Matt Roberts believes that the goal directs not only the lesson’s path but also the work that his middle school students do. To introduce the lesson each day he writes the lesson goal on the board, but sometimes there is information within the math text that provides additional introductory information. In both cases, he points out the goal to the students at the beginning of each lesson. The goal, as he sees it, gets the students thinking about what situations or problems they’re going to be addressing that day. To him, the goal designates the path on which they are going to walk.