Stating what you are going to learn!

It sounds so incredibly simple.  Tell students your learning objectives before you start a lesson.  Have them repeat it throughout the lesson, and then make sure they have learned this at the end.  Yet, for me it is something that gets lost in the shuffle.  So many times I launch into a lesson with my students as if they are coming in the middle of story.  I assume they know what we are doing, and just launch into an explanation.  That is far from helpful.  

I have been taking a technology class and one of the points in the book I am reading states that Providing Clear Learning Goals and Scales helps students to learn.  They recommend doing this at the beginning throughout and at the end of the lesson to check for understanding.  Having students rephrase the learning goal helps as well.

So my February goal is to remember to do this with my students.   Have you had any luck with this?  Do you clearly state learning goals?