Every individual student should have specific goals that suit them and are achievable yet challenging for them personally.
I think that students, with some guidance should make their own personal goals so that they take ownership of their goals and so that they are responsible for reaching their goals.
To make goals we first need to know where students are starting out from, so it is necessary to give all students a pre-assessment. Then it is possible to make goals which will extend all students. For some students they may need to really focus on writing their homework in their diaries so that they learn to become more organised. For others who do this already they may need to focus more on the presentation of their work and taking pride in what they do. This would be a good goal for students who rush their work just so that they can finish early. Other goals that could be set could be to do with academics, focusing on getting a better grade for a particular subject for example.
Goals need to be S.M.A.R.T.
I am also very interested in researching more about goals and how setting goals can make a huge difference in student achievement. It is known that when students have something to strive for they perform better and they enjoy learning when they see that they are having successes.
This website has more of an adult focus but could certainly be adapted for students.
This is probably more appropriate for students and it has great visual images for students to look at.
A good lesson activity could be to get students to design their own Wiki on how to set goals!
This year I have had a big focus on setting goals and the results have been surprising!
Students set goals in their first week of middle school. Some included things like know where all of my classes are, make new friends etc. I asked the students to write their goals on coloured paper and they have been displayed in the classroom.
After Term 1 we all gathered around the display and looked at whether we had achieved our goals. It was a really positive thing to do as a class.
Goals Displayed:
After meeting with students and their parents at Term 2 interviews each student set an academic or organisational or classroom behaviour goal which I then had them write in their books to be sighted and signed by their parents. This has also worked really well because if a particular student is not focussing I can mention that they are working towards a goal and this helps to re-focus them.
We have set and will continue to set explicit, challenging and achievable learning goals.
Stephanie Rodert 