Stating General Instructional Objectives 

• Teachers tend to focus on the teaching process and the learning process rather than on the expected outcomes of instruction
  
• Common Errors in stating GIOs:

1. Focusing on teachers performance

a. Explain the meaning of some difficult words

b. Comprehend the meaning of some difficult words

2. Stating the objective in terms of learning process rather as learning product

a. Gains knowledge of basic principles

b. Applies basic principles to new situations.

3.      Listing the subject matter to be covered

a. Principles of writing process paragraphs 

b. Understand the principles of writing process paragraphs 

4.      Include more than one type of leaning outcome in each GIO.

a. Differentiates between regular and irregular past verbs.

b. Knows how to use the comparative form ‘adj. + er’ and applies is effectively.

• The leaning outcome will indicate the type of reactions or performance that the students are expected to achieve by the end of the instruction.

• These errors can be avoided by focusing attention on the student and the type of performance he or she is expected to demonstrate at the end of instruction.

• State and define each objective in terms of the type of student performance:

1. Understands the comparative form (adj + er)

1.1  Defines the form.

1.2  Identifies an example of the form.

1.3  Describes how the form is constructed after enough practice.

1.4  Uses the form appropriately in sentences from his/her own.

• The verbs provide a clue to the desired level of generality of the main objectives. They should be specific enough to provide direction for instruction without overly restricting the teacher. They are also specific enough to be easily defined by a brief list of the types of students’ performance.

• Which of the following represent the most GIO?

1. Communicates effectively in English.

2. Writes clear, effective English.

3. Punctuates sentences properly.

• Which of the following represent the most SIO?

1. Develops effective reading skills.

2. Identifies the topic sentence in the paragraph.

3. Reads the paragraph for specific details.

Stating Specific Instructional Objectives 

• SIOs should be defined in terms of students performance:

1. Knows specific facts about the American History:

1.1  Identifies important dates, events, places, and persons.

1.2  Describes the characteristics of a given historical period.

1.3  Lists important event in chronological order.

1.4  Relates events to their most probable causes.

• Each SIO starts with an action verb that indicates observable students responses (intended learning outcome).

• Performance vs. nonperformance terms:

1. Predicts the end of the story.

2. Sees the moral of the story.

• Begin each specific learning outcome with a verb that specifies definite, observable student performance.

• How many SIOs do I need for each single GIO I state?

There is no a clear-cut number of SIOs for all the GIOs we write. It’s obvious that simple knowledge and skill outcomes will require fewer and less complex GIOs but may be a big number of SIOs. Note the types of students’ performance in the following SIOs:

1.      Knows the meaning of terms.

1. Writes a definition of the term.

2. Identifies a definition of the term.

3. Identifies the term that fits a given description.

4. Identifies a synonym of the term.

5. Identifies an antonym of the term.

6. Identifies an example of the term

7. Identifies the term represented by a symbol (e.g., +,  -)

8. Draws a picture that represents the term (e.g., circle, square).

9. Describes the procedure the term represent.

10. States the concept or principle that fits the term.

11. Describes the relationship of the term to a second term

12. Differentiates between the term and a second term

13. Differentiates between the technical meaning and the common meaning of the term.

14. Identifies the best meaning of the term when used in  sentence.

15. Distinguish between proper and improper usage of the term.

• The specific outcome that are most representative of a GIO will be modified by both the nature of the subject taught and the grade level oat which the instruction is given.

• We should select the action verbs that:

1. Most clearly convey our instructional intent. 

2. Most precisely specify the student performance we are intended to see.

• Which of the following convey the instructional intent:

1. List the different types of auxiliary verbs.

2. Identifies the auxiliary verb in the given sentences.

• Making sure that the specific learning outcomes are relevant

1. Understands the basic formation of past passive sentences (be + past participle)

a. Differentiates between passive and active sentences according to the rule.

b. Names the different auxiliaries used in forming the passive voice sentences.