EXPERT TEACHING SERIES - Shifting Learning Objectives Into Personalized Student Goals

Oct 15, 2026

Posting learning objectives helps align teacher and student expectations, but stating a teaching-focused objective can fail to engage learners. The text recommends shifting from “Here’s what you will learn” toward student-authored personal goals that emphasize relevance and internal motivation. It explains a six-phase, brain-science supported model and provides guiding principles plus examples translating daily objectives into student success criteria.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Shifting Learning Objectives Into Personalized Student Goals

Why instructional objectives must evolve

From teacher-written objectives to student-written goals

Six-phase model and motivation factors

Guiding principles for goal setting

Examples: translating learning objectives into success criteria

EXPERT TEACHING SERIES Instructional shifts to lift all learners Shifting Learning Objectives Into Personalized Student Goals Posting learning objectives is a common instructional strategy used in classrooms daily. It makes sense, because having clear objectives creates an environment where students and their teacher—in theory—are on the same page for that lesson’s or unit’s expectations. But here’s the rub: simply stating an objective, which is often written to focus on the teaching goal, can easily miss the hook that helps students commit to their own learning. And that commitment is important—in our analysis of research for The New Classroom Instruction That Works, we found numerous studies in classrooms with diverse learners that showed when students set their own learning goals and monitor their own progress, ithas a powerful effect on learning outcomes—in many cases, significantly narrowing achievement gaps. To make the shift to high-quality, expert-level instructional practice, standard learning objectives need to evolve from what a teacher needs to teach to what a student wants to learn. Students need to see themselves in the objective, finding it relevant to their own lives. This means moving from the standard“Here’s what you will learn . . .” perspective to one that asks students what meaning they will find in the lesson. To be clear, we’re not asking teachers to do away with creating and posting learning objectives—teacher-written objectives are important for teacher clarity and aligning standards with what they need to teach. Instead, we’re recommending that this step becomes a precursor to students writing their own goals. This can be accomplished by asking students to rewrite the objective as a personal statement that addresses what and why they will learn. This personal commitment to learning is an essential step in our six-phase model for student learning, an evidence-based model powered by brain science on curiosity and memory (see graphic below) . From this science, we know that “we must convince our brainsit’s worth the effort to stay powered on. We must tell our brains we want to learn something (e.g., because we find it fascinating), need to learn something (e.g., because we find it useful), or should learn something (e.g., because it will help someone else) .”1 Teachers can use this strategy to have their students redefine a lesson’s success criteria in personally relevant ways. Consider the goals we set in our own lives—we’re the most successful when we truly want to accomplish them and believe we can. It’s one thing to be told to do something, but the motivation is far stronger when it comes from within. For student goals, it’s no different. As Jere Brophy defined in 2004, student motivation is a combination of value and expectancy. 2 For students to be motivated by their goals, they must be able to answer several questions: What is the value of this lesson? What’s in it for me? And can I achieve this goal? One way to help them recognize “what’s in it for me?”is to have them rewrite the learning objectives by adding the phrase “so that,” like this: Iwill learn/explain/demonstrate , so that I can This addition helps students make that day’s lesson personally relevant. As students take ownership of the learning objective and make it personally relevant, they begin to commit to their own learning. 1 Goodwin, B., Gibson,T., & Rouleau, K. (2020). Learning that sticks:A brain-based model for k-12 instructional design and delivery.ASCD. p. 35. 2 Brophy, J. (2004). Motivating students to learn. Routledge. EXPERT TEACHING SERIES Shifting Learning Objectives Into Personalized Student Goals 1 It’s understandable if making this shift feels a bit overwhelming. Here are five guiding principles to keep in mind: 1. Concrete, achievable goals are highly effective for straightforward tasks. 2. Specific learning goals are better than vague ones. 3. Goals are more effective when paired

FAQs

Why do standard posted learning objectives sometimes fail students?

They can be written to focus on the teaching goal, but that may miss the “hook” that helps students commit to their own learning.

How should teachers change learning objectives to create personalized student goals?

Use the objectives as a precursor: have students rewrite the objective as a personal statement addressing what and why they will learn.

Which factors help students become motivated by their goals?

Students should understand the value of the lesson (“What’s in it for me?”) and be able to judge whether they can achieve the goal.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jordan Avery