Gooooooooooaaaaaaal!!

Each year, I think it is a good idea to have the students think about their goals while in my classroom.  Thinking about what they want to accomplish as a student and how they are going to do that seems to me to be a good way to begin the year.  I mean, I do the same thing before the start of a school year.  I set out my plans in my head, I set goals for the new things I want to accomplish, and reflect upon what I did before to make that better.  So, it would make sense that having the students do the same would help them to focus on the year ahead.

But, asking the students to simply list their goals was...boring.  A few years ago, our first unit in Language Arts was Cooperation and Competition.  I took a sports twist to this theme, and I found the magic formula for the kids.  Add a few ball shapes into the mix, and you could get them to eagerly do anything!

We started out with thinking about our goals for 5th grade.  How did we want the year to go?  What about our friendships?  Our home working?  On a soccer ball template, I had them fill all of this in.  (and, silly me never took a picture of that!  So sorry!)

Then, with the rules, I had them discuss the rules and make goals for behavior with them.  One rule per page, with goals for each rule.  They really enjoyed this because it was done with a football them.  Then, once the booklets were done, they cut a piece of brown paper overtop of it (in the same shape) and ended up with a shape booklet of their rules/behavior goals!  Made a nice little board.

Another thing we did, which is my most favorite thing EVER, is create a baseball card with our goals and reflections as the "stats".  First, we discussed how our grades are determined by ourselves and that we can achieve whatever we want based on our own effort.  So the students reflected upon that and where they wanted to go throughout the year.  I created a little "stats" sheet for them to fill in, and then had them get to the fun part.  Each student drew a baseball field on a piece of paper.  I then took a picture of them in baseball gear, holding a bat or glove.  The students cut the picture out, overlaid it on top of the field, and then glued the stats on the back.  It was a baseball card, to go with our theme, complete with goals and reflections.  I LOVED looking at them.  LOVED!

I also wanted to get some actual writing into these goal setting activities, so I did two different things.  First, you all know about the Strengths and Weaknesses project I did (click here if you want to see it again).  Then, I had them create an "I Am" poem focused more on goals and reflection than the traditional poem.  I was really a guided writing, as I really wanted the students to think about each line of the poem and I found that if I did the "I Do, You Do" model, they were being far more reflective.  Then, each student created a basketball jersey with their classroom number and favorite colors.  I had them write the final draft of the poem on velum tracing paper and lay it on top of the jersey.  When they were stapled together, you could see the drawing through the tracing paper...it was so cute!

So there you have it.  Some of the things I did to get my students reflecting and thinking about how they wanted their year with me to go.  These activities really did set up a more reflective and goal oriented classroom, and I really think the students enjoyed them. They also were great for the bulletin boards, so I was set with some great quality work for Back to School Night!   I put together all of these ideas, with bulletin board suggestions, lesson plan ideas, and all the templates you need in my Goal Setting and Self-Reflection Pack, which is available for $5 in my store.

BUT, as always, I will be giving a copy of this away.  Just leave me a comment about the types of goal setting activities you use, and I will choose one (using the Random Number Generator) to send my new pack to. Please be sure to leave your email address.  I will be picking the comment at 9pm PST tonight (7/16), so hurry up and comment away!

And the winner is #5...Mrs. Gosla.  Amy, I am sending you the pack as we speak!  Congratulations!!