Setting Goals

As referenced in my last blog entry, I began the lesson "Talk is Cheap" with my students. My apprehension was alleviated today when I saw students develop and write appropriate learning goals for themselves. We spent Tuesday watching the movie "The Tortoise and the Hare" from the Discovery Streaming videos. After the students had a firm grip on the main parts of the movie, we spent Wednesday digging deeper into the tortoise's and hare's goals. The students soon realized that, though the tortoise and hare had the same goal, the plans to meet the goal were vastly different. Today, the students spent time differentiating between positive steps or negative steps to goal setting. This was documented on the lesson's accompanying worksheet. At the end of the lesson, each student composed a learning goal and identified one strategy to help them achieve that goal. For instance, one student said, "I will use the rule keep my hands, feet and other objects to yourself." He identified a strategy for achieving that goal as "I will keep my hands to myself during lunch." It was gratifying to see students think about areas of weakness and to apply specific strategies for improvement. I'm so proud of them and I am delighted to hang their work in the hallways for everyone to see.