Why does it matter?
The question “Does your class stay busy and not waste time?” helps measure how successful classroom frameworks are for staying on track and keeping students feeling engaged and busy.
Establishing purpose
ASCD highlights high-level strategies from the book The Purpose Classroom: How to Structure Lessons with Learning Goals in Mind to help educators quickly put the book’s wisdom about how to use class time more efficiently. Purpose can help keep a class on track and go deeper than it would otherwise.
Purpose = Expectations
To say it simply, if students understand what you are trying to teach them they are more likely to engage in the learning. Try establishing a specific goal each day in the classroom.
Objective versus purpose statement
A lesson objective refers to what a teacher hopes, rather than the larger purpose of learning that objective. Go beyond telling students what the specific objective is that day — expressing instead why this learning will matter to future lessons and connecting it to their lives beyond the classroom.
Standards versus purpose statement
Standards offer us benchmarks by which to track the development of students’ abilities and their content knowledge. Sometimes, these standards wrap up many ideas into one. Unwrapping standards to include not what will students will accomplish over a few days, but a specific hour of class time, helps students know what to focus on. Bonus: it also helps teachers check for understanding.