not so fast.<\/p>\n
Is that how we measure success for Christian education? To expose people to the Bible and keep their interest so that they leave with a smile on their faces?<\/p>\n
Regardless of the age of the students we teach, a critical task in education is to define success. How will we know that a particular class has been successful? How about a quarter or an entire year? Have your students grown or learned something important as a direct result of your class, or has their time merely been occupied?<\/p>\n
How do you know? Can you prove it?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n This is where instructional objectives<\/strong> enter the picture. An instructional objective<\/strong> is a statement that defines in specific, measurable terms what your students should be able to do<\/u><\/em> as a result of your instruction.[ref]Mager, R. (1997). Preparing instructional objectives<\/em>. Atlanta: The Center for Effective Performance, p. 3[\/ref] This is really important, so I\u2019ll invite you to read it again and say it aloud so that you can make more sense of it: \u201cAn instructional objective<\/strong> is a statement that defines in specific, measurable terms what your students should be able to do<\/u><\/em> as a result of your instruction.\u201d Objectives are the object, or purpose<\/em>, of your instruction.<\/p>\n Instructional objectives revolve around actions that can be observed based on what you as the instructor (i.e. \u201cexpert\u201d) have decided is important. \u00a0Objectives can be identified for every age group. Adults, teens, children. Even toddlers.<\/p>\n If instructional success can be identified for toddlers, instructional objectives are even more potent in that they can be identified for older children.<\/p>\n For example, as a teacher of 1-year-olds, I identified some foundational theological truths that are simple enough for small children to be aware of. Things like Jesus loves them, the Bible is God\u2019s word and is to be respected, and God made everything.\u00a0 However, I didn\u2019t want to just teach my students these things, I wanted to be assured<\/em> that I had taught them these things! I wanted proof.<\/p>\n Therefore, before my first class, I defined success. I decided I would know that my first quarter of teaching these students had been a success if, at the end of the quarter, my students were able to do<\/u> the following:<\/p>\n These are instructional objectives<\/strong>. At the end of the quarter, I lead my students in all of these activities (as well as about 15 other objectives that I didn\u2019t share). We sang Jesus Loves Me. I gave them a picture Bible and asked them to look at it and turn its pages for a minute. I asked them who made them and who made the birds and who made the trees.<\/p>\n If they could do these things according to my objectives\u2026success!!! My students would have learned something important as the result of my class\u2026and I would have proof<\/em> that all of the hours I spent chasing 1-year-olds and soothing tears bore fruit.<\/p>\n The thing we don\u2019t<\/em> want to do is define success but then set ourselves up for failure.<\/p>\n Because objectives define what is important, or rather our purpose,<\/em> for instruction, they must then shape how we make use of our time in the class.<\/p>\n [bctt tweet=”Our objectives shape how we make use of our time. – Amber Riggs”]<\/p>\n In the example of teaching small children, if I define that the purposes of my class are for my students to learn to sing or sign Jesus Loves Me and handle Bibles gently, then I am going to devote time in our class to teaching them to sing Jesus Loves Me and touch Bibles gently. If we don\u2019t spend time singing Jesus Loves Me and touching Bibles gently, then the end of the quarter is going to come, I\u2019m going to hand them a Bible, and a page is going to get ripped out!<\/p>\n When planning for an entire quarter of Sabbath School, I\u2019ll take my entire list of objectives and then decide which objectives to focus on each week. For example, I might teach Jesus Loves Me the first week by singing and signing it a few times. I might also teach them a little about the importance of the Bible and have them practice touching it gently. \u00a0The next week, our objective might be to train them to be able to name God as their Maker and the Maker of all things, so our class time would focus on these activities. They\u2019ll be asked who made the puppy dogs, the clouds, the trees, the water, apples, and so on. However, we\u2019ll also sing Jesus Loves Me again and once again practice touching the Bible gently.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll keep on practicing these things week after week, adding new objectives as they become more comfortable with old ones. Don\u2019t worry – we\u2019ll have plenty of fun doing these things! But the fun doesn\u2019t take the emphasis away from the purpose \u2013 the instructional objective \u2013 of the class!<\/p>\n Simply put, regardless of the age demographic, instructional objectives provide us with a map of what we teach.\u00a0 They help us focus<\/strong> our instructional time so that we don\u2019t become detoured teaching something that we haven\u2019t identified as being of utmost importance to a particular group of students at a particular time. It helps a Bible study on Ephesians stay focused on the topic of building up the Body of Christ instead of drifting to the meaning of the 1335 days in Daniel. (And y\u2019all know how easily that can happen!)<\/p>\n [bctt tweet=”Instructional objectives provide us with a road map of what we teach. – Amber Riggs”]<\/p>\n There is both an art and a science to writing objectives that sets a teaching session up for success. In part two of this series, we will explore the three components of well-written objective. We will also examine how to avoid the most common mistakes people make when writing objectives. And lastly, we’ll try out our skills on a few case studies.<\/p>\n Do you serve as a Sabbath school teacher in your local congregation? If not, would you like to? To become better equipped for this leadership role, here are some excellent Artios resources for you:<\/em><\/p>\n Once a year, the kids in my congregation\u2019s Sabbath School classes are called to the front of the sanctuary. With smiles on their faces, they are given certificates and, in many cases, \u201cpromoted\u201d to their new classes. On one particular Sabbath several years ago, I watched this ceremony with fear and trembling as it ushered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":24913,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[560,70],"tags":[161,328,316,315],"yoast_head":"\nInstructional Objectives<\/h4>\n
Define Sucess<\/h4>\n
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From Objective to Instruction<\/h3>\n
What role do instructional objectives play in how I conduct a Sabbath School class?<\/h4>\n
Instructional objectives provide a map to success.<\/h4>\n
Writing Objectives<\/h3>\n
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