SMART Objectives: Your roadmap to

effective lesson planning and student

success
Workshop objectives
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
Warm up
Tomorrow, I will….
What should an objective do?
● Objectives focus the purpose of your lesson and subsequent planning
● Objectives give you an outcome or goal
● Objectives are smaller and more digestible than a full standard/LO
● Objectives can help students understand the lesson purpose
● Combined with success criteria, objectives let you know when
learning has happened
● Objectives set the foundation for student-led academic discussion
SMART

SMART objectives can serve as performance measures because

they provide the specific information needed to identify
expected results. These objectives provide a clear focus for the
teacher, and the information necessary for them to gauge if the
student is performing to the standards they envision.
This is an example of an objective taken from a lesson
plan:
'Students will enjoy talking about their weekend.'

Now here is the same example, re-written as SMART:

'By the end of the first class, students will be able to (SWBAT)
discuss three things that happened to them over the
weekend, during a solo oral presentation.'

What makes this SMART?

Group work
In your group, you are going to discuss part of the SMART acronym, then
explain to us:
● What is your part of the acronym?
● Why is it needed in an objective?
● Give us an example.
 SPECIFIC
A specific goal has a much greater chance of
being accomplished than a general goal. In the
above example, the SMART objective is much
more focused and specific that the original,
giving a solid framework for the teacher to work
with.
 MEASURABLE
Goals should be measurable so that there is tangible
evidence that the goal has been accomplished. In our
SMART example, the student is aiming to discuss
three things during an oral presentation. The teacher
can easily measure which students have reached this
goal and which haven't.
 ATTAINABLE
Attainable goals motivate students; impossible goals
de-motivate them. Goals should stretch the students
enough that they feel challenged, but with clearly
defined boundaries so that they can be achieved.
 RELEVANT
This relates to the relationship between the
objective and the overall goals of the program. Is this
goal going to move the students forward through the
material set for their level?
 TIME BASED
Goals should be linked to a timeframe that creates a
practical sense of urgency. Without any sense of
urgency, the goal becomes irrelevant. Also referred
to as ‘time bound’.
Matching activity
Match the non-SMART to the SMART objectives. You have 3
minutes!
Matching activity
1. F
2. H
3. A
4. C
5. B
6. G
7. E
8. D
 SPECIFIC
Change this objective so it is specific:

“The students will talk about their families.”

 MEASURABLE
Change this objective so it is measurable:

“SWBAT spell the vocabulary words.”

 ATTAINABLE
Change this objective so it is attainable:

“K2 SWBAT spell 20 vocabulary words about

transportation by the end of week 2.”
 RELEVANT
Change this objective so it is relevant:

“SWBAT make a PowerPoint presentation.”

 TIME BASED
Change this objective so it is time based:

“SWBAT listen for specific vocabulary and

complete a fill-in-blank activity.”
Team game!
Writing your own SMART objective
● SMART objectives don’t only work in the classroom – they work in the
rest of life too!
● Is there something you have been meaning to do? Something you always
wanted to try? A change you want to make?
● Write a SMART objective for yourself. You can choose if you want to
share it with us or not.
 Reflection
• What did you learn in this workshop?
• What surprised you?
• What would you like to learn more about?
• How will you apply this in your classroom?
• Is there anything you would like me to know?
 Thank you!
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