SIOP and Learning Objectives

SIOP, which stands for Sheltered Instruction Observational Protocol "was developed to facilitate high quality instruction for ELs in content area teaching" (http://www.siopinstitute.net/). I was lucky enough to attend three days of training around the SIOP model as well as a short site based training at my school last summer. My biggest "take away" that I would like to share are about objectives. Objectives for each lesson should have a content objective "I CAN" and a language objective "By" to help students understand the purpose for their learning in simple, "kid friendly" terms. This is a total work in progress for me and I only know a teeny, tiny bit about SIOP. But I have learned so much about writing learning objectives and my students are learning better than ever because of this model. Below is a picture of how I post objectives in my classroom.

It's not the best picture, I will post a better one later. Notice the bug catcher; that is our objective catcher. To make the process a bit more fun, each students reflects upon their learning on a little laminated bug. Similar to an exit ticket, students put their bug reflection the catcher each day to share their learning of the day's objectives with me. This really helps guide my planning and instruction. Students that are not strong writers can copy the objective and give a smiley or frowny face to show their learning.