Well written objectives are also clear in describing the outcome. The objective should be
understandable to the teacher, students, administrators and parents. Consider Example 9.
9. The student will compare three Native American tribes. While we have used a descriptive verb (compare), we have been less than specific about
what it is that we want the student to compare. Do we want the student to talk about the physical
size of the people in the tribes, average life span, what type of food they ate, size of families, the
time frame in which they flourished, or in what part of the country? Different students may
compare different tribes on different variables due to our lack of precision in stating the objective.
Always choose the wording of your objectives very carefully. The objective of the lesson
should be a guide for everything you do within the lesson as well as a guide to how you will
assess mastery of the subject matter. Make sure the verb matches what your students will do for
practice and on your assessment. We can clarify our objective.
10. The student will be able to compare and contrast the food, clothing and shelter of three
Native American tribes.
We have used the same verb as in Example 9, compare. That is a great verb to use if the
students will learn about the food, clothing and shelter of three Native American tribes, recall
what they have learned, and actually compare the information about the three tribes. The
comparison could be done individually or in small groups, on paper or verbally, on a pre-made
chart, or by another means, as long as the information about the different tribes was compared by
the students. (This also helps us plan instruction because we are targeting food, clothing and
shelter of three tribes. While we may cover other material, these topics are mandatory.) Note that
we have actually added a verb in Example 10, contrast, to gain even more precision. Comparison
calls for identification of similarities. Contrast requires identification of differences. We decided
we wanted both, and the students need to know that.