Week 5 Reflection

 

Week 5 Reflection

ABCD Formula

ABCD formula stands for Audience, Behavior, Criteria and Degree. This formula helps educators remember to include all four of these elements when writing their objectives in order to be as clear and specific to ensure student success. When writing learning objectives, it is important to take into account the ABCD formula. Objectives need to be developmentally and grade level appropriate, define clear behaviors, explain how students should be carrying out these behaviors, and to what degree of accuracy should the behaviors be completed.

Why is it important to set up learning objectives?

It is important to set up learning objectives in order to ensure that they align with standards and assessments. If the objectives and assessments are not aligned, students may not be properly prepared for assessments. Setting learning objectives also creates accountability for teachers by making sure their lessons are geared towards helping students meet standards and master grade level content.

Ms. Lauren’s Talk

To help students get the most out of assessments, teachers can use a standards based rubric to monitor how students are meeting grade-appropriate learning objectives. These rubrics are set up in a 1-4 system. To further aid students, teachers can replace the 1-4 numbers with phrases including “always”, “usually”, “ sometimes” and “I can improve”. Putting the rubric in the student’s voice guides them with self-assessment and allows them to monitor their own work. Many examples of assessments were given for different content areas including math, science, English language arts and social studies. It is important to assess students in each subject at least once a week. It is helpful to keep copies of student assessments even after the work is sent home to families. This makes grading easier at the end of the quarter. Teachers will eventually have to evaluate each standard by the end of the academic year, but this does not need to occur within the first quarters. Regular assessment is crucial to ensure that instruction is appropriate to the students’ needs and to identify where students may need more or less help.