Creating and Achieving Goals

I am super excited about this post because I love when things start to click! I just returned to the classroom several weeks ago and some routines I've continued to implement from the previous teacher. The 4th grade team decided to have the students write weekly academic and personal goals. Piece of cake... not exactly! The students were writing goals that are very typical of 9/10 year olds such as, I will do better, I will study more, I will be nicer to my sister, I will behave.  They did not realize what the true purpose to goal setting is. To keep this post focused, I'll outline what we have been doing the past few weeks.

• Defined setting goals as: Identifying something you want to improve on, deciding on steps you can take to work towards it, and making sure the goal can be measured (NOT VAGUE!).
• Charted what we learned about goal setting.
• Posed possible goals and then talked about if it would be measurable. Example: I will do better on my timed test- To vague and not measurable because how will you be able to tell if you did "better" or not. I will get a 80% on my timed multiplication test- Good goal because it is specific and at the end of the week you can yes, I met my goal or no, I did not - its measurable!
• Discussed how to choose a reasonable goal.  If you are getting 60% on your timed tests you shouldn't choose your goal to be to get 100%. Choosing 70 or 75% would be more reasonable.
• Students wrote their goals, we conferenced and then they made any changes necessary.
• The students had difficulty looking at their work, work habits, behavior etc... to create a goal. We brainstormed what possible goals we can create for our self such as, completing homework before dinner, writing neater by staying on the line, remembering to put books back in my backpack when I am done with homework...
• I modeled Choosing 2 goals for myself and I also model the reflection at the end of the week.  They really like seeing that I am trying to improve too.
• On Fridays, we sit on the rug with our goal sheets and we discuss if we reached our goals or not.
• This takes a a lot of time, but it is time well spent.  Next year, I will focus on this more in September when there is a little more time in the day to develop this procedure. I feel this will help them in future grades.
• Weekly Goals Graphic Organizer

I would to hear if your practice this in your classroom or something similar. Post and share any anchor charts you made1