Teachers write goals for our lessons. We provide those lessons to students. In the end, who are those goals intended for? Tonight I was reminded that goals without students are not effective.

Goals are invaluable during the lesson planning process. Well-crafted goals drive the instructional planning decisions a teacher makes prior to delivering the lesson. Without knowing where you are headed it is hard to determine the best route. Goals provide direction.

But, teachers are not taking this instructional journey alone. Students travel the route with us. And with many different possible routes to the same destination, it is imperative that our goals be effectively communicated to students.

Is effective communication enough? Yes, in some cases. There will be students who will happily join our journey to the destination.

There are plenty of students who need more convincing. They need to know the relevance of the learning journey and what it might look like along the way.

Without students invested in the learning journey and the goals we set, it might as well be a solo adventure. Even though it may be the teachers writing the goals, objectives, learning intentions, I Can Statements or Goals by other names, they really are for the students as I was reminded this evening.

And as students become more invested in the process they will have more opportunities to create their own learning goals within the classroom.