Did you know that people that set goals make twice as much at those who don't set goals? Now I know as teachers money isn't our "goal," but goal setting as teachers can help us reach new heights of teaching with our students. We often ask our students what their goals are or ask them to write down goals, but if we don't or can't do it ourselves, how can we expect our students to accomplish it?
By setting our own goals, we will model for our students how to set and monitor their own life goals.
1) Start small- Pick a small goal that you know you can attain so you can begin practicing.
2) Write it down- Write your goal down somewhere. It can be in a notebook, on a form, anywhere. Just write it down!
3) Be Selfish- Write down your goal for you and only you. Don't compare yourself to somebody else.
4) Plan- Not only write down your goal, also list action steps and timeframes that will help you reach your goal.
5) Be SMART!
Students and teachers who goal set together regularly show amazing trust and growth as a classroom community. These can be academic, behavioral, or leadership-based goals.
Here is an example from one of our classrooms of students keeping track of their goals around their Code of Cooperation.
This is an example of a personal academic goal. You can see that the teacher and the student both had input, the goal is clearly stated, and the goal has action steps for the student to follow to attain their goal.