Goal Setting

Goal setting is a focus at my school. It is important to me that my students are goal oriented. Students had several lessons on goal setting this month and it will continue to be a focus throughout the year.

Lesson 1  

Outcome-Students will identify one personal strength and challenge.

My students this year did not have a lot of background knowledge on setting goals, so I began by spending time explaining to the students what goals were. We looked at several examples and then I began breaking down and explaining SMART goals. Using student friendly language I explained SMART goals as follows:

S-specific. Think details-be exact in in what you want to do

M-measureable-your proof.  How are you going to know when you meet your goal?

A –attainable-it’s possible-It’s something you can do.

R-realistic-take small steps-

T-times-week, month, end of year-What’s your deadline? When do you want to meet your goal?

Next, I had the students brainstorm one strength and one challenge that the students  would turn into a superpower. One of the themes in my classroom is that learning is everyone’s superpower so this lesson built upon that theme as well.  Using a graphic organizer each student listed strength and a challenge. This could also be done as interview between student and teacher.  I collected the papers for the next lesson.

Lesson 2

Outcome: Students will write a goal.

I read the book Pogo Pig out aloud then discussed what Pogo’s goal. If you are unfamiliar with this book, it’s a simple book in which Pogo Pig wants to learn to ride his bike without training wheels and get a big bike. It’s something that the students can easily connect to. After discussing the book, the strength/challenge sheet was returned to the students. They picked either their strength or challenge to turn into their super power (goal). Writing SMART goals are difficult for a lot of third graders and to be honest at this point most students do well just to write a simple goal. I am perfectly fine with that.

I used a SMART Goal form (see picture) to break the process down for the students. Some students easily answered the questions while other students needed support to respond. I collected the SMART goal form for the next lesson.

Lesson 3

The students began this lesson by making a Super Hero. Using their SMART goal sheet, students recorded their goal onto a superpower sheet and attached to their Super Hero (see picture). I displayed these in the hall for Back to School Night. Parents can see that their students are becoming goal orientated students. Students are pleased to share their goal displayed for others to see. I’m proud of my students. Many focused on their challenges and wrote goals to help them in school.

Lesson 4

This lesson revolved around the students writing an action plan to list the steps they need to meet their goal. We began by reading the book Roger’s New Bike. We discussed Roger’s plan to get a new bike. I introduced the words-long term and short term to the students. I explained that the steps in their plan could be short term goals that help them meet their long term or big goal.

Next, we watched the video from our mentor and discussed Alex’s challenge for the month. The students began writing their own action plan.  Since many of the students had difficulty with this. I met with each student individually and went over their plan. As the students finished their plan, they worked on their goal star which contains their goal and plan among a few other items. Even though this month is coming to an end, the students in my class will continue to work on goals and actions plans.