Teacher's guide to formulating behavioral educational objectives

The compilation of Dr. Muhammad Al-Sayyid Muhammad Marzouk Presented by Shaaban Abdul Qader Ghazal Introduction Praise be to Allah, and prayers and peace be upon His Messenger, and His chosen one, and upon his family and companions, and peace. (After) The educational goals are the most important pillar of the desired educational process. Without them, efforts would be scattered and varied. The educator’s guidance in education is lost between means and the desired and hoped-for goals. In fact, educational goals are considered the "compass" by which the teacher can realize his path and assess the efforts he has exerted in teaching. Additionally, educational goals are the best expression of the nation’s hopes that it has shaped, and a truthful mirror reflecting its ambitions and wishes. Therefore, they represent the fundamental pillar of the curriculum in our present time. Hence, educators have given great importance to them, focusing on their formulation, the criteria for deriving them, how to evaluate, categorize, and their educational outcomes, among other components and related aspects. And truthfully, we state that there is confusion between educational and general pedagogical goals, especially regarding their categorization, levels, educational outcomes, concepts, and the goals of stages and each lesson separately. We have observed this mixing of concepts and definitions related to educational goals during a pedagogical course on teaching the Arabic language. Opinions varied and multiplied in defining behavioral goals. Some said: "They are those whose effects reflect on the student’s behavior in the long term." Others said: "They are those that appear on the student’s behavior during the lesson, represented by the practical performance the student performs with his hands only." And another said: "Behavioral goals are different from cognitive goals," based on the word "behavioral" (focusing only on the motor performance that is visible to the eye in the student’s actions). This overlap and divergence in opinions prompted me to write this brief about behavioral educational goals to clarify the difference between the behavioral goal and other general educational goals, indicating the correct way to formulate behavioral educational goals, and how to benefit from them in explaining models of our Arabic language prepared with behavioral goals. Then, we will explore how to benefit from behavioral goals in assessment and testing, and other related topics that are truly the teacher’s guide and a tool in the path of education when he wants to proceed with guidance and light. It was also my intention to connect these behavioral goals — as a modern term — with their mention in our authentic Islamic heritage in the past, explaining that if contemporary educational scholars have the privilege of naming, then Islamic scholars of old have the privilege of discovering and indicating the entire concept. Despite the hardships I faced in composing this book, I felt through every line a motivating force that burst forth from the depths of thought, driven by zeal and keenness for the field of education and its pioneers. The core purpose is to present the culmination of my experience to my fellow teachers and the summary of my academic and higher pedagogical studies, in this book, which I pray to Allah alone that its effects will reflect on our students and pupils in classrooms, with their teachers, and that every reader will benefit from it, engaging with the lessons and responding to them. And Allah is the grant of success, and He alone is the one behind the intention. He is the best disposer of affairs and the best helper. Muhammad Al-Sayyid Muhammad Marzouk