My daughter just started eighth grade, and as kids get older, I think it’s important to talk about their goals for the year in terms of learning, friendships, hobbies and more.
This can be done informally at home, or in the classroom. Having goals encourages kids to think in terms of a growth mindset, understanding that they might not be great at a particular skill from the beginning, but with practice they can improve.
The Thinker Builder has a great goals writing activity that kids can use on their own or in the classroom to outline their goals for the school year (or the new year if you want to do this in December or January as well).
It outlines a writing prompt based on an acronym for goals: the guts of the goal, obstacles standing in their way, action steps and looking ahead.
The guts of the goal means a goal statement and noting what success looks like and the time frame involved. Looking ahead is about how they will feel about reaching the goal and what they will do next.
In addition to the worksheet, there’s a whole set of goal setting materials on their Teachers Pay Teachers page, including a goal planning booklet for kids to use to help them set good goals, a 3D block-shaped presentation version (as well as 2D and bulletin board options).
There are also materials to help the students keep each other accountable (in pairs or small groups) to working on their goals. This would be a great way to get kids thinking about goals they can accomplish thorough the year and keeping it on their mind by doing a regular check in with each other (as an adult I could totally use that, too!).
The full collection is 36 pages and it can be used with kids in third through eighth grades.
[Photo: The Thinker Builder]
