I am not sure if it is because it is still topping 35 degrees in the day here or the fact that for the first time I will not be spending Christmas at home in the UK, but, much to my husband's dismay, I have been way too excited for John Lewis' festive offering this year. I am known to shed a tear at pretty much any advert with even one chord of heart-string-pulling music and even the thought of love sick Monty could make me well up here, at 6:55am at my desk.
What I love most about these adverts is how you are kept in suspense for the whole two and a half minutes and as the John Lewis logo glitters on your screen at the end that eureka moment links together everything you've seen and convinces you the coffee maker that was perfectly good at making your coffee this morning should definitely be upgraded to any model/make/brand your friendly department store can offer.
Now, I may not have the 7 million pound budget but perhaps we could steal these marketing tactics when deciding on our learning objectives. Do we give it all away at the start a la Lidl and Iceland by loudly, brightly and quickly showing prosecco flavoured crisps and various beige finger food? Do we tell students that they are going "to be able to confidently share a quantity in a given ratio" or do we channel Mr Lewis and his voyage of discovery by posing a question that students end up wanting to answer as we guide them through the lesson?
I have had the need to display a lesson objective every lesson drilled into me with a previous school actively shaming departments who were failing to display an objective on the board during learning walks. This lead to Lidl objectives purely to tick a box. Students knew what they were doing from the moment they set foot in the door and some teachers completely defeating the point by leaving "to gain understanding of today's topic" on their boards for all lessons. Surely that was a given in all lessons?
What I really relish is the time and freedom to create thought provoking learning objectives. "Are you more attractive than David Beckham" for a lesson on the golden ratio. "Who is the most expensive person in the class?" for a prior knowledge assessment lesson on substitution. "How many people really went to the rugby World Cup final?" for a lesson on rounding to significant figures.
I know which type would make me add a milk-frother to my shopping basket.
What I love most about these adverts is how you are kept in suspense for the whole two and a half minutes and as the John Lewis logo glitters on your screen at the end that eureka moment links together everything you've seen and convinces you the coffee maker that was perfectly good at making your coffee this morning should definitely be upgraded to any model/make/brand your friendly department store can offer.
Now, I may not have the 7 million pound budget but perhaps we could steal these marketing tactics when deciding on our learning objectives. Do we give it all away at the start a la Lidl and Iceland by loudly, brightly and quickly showing prosecco flavoured crisps and various beige finger food? Do we tell students that they are going "to be able to confidently share a quantity in a given ratio" or do we channel Mr Lewis and his voyage of discovery by posing a question that students end up wanting to answer as we guide them through the lesson?
I have had the need to display a lesson objective every lesson drilled into me with a previous school actively shaming departments who were failing to display an objective on the board during learning walks. This lead to Lidl objectives purely to tick a box. Students knew what they were doing from the moment they set foot in the door and some teachers completely defeating the point by leaving "to gain understanding of today's topic" on their boards for all lessons. Surely that was a given in all lessons?
What I really relish is the time and freedom to create thought provoking learning objectives. "Are you more attractive than David Beckham" for a lesson on the golden ratio. "Who is the most expensive person in the class?" for a prior knowledge assessment lesson on substitution. "How many people really went to the rugby World Cup final?" for a lesson on rounding to significant figures.
I know which type would make me add a milk-frother to my shopping basket.