Chapter III: Gaining Clarity on Our Goals

When teachers plan their lessons, it is normal to start pointing out some activities that can be interesting for the students. Here we are not forgeting our students, on the contrary; we are thinking about them in order to create a lesson that can be mottivating for them. Undeniably, the previous is an important point when planning a lesson, but before thinking about that we need to think about the goals of it. When planning, we think, mainly, in one main thing: Skills to develop. In the text the author mentions two different goals: Skill-related aims and Performance goals. The author describes as skill-related aims the "techniquesband approaches [...] and processes [...]". On the contrary, the author refers to Performance goals as complex and long-term outcomes [...]". In the text, it is stated that "content mastery is not the aim of instruction, but a means." From my point of view, teachers need to reflect upon the students' needs. With this I mean that teachers have to look for the process that was damaged in students that affect their learning of the content or that influences/affect a specific behaviour. After that, teachers should think about the goals they have with the class and prepare some processes or techniques to use in order to get to the aim. After doing so, it is natural that the learning of content will appear, but we cannot forget about the different intelligences students have and the different levels in which they are, because the techniques we use can affect our stuents' comprehension of the content. Doing this, teachers will be able to demonstrate that being a teacher is more than just content; what will also empower them with the responsibility they carry for life.