"Today we are learning to..."

Learning intentions are an important aspect of teaching and learning. As teachers we are encouraged to share learning intentions with the students so that they see the purpose of the lesson and to help enhance their learning. It is important that the learning intention is not only made explicit to students, but is also stated so that students clearly understand it. I am very much an advocate for making learning intentions clear for students, yet I fear that in some classrooms and schools across the country, students are faced with the constant sound of "Today we are going to be learning to..." at the beginning of each lesson. As Clarke (2003) states, "It is very common now for teachers in UK schools to share learning objectives with children at the beginnings of lessons. However, I wonder if, for many children, their school world now consists of a conveyor belt of learning intentions, one lesson after another, with no coherent framework to link them meaningfully together" (p. 24). This is of course a concern that teachers need to be aware of - the students do need to have an understanding of the big picture and how this new learning will fit in.

My concern also, is that the fun and enthusiasm could potentially be taken out of lesson introductions. I thought the whole idea was to get students enthused and curious about new learning and then bring it back to the learning intention? This doesn't have to happen every time...but lets mix it up rather than going too far down the prescriptive track. For some students, especially in the senior levels perhaps, you could lose them in the first sentence of your lesson if it is something that they think they don't want to do. This concept is of course nothing new. As I said, I'm all for making learning intentions explicit, but lets not take the fun out of it for the students (and even the teacher) by potentially taking student's enthusiasm away for new learning by always (or even almost always) beginning each lesson with "Today we are learning to..." or having a deep and meaningful about the WALT. Your thoughts??

Thanks,
Angela