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BEYOND GOALS: CREATING AN INSPIRING CLASSROOM

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BEYOND GOALS: CREATING AN INSPIRING CLASSROOM

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As teachers head back to school for another year, most have developed goals for the coming school year. Virtually every expert champions the importance of establishing clear, specific goals if you want to be successful. In my experience, goals are necessary but not sufficient to create an inspiring classroom.

Sure, goals are essential. Teachers need to know where they want to go in order to select the best strategies to get there. And goals work just fine when you are operating in isolation. For example, if I decide I need to lose weight, setting a goal of dropping five pounds helps me stay focused, eat well, exercise, and get where I want to be. The same applies if my goal is to secure my credentials to be a building level administrator. I can now search for accredited graduate programs and take steps to achieve what I want.

Goals are significantly more complicated, however, when other people are involved - and teaching certainly involves working with others. Just because a teacher has a nicely articulated set of goals for the coming school year doesn't mean she can easily turn them into reality. In all likelihood, she has 20-30 students in her classroom and there's no reason to believe they have the same goals for the time that they will be together. Establishing your goal is a good starting point, but it's not enough when success ultimately depends upon a group working collaboratively.

What does this mean for the classroom teacher who wants to have a great school year? As soon as the school year begins, establish a shared vision of success with your students. When everyone is motivated to achieve the same thing, success is attainable. When you don't take the time to establish a shared vision with your students, they might be motivated to achieve a very different set of goals from yours and you'll be in for one contentious school year.

Let me describe the process so you can use it immediately.

Building a Shared Vision of an Inspiring Classroom: The Process

1.Begin by asking your students if they want to have a successful school year.
2. Define "successful" by explaining you want the classroom to be a productive, enjoyable environment. Ask them if they want that as well.
3. Once the students affirm that they define success as you do - productive and enjoyable - say something like this: "Since we want the same thing, we have a shared vision for this class and should have a stupendous year. We just need to get more specific."
4.Divide the class into groups of four or five students each. Give each group a piece of chart paper and some markers.
5.Draw a circle on the board at the front of the room. Tell the class, "This circle represents what we want - an inspiring classroom where we can enjoy ourselves and be productive. In this circle, we are going to identify those things that we should do and qualities we should display that will help create the class we want." Depending upon the age and ability of your students, you might want to provide some examples like "being prepared for class" and "respect." Give the students about ten minutes to work in their groups. Note: Don't give too many examples. The success of this activity requires that students be active participants in what you create.
6. Have each group share what they put in their "inspiring classroom" circle. Expect a lot of repetition. Those items that are noted by some groups but not others need to be considered by the whole class. If the class decides to include the item, add it to your composite circle. Leave out those items that are not endorsed by the whole class.
7. If you have too many items or some are redundant (i.e. "be on time" and "be prompt"), combine and cluster items.
8. Return to the board and draw a rectangle at the base of the circle. Say, "We have done a great job identifying the values and the behaviors to create a productive, enjoyable class. Now it's time to look at some things that can get in our way. Think of things that will make it difficult for us to have the classroom we want. Things like 'making fun of others' or 'cheating.' In your groups, draw a rectangle and identify things to avoid." Give the student five to ten minutes to do this.
9. Follow the same procedure you used for the inspiring classroom circle and create a composite list of behaviors to avoid.
10. End by saying, "I will get this typed and copied for us to look at as a group tomorrow."

Follow-Up

The next day, distribute a printed "inspiring classroom" chart to each student and say, "I have compiled everything we agreed to yesterday. Let's take a few minutes to review what we created." Quickly review everything you have in both the circle and rectangle. "If we do the things in the circle and avoid things in the rectangle, will we have the kind of classroom we want: one where we can be productive and enjoy ourselves?" Once the students agree that this is what they want and their inspiring classroom chart offers them a blueprint for success, end the discussion by saying, "OK. We know what we want. We know what we need to do. Let's do it and have a great year."
* Note: Your use of language is important. I often use words and phrases like, "enjoy ourselves and be productive," "the kind of classroom we want," etc. Even though it's repetitious, it's helpful for students to connect "success" with "being productive" and pairing "being productive" with "enjoying ourselves." By repeatedly talking about "the kind of classroom we want," you are tapping into the internal motivation of your students. We are all internally motivated by what we want. The artful use of language can help students stay conscious about what it is that they want when they are in your classroom.

Refer to your inspiring classroom chart on a regular basis. Have students keep their copy of the chart in their binder. Enlarge the chart and post it in a prominent place in the classroom so it's something they see every day when they enter the room. Rather than wait until you have major problems, as soon as you notice students engaging in unwanted behaviors, have them look at their charts to remind themselves of what they really want in your class. This will help them stay appropriately focused and prevent minor problems from becoming major distractions.

Conclusion

Do yourself a favor this school year. Don't just set goals for yourself. Take the next step. Build a shared vision with your students of an inspiring classroom, one characterized by enjoyment and productivity. It takes very little time and this collaborative process will pay dividends throughout the year. Best wishes for a successful school year!

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Beyond Goals: Creating an Inspiring Classroom | Choice Theory | Funderstanding: Education, Curriculum and Learning Resources

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As teachers head back to school for another year, most have developed goals for the coming school year. Virtually every expert champions the importance of establishing clear, specific goals if you want to be successful. In my experience, goals are necessary but not sufficient to create an inspiring classroom.

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BACK TO SCHOOL: SETTING BIG GOALS FOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN YOUR CLASSROOM

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BACK TO SCHOOL: SETTING BIG GOALS FOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN YOUR CLASSROOM

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Hey, y'all!

I cannot believe it is July 19th! Seriously, it feels like the month of July has flown by. My first day of school with students is August 10th, the official opening day for teachers is August 8th, and we also have "retreats" before that with some PDs at school. My summer is winding down quickly and I am in full back to school mode.

Last week, I was at training all week and had significant time to connect with other teachers. I had already made a list for a "Back to School" series I had planned on blogging about, but I was able to connect with a teacher who just finished her 1st year, and a teacher who is about to begin her 1st year which changed my plans a little bit! After talking with them it got me thinking about my first year experience, what I learned that was helpful (and not so helpful!), and what I still do today to "get ready" for my students. In the next few posts, I'm going to incorporate all of that in with my Back to School posts! I'll be talking goal setting, behavior/investment plans, reflection (teacher and student), procedures, first days of school, etc. and hope that you'll join in too!

Before I start, I want to explain a bit about my first year of teaching. I did not go to school to be a teacher (gasp!). I was a Political Science major who made my way to teaching through the Teach for America program. I became a teacher officially through Texas' and my district's Alternative Certification Program, and unofficially through much trial and error, support, and coaching. Part of how I view education and the practice of teaching is shaped by my time in Teach for America and by the core values and teaching practices that I learned with that organization. Some of what I'm going to talk about and reflect on in my Back to School posts are pillars of the TFA organization, and I want to communicate them as I think through themfor my own classroom. If you want to read more about closing achievement gaps, or teacher effectiveness (with real world applications!), then I highly recommend Teaching As Leadership: The Highly Effective Teacher's Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap* (affiliate link*) . Now, back to it...

Today, I want to start with talking about How to Set Big Goals In Your Classroom.
With many things in life, if you don't know where you're going then you're most likely not going to get there. This could not be more true with teaching. The best lessons, the best intentions, and the best classroom environment can only get you so far during a school year, especially if they are not in pursuit of your overall, end-of-year goals.

What I mean by "Big Goals":

"Big Goals" are the academic, and personal goals you want your students to accomplish this year, particularly, by the end of the school year. You can set individual "big goals" with students, but having whole class big goals is a rallying point that can help focus your class all year. Your goals should be ambitious, but feasible, and able to be measured somehow (more on that in a bit...).

I set my initial big goals in the summer, even before I meet my students. After looking at historical data, I can at least have an idea of where the bar should be set in order to really push my students. This allows me to begin investing my students from day 1, and I can adjust the goals after they take their diagnostic assessment.

Why you need to set "Big Goals":

Like I mentioned above, you can't get somewhere, if you don't know where you're going.
Period. Yes, teachers can teach content until they're blue in the face, or teach to "pass a test" but they have to have outlined in their own minds exactly what it is they want their students to be able to do overall, so they canplan the steps, and properly prioritize how to get each student there.

Also, if you happen to teach students who are academically behind, this is maybe even more important! Their growth goals and academic benchmarks are the same as other students traditionally with this era of state testing, so there is more work to be done in order to close achievement gaps and to catch them up. Using "big goals" in the classroom not only help the teacher, but also the students conceptualize where they're headed, and can make learning feel more manageable for students who may have not been typically as successful in school.

Set Your Initial Vision and Goals: First, you need to outline your vision for your classroom. What do you want your students to know, and learn, both academically and personally?Why are those specific goals important?Like I mentioned above, you need to set your initial big goals for your classroom based off historical data for your incoming students and what you know about your school community and the general backgrounds of your students. You should outline the goal, why that goal is important and how progress will be measured throughout the year (and why). Again, they should be feasible but ambitious. Don't be afraid to dream big. This, paired with how you decide to invest kids in your class goals (more on that soon), can be very motivating for students!

Give a Diagnostic Assessment: Giving a diagnostic assessment, or "pre-test", is extremely important in order for you to gauge where your kids are academically. After you analyze the diagnostic results, you can adjust your big goals if necessary. Your diagnostic assessment should be aligned to your end of year assessment(s), is better if it is a recognized test (like a released state exam, or something that has been validated) and should have enough questions/opportunities for students to demonstrate their current understanding of standards (goal is about 5 questions each).

Once you understand where your kids are after giving the diagnostic assessment, and you know exactly where you want them to be at the end of they year, you need to ensure that you and your students have a meaningful, effective way to track progress throughout the year. The students should understand in a real way where they are in pursuit of the big goal, and you will be better prepared to get all students to the goal if you have a system in place that you can keep up with in tracking data (for yourself, and with the students).

Talk About It: Once you have your goals outlined and you understand exactly what student success will look like in your classroom, then it is important that you remember to communicate it with your students! In a later post, I will discuss investing your kids in the class goals, but on a basic level, you need to make sure that early on your class goals are known. In my class, I always put the goals on a big bright poster in the classroom surrounded by the kids' personal goals that they set on the 1st days of school. I try to reference the goals very often, if not daily. The poster stays up all year round and the students do reflection exercises on where they are in relation to their goals and our class goals (more on that soon!).

What makes good "Big Goals" (Examples):

A good goal is one that can be measured, will require significant work by all students, is ambitious and is rooted in data. You need to decide if success in your classroom will based off growth, overall mastery, or both.

All students will average 80% on all standards learning goals
This goal can be measured, is ambitious, but feasible and holds all kids to a high standard. This is a mastery goal.

Students will grow by 2 years according to their Lexile level
This goal can be measured, is ambitious, but feasible and holds all kids to a high standard. This is a growth goal.

All students will apply to a magnet program for high school
This goal can be measured, is ambitious, but feasible and holds all kids to a high standard. This is also a "personal" goal.

Setting big goals for your students not only gives you and all of your students a roadmap for success for the entire year, but it shows all kids that you hold them to high academic standards and know/expect that they all can achieve.
Do you already do this in your classroom? What are some of your big class goals? What is your process? Let me know in the comments, via email, or on Twitter!

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This is post 1 in the Back to School Series. To see post two click here.

p.s Want to start a teacher blog like this one? My friend, Suzi, wrote an ebook that can help you get started and grow your blog!

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Back to School: Setting Big Goals for Student Achievement in Your Classroom

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Hey, y'all! I cannot believe it is July 19th! Seriously, it feels like the month of July has flown by. My first day of school with students is August 10th, the official opening day for teachers is August 8th, and we also have "retreats" before that with some PDs at school.

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September 1998 | Volume 2 | Number 1
Realizing a Positive School Climate

A Basic Skill for Life

MarthaElin Mountain

Our students are natural goal seekers. They are "nudged" from within by curiosity and questions ("Where did that come from?" "How does that work?"); by interests and skillful pursuits ("I can learn to speak English." "I want to explore the sea."); and by dreams and schemes ("I have another way of learning this." "I can imagine a new product." "I want everyone to know about this political issue."). Guiding our students to respond in meaningful ways to these intrinsic "nudgings"-these special pursuits and potential gifts to society-is at the core of education.

My fervent belief in this view led me to initiate an exploratory study in 1996 about the dynamics of children's personal achievement. From their earliest years our students seek to acquire or create what matters to them. They are curious; they reach out to interact with the world; they want to learn and to understand; they see outcomes that matter to them. It is these inherent drives that lead our children and young people to pursue personal goals. My study highlights this fact.

Asking the Right Questions

What kinds of personal experiences with goals are students bringing to our educational programs? What do they seek to learn and achieve on their own? How do they go about pursuing outcomes that matter to them in spite of obstacles they encounter? What influences their success with these personal goals? What strategies do they use to keep going and to stay focused? And what do they learn about themselves in the process?

These were the primary questions I sought to answer when I began my study two years ago. To find answers, I conducted structured, 30-minute interviews, individually, with 90 children, ages 8 1/2 through 18, from 14 different schools (public, private, alternative, and home) in Northern California, Canada, and New Zealand. The students represented a variety of ethnic groups, socio-economic backgrounds, and academic achievement.

The Findings

Of particular interest is the fact that every student, regardless of age, academic success, ethnicity, or type of education program, talked with me about themselves and their achievement of a personal goal. Some of these were immediate, short-term interests, while others were long-term or ongoing goals. Some interests were related to academics, grades, school projects or homework, but many had to do with interests or situations outside of school.

By reflecting on the achievements they were proud of and discussing with me the various strategies they used to reach their goals, students were able to give wonderful examples of success with personal goals and could describe what they learned about themselves from their experiences. The reflection process also helped them to think of practical tips to share with others who are pursuing a goal.

Every student I interviewed conveyed a sense of personal power as they spoke about the interests or pursuits they considered important. Without exception, once they realized I was truly interested in what they had to say about their accomplishments and aspirations, students seemed genuinely pleased to have an opportunity for a one-on-one conversation about what matters to them in their life.

Information We Can Use

This study is producing important insights about students' personal experiences with goal setting. Students are coming to our educational settings with personal expertise with goal setting skills, although they are not necessarily conscious of this skill. In fact, the kinds of successes students have experienced will probably surprise most educators.

FINDING:

The experiences and strategies that students shared with me reflect five of the six essential elements that we know are involved in achieving goals. These include:

1. Clarity: Students understood that by reflecting and making judgments about the goal itself, they learn to see how the goal fits into the "bigger picture." They also learn to determine what need to be learned and done if they were to meet that goal. The students I talked with knew why some goals mattered to them and what they had to do to achieve their goal. Many had "a mental picture of the results" they wanted.

2. Commitment: The students noted that achieving their goals was possible if they were willing to make decisions and tradeoffs, follow through with a plan, and to commit one's strengths and resources on the goal in spite of distractions, setbacks, and obstacles. Commitment means "going for it in spite of being scared," said one student.

3. Planning and Strategies: It's important to create a scheme, a design, or proposed or intended course of action, students said. Some students gave tips on how to achieve one's goal in meaningful and productive ways. "I list my homework on a piece of paper when I get home and put it on the wall," one student stated. "See it [the goal] in your mind. Then work yourself backwards through the steps you have to take to get there," said another student.

4. Affiliation: Successfully reaching goals often requires that we associate or connect with those who have expertise, similar interests, or helpful resources. The students I interviewed understood the importance of seeking and valuing others' help.

5. Assimilation: Students knew they could tap their personal experiences and knowledge in appropriate ways to solve problems. One student observed that he gained knowledge when things went wrong. Another found that "if I don't always do good I'll always try." Still another student found motivation in reviewing her accomplishments. "Seeing all the work I've been getting done-more than before-helps me keep going with my goal," she said.

The sixth element that we know is involved in achieving goals is Assessment: Gathering information about the goal setting process in order to make a decision or a judgment about it.

With the exception of some students who talked about moving through specific, defined levels of achievement with set criteria in activities like gymnastics or karate, the students generally did not indicate any predefined assessment guidelines for determining their success with goal experiences.

FINDING:

Students relied on a core of four basic skills for setting and meeting their goals, although most of them did not do so consciously:

1. Reflecting and making judgments-as in self-assessment, planning, decision making, and strategizing,

2. Focusing-as in attending to strengths, honoring priorities and time commitments, using resources effectively,

3. Organizing-as with thoughts, time, and resources, and

4. Identifying and dealing with consequences-as in solving problems, identifying and using appropriate resources, and anticipating potential obstacles.

From their early years, our students are inclined naturally to develop some capacity with the four basic skills required for setting and meeting goals.

FINDING:

In spite of their expertise with goals and the many strategies that students described for achieving their goals, it is clear that for students to meet goals in meaningful ways they need encouragement, examples, guided experiences, and appropriate tools.

Students who succeeded with their goals most consistently had benefitted from personal guidance and from previous experience, had tapped into models and other examples of what it was they were trying to accomplish, and had ongoing encouragement from teachers, family, or friends. Students with less consistent success did not have opportunities to reflect on previous experiences with personal goals, sought examples to observe, or had the benefit of regular guidance or support with their aspirations.

Using the Findings

The findings suggest ways to capitalize on our students' natural goal seeking tendencies. By teaching and integrating the basic skills of goal setting we can engage our students in authentic learning within and beyond our core curricula and in the context of state and national standards.

The most important issue with setting and meeting goals is that students understand how their personal success in the process depends on being clear about the goal and why it matters, and on acting with commitment to achieve it-that commitment, persistence, and belief in themselves will drive the process to a successful outcome.

What Teachers Can Do

There are three primary ways that educators can guide our students to this authentic learning experience:

Teacher- and Administrator-Student Interaction

Curriculum Design, and

Routine Instruction and Classroom Procedures.

In the study, teachers' sincere caring and demonstrated belief in their students was the number one influence on students' success with their goals. Specific ways to guide students to effective goal setting experiences are listed beneath each category.
1. Teacher-Student Interaction; Administrator-Student Interaction

Listen to students in order to become familiar with who they are, their inner "nudgings," and what makes them "tick."

Think out loud with students.

Demonstrate sincere caring about students' personal success with what matters to them.

Model personal interest in goal setting by sharing some of your goals, your willingness to risk, what strategies you use and how you responded to failures or "blips."

Use positive, optimistic language.

2. Curriculum Design

Integrate the concepts and vocabulary of goal setting into the core curricula of all subjects.

Design lessons, assignments, and projects that allow students to practice the four basic skills of goal setting.

Use clearly defined rubrics, benchmarks, and performance standards to guide students to target clear, specific outcomes.

Include opportunities for students to make commitments, and to then help them follow through on those commitments.

Routine Instruction and Classroom Procedures

Give students opportunities to practice with goal setting throughout the year.

Explore and clarify individual interests and priorities.

Build conversations about goals and goal setting with students in groups and one-on-one.

Identify the specific goal-related behaviors students use.

Help students consciously acquire the self-knowledge they need to build their sense of self-efficacy and personal locus of control for building personal success with goals.

Incorporate regular, quiet opportunities for students to reflect, consider, and plan.

Provide clear, immediate, and constructive feedback to students on a regular basis, including opportunities for students to practice giving one another feedback.

Practice decision making and problem solving, as in dealing with setbacks and obstacles.

Practice simple planning and time-management skills.

Help students see their knowledge and experience as resources.

Have students talk about and focus on the "big idea" or larger goal of the work they are doing.

Encourage risk taking in ideas and strategies.

Build meaningful connections with potential mentors in the school and larger community.

Celebrate mistakes as learning opportunities.

Celebrate progress.

On the Edge

Personal success in life comes from being able to set and achieve realistic positive goals. Through generations, goal setting has been essential to the success of students, statesmen, writers, artists, scientists, professionals, and achievers of all kinds. Our communities and societies, our literature and history are brimming with examples of individuals whose personal goals led to positive benefits for their families, neighbors, and for the larger society. They tackled a problem they wanted to solve, pursued a passion burning inside, or invested themselves in a purpose they believed in. These individuals responded in positive ways to personal goals.

Our students are on the edge of possibilities, on the verge of pursuing and developing their potential to make positive and fulfilling contributions to this world. Our students may not be consciously aware of what they hope to achieve; they may experience only "glimmerings" of possibilities and nothing more. To help our students recognize and connect with their aspirations is one of the greatest gifts we can bestow on them, for students who know and can articulate themselves in this way are empowered for life.

MarthaElin Mountain, Ed.D., taught elementary and middle school for more than 15 years in California, Mexico, and Greece. She also taught in Professional Development programs at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, and Mills College in California. Dr. Mountain is an education consultant to organizations and a goals coach for adolescents, young adults, and professionals. You can reach her at MEMdocEd@aol.com, or P.O. Box 22301, Carmel, CA. 93922.

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September 1998 | Volume 2 | Number 1 Realizing a Positive School Climate A Basic Skill for Life MarthaElin Mountain Our students are natural goal seekers. They are "nudged" from within by curiosity and questions ("Where did that come from?" "How does that work?"); by interests and skillful pursuits ("I can learn to speak English."

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https://mrswintersbliss.com/goal-setting-elementary-students/

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Hello Friend!

In my growth minded classroom student goal setting and reflection is routine practice. Prior planning, achievement, and reflection of goals make new challenges even more achievable since students have a clear understanding that their continued efforts will lead to success.

Goals come in many forms; they may be purely academic, social, or goals even may have to do with character building. All students need to be explicitly taught how to choose, set, and reflect on goals. It is not an instinctive skill, even for most adults.

Even our youngest learners can have a clear understanding that a goal is just an area of weakness we need to strengthen and celebrate improvement!

For older students, you may want to determine the difference between performance goals and learning goals.

Goal types defined by Carol Dweck:

Performance Goal: a goal that focuses on demonstrating tasks, content knowledge, skills or abilities, and often how the acquired skill or task will be judged in comparison to others (getting an A in French class).

Learning goal: a goal that focuses on overall learning, particularly how mastery of a skill or concept will develop understanding and ability to subsequent learning and challenges (being able to speak French).

Students who set learning goals focus on true mastery- a deep understanding from which students can draw conclusions, connect ideas, and build relationships to new skills and concepts. Learning oriented goals help students develop grit and dedication to learning over time, as opposed to performance goals, which are more about proving intelligence or ability on isolated tasks.

Research tells us that while both types of goals help students achieve in school, learning goals lead them to greater understanding and enhance their ability to apply what they've learned in new ways in future challenges.

Why set goals?

During explicit teaching of growth mindset lessons students learn that our abilities are not fixed, that our brains are malleable and can grow with determination and grit. When students understand that their intelligence is not limited, goal setting is the pathway to their success.

A goal is an outcome, something that will make a difference as a result of achieving it. It can't be too ambitious to be out of reach, but also not so simple that it does not challenge. A goal has to be realistic with a stretch, requiring effort and focus to achieve it. That's why goals need timeframes and measurable action steps along the way so that we can keep track of progress and make adjustments as necessary.

By setting goals, measuring and celebrating their achievements, students are able to see what they have done and what they are capable of. Seeing their results gives the confidence and assurance that they need to believe they can achieve higher goals.

SMART Goals

Setting specific and attainable goals can be a difficult task for some students. Even with explicit directions and extensive modeling, many students will write vague and generic goals like: I want to read harder books or get better at math.

If SMART goal setting is new for your students, take time to clearly model and discuss each part of the SMART framework. Expect this process to be a series of lessons the first time through.

Make an anchor chart clearly defining and giving examples of:

What is specific vs vague?

What is measurable vs non measurable?

What does attainable mean? Will this be too hard, too easy, or make me stretch a bit?

What is relevant? Is this important for my long term growth?

What is timely?

Many teachers have goal setting success when students focus on a behavior goal as their first SMART goal, as it is a bit more tangible to them. In addition, if you are starting goal setting at the beginning of the year, this is another opportunity to establish expected behaviors with your students.

Here is a great SMART goal setting informative video (appropriate for upper elementary students)

Using a SMART goal graphic organizer will help plan and make goal setting easier for students.

Although your students should choose individual goals, collaborating with peers about their specific goal and action steps can help with the process and build accountability.

Once you have worked through the planning process of goals and action steps, students can write their goals and action steps on a desk visual reminder and/or transfer their goal to the My SMART Goal paragraph to hang in the classroom.

Celebrations

No matter what type of goals your students are achieving, find a way to celebrate their success. It could be as simple as a shout out or sticker, a positive note of encouragement, a visual representation on a designated bulletin board, allowing them time to share their goal reflections with their peers, etc.

Students should have a tangible way to feel accomplished which will lead to motivation to take action on new goals. In addition, other students can feel encouraged that their peers have similar struggles and have met them with success over failure.

Included in my Goal Setting for Students resource are goal setting read aloud book suggestions, notes for the teacher, teaching posters, many options of Growth Mindset goal recording sheets, SMART goal planning & recording sheets, goal reflections, goal pennants, and student award certificates. >>>click the image below to see more!

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Hello Friend! In my growth minded classroom student goal setting and reflection is routine practice. Prior planning, achievement, and reflection of goals make new challenges even more achievable since students have a clear understanding that their continued efforts will lead to success.

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Setting (Almost) SMART Goals With My Students

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Setting (Almost) SMART Goals With My Students

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Setting (Almost) SMART Goals With My Students | Scholastic

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Help your students set specific and measurable goals to provide focus and motivation for them in the new year.

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4 Tips to Make Goal Setting for Students Easy

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4 Tips to Make Goal Setting for Students Easy

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It's that time again. It's time for a new year, time for some new goals, time to revamp and make the most of the changes. Goal setting for students and parents alike goes by a common name: New Year's Resolutions.

So what is your resolution this year? Weigh less? Fix your golf swing? Read more books? Eat better? Make better grades? Get a job? Get into college? Get a girlfriend?
Or maybe you're like me. I didn't make one.
I personally gave up on new year's resolutions a while ago. Mostly it was because I never kept them. It just seemed weird to me to make a "resolution" and then not keep it. If you are "resolved" to do something, it seems like you should give more than a week and a half to it. I just never was able to do it, so I quit.

But I didn't quit setting goals. In fact, I am ten times the goal setter today (post-new-years-resolution) than I was when I would make a bunch of resolutions at the beginning of the year.

So does goal setting still matter for students?

Oh yes, goal setting is a tremendously important skill for students. Few things matter more. And there is no time like January for revamping your goal-setting approach. We humbly submit these four student goal setting tips. We don't do this as experts per se, but rather as people who have read the experts a lot. Guys who are much smarter goal setters and productivity experts say similar things to what you are about to read. So, here's the four tips.

Goal setting for students tip #1: Set some goals.

Yes, this may be simple. But it's important.

Few students actually take the time to ever set goals. That's not recommended. Set goals. We highly recommend that every student at least make an effort to set some goals.

Notice that we "highly recommend" setting goals. Were more students doing this, we might only slightly recommend it. But as the situation stands today, we highly recommend it.Having some sort of goal setting rhythm will become for students a vital part of their success.

I do this at least quarterly. I look over my goals, see how they're going, make adjustments to old goals, set some new ones and try to stay on track. I've found this approach to be loads more productive than making a yearly gung ho effort at a new resolution. We'll explain this in more detail as we go, but, for now, just decide that you'll set a goal. Start there and see what happens.

Goal setting for students tip #2: Shorten your goals.

Next, shorten your goals.

Really? Shorter goals are better? What about goals like, "become a doctor," or "graduate from college," or "buy a car." Aren't those kinds of long-term goals good?

Those are all admirable. Have those kinds of goals. But do your best to shorten them up.

Too frequently goal setting for students becomes dreaming about having better grades or a cool job. We want to move past long-term goals. 10-year plans, 5-year plans, and 1-year plans sound nice, but aren't helpful... unless shortened. John Maxwell talks about goals in terms of steps towards growth, and if our goals are too far out in the future, we'll not make the most of them.

If you have a one-year goal, break that into 2 six-month goals. Then, make your six-month goals monthly goals. If you know what you're aiming at for the month, you can then break that into weekly goals. And if you know what you need to do for the week, you can set out daily goals.

That's really effective goal setting for students: make long-term dreams go to work for you through daily goals (you can check out our online study skills course for more instruction on how this works).

I find that outlining a plan for year helps, but I have to then break it down by quarter. Once I know my direction for 3 months, I can effectively create my daily goals (which are by and large the most important).

Goal setting for students tip #3: Stretch your goals.

After learning how to break your long-term dreams down into short-term, nuts-and-bolts, do-work daily goals, it's time to stretch those goals.
No one grows without stretching.
I used to coach high school swimming in North Carolina. I'd have to push some of my swimmers every once and a while, because both stretching and growing hurt. During one particularly difficult set of exercises, I had some athletes quit on me for the set. They said they couldn't finish it. I politely "suggested" they could, and that they should put their head down and do it anyway.

They survived. They finished the set. And they had the best meet of their lives the following weekend.

Set goals that force you to grow. Whether this is limiting the time you give yourself to complete the goal, or pushing yourself to do something you don't think you can do, stretching is fantastic. And don't worry if you don't complete that particular goal.

Missing a goal isn't failure. Not trying is failure.

Note what this doesn't mean: be insanely radical.

As a rule, small course corrections along the way make a much bigger difference than radical changes made annually. It's a myth to think you can change everything all at once and expect lasting results. Small differences are much better, but be willing to stretch on those differences.

Goal setting for students tip #4: Write your goals down.

Writing it down makes it real.

After you've written a goal down, you can't convince yourself you never said it. It's right there staring you in the face. It can be on an index card. It can be with sharpie on the wall. It can be painted on your ceiling. I don't care where it is. Just put it somewhere so that you'll know that it's real.

If you want to become a truly effective goal setter, you must write them down. There's no getting around this one.

Now get to work - grab a pen and paper, you've got some goals to set! (And if you're extremely brave, you can even write one down in the comments section of this blog. We would love to hear what goals our student readers are setting in the year 2014.)

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4 Tips to Make Goal Setting for Students Easy

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It's that time again. It's time for a new year, time for some new goals, time to revamp and make the most of the changes. Goal setting for students and parents alike goes by a common name: New Year's Resolutions. So what is your resolution this year? Weigh less?

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You Can Do It! How to Encourage Goal Setting for Students

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You Can Do It! How to Encourage Goal Setting for Students

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As a teacher, you regularly think about goal setting for students. From improving skills and meeting standards to being kind and putting the darn caps back on the glue sticks, there's always something to strive towards. Have you tapped into the power of setting goals with students, though? Research spanning decades shows that setting students goals improves both motivation and achievement. Goal setting encourages a growth mindset. It also supports the development of skills students need to be prepared for their future careers.

There's no shortage of teachers doing innovative work around goal setting for students. We've compiled some of our favorite resources into this handy guide for you.

What is a goal, anyways?

For younger students, you may need to start by distinguishing between a goal and a wish. I wish for a giant bowl of ice cream every evening around 8 PM, but my goal this year is to stay hydrated by drinking 100 ounces of water each day. Sigh. A read aloud like Froggy Rides a Bike by Jonathan London can help make this distinction clear. Froggy wishes he could own a cool trick bicycle, but his goal is to learn to ride a bike-which it turns out he's able to achieve with persistence and despite a few classic "more red in the face than green" moments.

For all students, it's helpful to share books that portray goal setting. In early elementary grades, Peter's effort in Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats is a classic example of persistently working towards a specific goal. Squirrel's New Year's Resolution by Pat Miller presents a nice variety of goals, from learning to read to helping someone each day. However, upper elementary and middle school, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Young Reader's Edition by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer chronicles William's work to relieve his village from drought. It includes the sub-goals he works towards along the way, such as researching viable solutions and figuring out how to build a windmill.

A great picture book option for older students is Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story by Paula Yoo. This title is a biography of a diver who set and reached many goals, both physical and academic, along the way to becoming an Olympian.

Be SMART about it

Helping students hone their goal setting skills makes it more likely they will meet them. SMART goals have been a popular tool for years and many teachers have successfully implemented versions of this practice with their students. Consider these tactics:

Unpack the goal-setting process with students

SOURCE: Scholastic Top Teaching Blog

This lesson plan from Scholastic includes a free downloadable poster and graphic organizer. We love the brainstorm activity and interactive whiteboard sort for distinguishing specific and vague goals. These could easily be adapted for younger students based on the examples you choose.

You can also check out our free goal-setting printable here.

Start small

SOURCE: 3rd Grade Thoughts

This blog post from 3rd Grade Thoughts includes a simple-but-powerful anchor chart and a straightforward system for students to publicly identify short-term goals. Students in this classroom work on " WOW goals " to be completed "Within One Week."

Encourage nonacademic goals, too

In this lesson plan about character-based goals, students work with partners to discuss goals related to specific virtues such as respect, enthusiasm, and patience. They make specific plans to upgrade their behavior and evaluate their own progress.

Don't stop now: keep track and reflect

Raise your hand if you sometimes add items to your to-do list just for the satisfaction of crossing them off. Progress monitoring systems are motivating, and they are a crucial component of goal-setting work. Consider:

Visual tracking systems

SOURCE: The Brown Bag Teacher

This post from The Brown Bag Teacher describes a star chart for keeping track of filled-out reading logs. This system displays progress in a concrete way and could easily be adapted to other goals.

Goal-setting apps

There's an app for that! This roundup of goal setting and tracking apps from Emerging Ed Tech gives you plenty of options for taking that to do list up a notch.

Sharing assessment data with students

This video from EL Education demonstrates how teachers can make the assessment data you're collecting anyways more meaningful to students. This teacher discusses DRA data with students to help them reflect upon their progress and establish updated goals.

It's time to celebrate!

Who doesn't love a chance to be recognized for an achievement? Acknowledging students' attainment of goals is an important component of classroom goal setting. Consider these ideas:

Make celebration a habit

Nurture a "hooray" classroom culture by adopting the perspective of teacher Kevin Parr, who noticed an uptick in student motivation when he simply made a daily effort to provide more nonverbal and verbal recognition.

Recognize students in writing and in public

Send students "Happy Mail", as described by Responsive Classroom. Use written awards or notes to give individualized and authentic positive feedback and publicly share them for added recognition.

Introduce fun classroom traditions

If your school allows balloons, we love Dr. Michele Borba's suggestion to put small rewards-or reward "coupons"-inside balloons and write a goal on the outside of each one. Make a big deal out of popping a balloon when a goal is met.
How do you go about goal setting for students in your classroom? Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook. Plus, check out this goal-setting bulletin board kit.

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How to Do Goal Setting With Your Students This School Year

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As a teacher, you regularly think about goal setting for students. From improving skills and meeting standards to being kind and putting the darn caps back on the glue sticks, there's always something to strive towards. Have you tapped into the power of setting goals with students, though?

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We have such an awesome opportunity to empower students to set goals and celebrate with them when they reach their goals. Most students don't reflect on their own learning naturally. It's not an innate skill that students have when they come to school. Actually, most adults don't have that skill either. It's something that needs to be taught.

This past week, we've done quite a bit of work in our year-long journey of setting goals in second grade.

First, as I've mentioned in previous posts, I've been implementing Whole Brain Teaching. One of the components is a Super Improver Team. Here's our wall:

Each student has a star and for making improvements, they receive a sticker. When their star has 10 stickers they move up to the next level (blue - learner). They keep going. For every 10 stickers, they move up the levels.

The introduction of the Super Improver Team led to a discussion about how to make improvements and goals setting. What kinds of improvements could students make? What would "count" to get a sticker?

So we started talking about SMART goals. We started with the concept of setting "specific" goals and made this anchor chart of the concept of SPECIFIC. We looked at the word specific in a Frayer Model and looked at some examples and non-examples. That aspect is the most powerful part of the anchor chart. I didn't make it very "pretty", but students got the idea of what they word specific means.

Take a look at more SMART Goal Setting Resources in this blog post.

For our first goal, I decided to focus on behavior. It is a bit more tangible than an academic goal, and students are still learning how to "be" in our classroom, so it's the perfect opportunity to change a few things before they become a habit.

I gave students some ideas on good behavior goals. Basically, I wrote down all the things that have been annoying me, behavior-wise, for the past week. I listed them in a positive light, i.e.: what a student could do, not what they can't do.

I gave students an opportunity to look over the goals with their table groups. Each student chose one goal to work on for the next week.

I put the "Improvements" in page protector sleeves so that I can use them when I conference with a student. I can circle three or four and say something like, "I notice that you could really use some improvement on these. Which one would you like to choose to work on?" That way, there's choice within structure. I can guide what a student chooses, but the student still has choice.

I did add a couple more at the end (on the copy you see above), that aren't necessarily annoying behaviors, but improvements that my quieter students could make. You know, those kids who just sit there, but aren't disruptive!

After students determined what they wanted to work on, I had them write it down. I'm sure there's research on this somewhere, but I've heard that writing down a goal means that you're more likely to accomplish it.

In addition to the more complicated Goal Setting and Data Portfolios I have, I came up with this simple goal setting form that I can tape down to a student's desk and that we can collect over the course of the year.

We set to work writing down our behavior goals. Here are a few student examples.

You can see that some students need a bit of work on choosing ONE goal. I also realized after we did this activity, that the "I will . . . " part of the goal setting form, doesn't always lend itself well to behavior goals, since most behavior goals are an action in and of themselves. They don't always require an additional action statement that tells how you're going to accomplish the goal.

I changed up my form a bit to have a variety of options, including learning and behavior goals and a couple of different formats. Would you like a copy? Click this link SMART Goal Setting Forms or the picture below. Take a look at more SMART Goal Setting Resources in this blog post.

The final part of goal setting that is very important, especially for children is the celebration! Children need to know that there's something waiting for them when they accomplish their goal. Some people have an intrinsic motivator to set and accomplish goals. I'm one of them. But, most people don't. The celebration is a great motivator.

As a class, we brainstormed a variety of celebrations, both big and small. Most celebrations were for our class goals, but a few of these could be for individual goals, too. The idea was to get students excited about accomplishing their goals.

SMART Goal setting isn't just for individuals. I use to all the time to set class goals. We set behavior goals on our ScoreBoard (more positive than negative points), percentage goals on our computerized math program, number goals on how many stars we got for doing homework, etc.

There are a myriad of possibilities for whole group goal setting. Figure out what you want your class to do and set a goal on it.

I've done a few other blog posts on Goal Setting, if you're interested in more information:

Do you set goals in your classroom, either individual or whole class? I'd love to hear how you help students see that their actions are important and make a difference in their lives.

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Student Goal Setting in Elementary School

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We have such an awesome opportunity to empower students to set goals and celebrate with them when they reach their goals. Most students don't reflect on their own learning naturally. It's not an innate skill that students have when they come to school. Actually, most adults don't have that skill either.