Lesson Plan Critique and Review: Goodlad’s Four Goals of Education

Every educational system’s objectives

Every educational system aspires to achieve certain objectives through the teaching and learning process. The objectives are reflected in the actions, such as when creating a lesson plan for in-class instruction. John Goodlad breaks down education’s four main objectives into these four categories: general systemic training that emphasizes democracy and individual needs; network-supporting innovations; national and leadership influence; and, finally, interactions, relationships, and fostering interdependence among participants (Smith, 2008).

Majority of goals covered

The majority of the four Goodlad goals appear to be covered by the lesson plan. Firstly, the lesson plan has an inclusion of teaching aids from technology and innovation sector. Some videos and pictures are included for the lesson and imply technological innovations in education and therefore, meeting the network supporting innovation goal. There is an implication of national influence where the lesson plan addresses the content of student sharing with their peers, learning about the history that affects real people in different setting and therefore, the lesson will impact collaboration that would lead to the renewal of the mind of the learners to impact positively on the society. One of the primary goals that Goodlad addresses concern general systemic education that will help the learners to embrace democracy and focus on their needs. The lesson plan meets this educational need by including the topic that directly shows historical upheavals caused by war, alliances and political relationships. The teacher bases the lesson in a direction that the student will be able to synthesize and understand it in their Californian historical and cultural context, thus meeting an education goal.

Other goals of education

There are other types of goals of education such as to help an individual to appreciate their own culture and the culture of others. The lesson plan includes the culture of different states that were affected by the revolutionary war. However, the lesson plan fails to mention any content that will be linking the topic to the cultural values of either Californians or other cultures. Conversely, the four goals of education by Goodlad are widely covered in the lesson plan.

Reference

Smith, A. (2008), What Schools Are for by John Goodlad. Schooling as if Democracy Matters Journal of Education Controversy. Retrieved From: http://cedar.wwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1077&context=jec