In this questionnaire; you will find twelve questions about how your students might react to or deal with setting goals. Look at each question carefully and think about:
- the proportion of your students the statement applies to;
- Don’t worry about the outliers…those who are very different to the statement in one direction or another;
- Concentrate on the average range of students;
- Estimate (roughly) how many of your students the statement describes.
Completing this quiz has made me aware of the importance of students generating their own goals. Is it possible to develop powerful learners without them being engaged in developing their own goals? I don’t think so.
As my kids are Year 2 Their goals are set In a less formal way. But they still do set expectations for themselves both as individuals snd as a class ( our Y Chart).
Most of my students do not understand the importance of goals and are therefore in the lacks or receives phases. Now to change this.
Top class students have ambition/goals to succeed and ‘be right’, but don’t have the language to identify this and build upon it, which can then confuse performance vs learning goals.
This has been a hard quiz to complete because the first 10 days of Kindy are about settling the students into a routine and a lot of our content heavy stuff only just started so goal setting is coming but we are still introducing what each subject is. However, we have talked about goals to do with coming into the classroom with a happy face and doing our morning checks without prompting. They’ve definitely taken to those goals now I think about it 🙂 Maybe, for now, our goals are more routine related as opposed to content related. e.g. opening lunch box independently, remembering to go to the toilet at recess and lunch, unpacking bag independently etc.
I would agree Lara! Goals to do with routine and readiness would be so valuable at this time of year for Kindy. : )
Hi
In addition to acting as Principal Consultant for TLO, my partner and I own a pre-school nursery and this response is with my early years ‘hat’ on !
It seems to me that very young learners struggle with goals as they have yet to gain any sense that there is a future that they can predict, let alone control. (I am thinking here of 2 year olds)
At this stage our role might simply be one of discussing upcoming events (like hand washing before having snack, before going outside to play) to help learners to begin to ‘think ahead’.
What think ?
I agree Steve! That would be very valuable as a stepping stone that future teachers can build upon.
You make an important point – that each teachers’ job is to build on what has gone before, slowly and progressively building, in this case, the inclination and ability of learners to set goals for themselves.
These are long-term aspirations for learners, not short-term fixes.
I’m now questioning whether my Year 12 students have goals they are working towards when they come in to class? Are they relying on me to set their goals for them? They need practice in devising their own success criteria as well as amending their goals based on feedback.
One can’t underestimate the role of self confidence and proactive attitudes to goals and learning. Ownership of the learning process is entwined with goal setting.
In the butterfly rooms of the ELC, we have just begun our Discovery hour. Talking about goal setting before we begin and revisiting these at the end of the hour encourage our kids to review and re-set goals. Ours are mostly of the “show me / tell me”group, but using the language of BPL and goal setting may provide them with an awareness of goals and the idea that it can be fun to set your own goals.
This quiz has revealed yet another challenge on my part as I encourage my students to be proactive in their own goal-setting and learning. Have I created an atmosphere of learning where students value effort and mistakes that go with it? Have I guided my students to realign their goals from performance to learning as its own reward?
In the Caterpillar room, most are in the lacks phase, with a few children showing the determination and desire to set their own goals through their play e.g. ‘I want to be able to use the monkey bars by myself.’
We have just started our new DIG IT program – Discover, Investigate, Grapple, and I Think (reflection) – and we can see it will be a challenge to create a deep awareness of goal setting initially, mostly due to their age. I have hopes that over the course of the year the language will become more familiar and they will develop a deeper understanding of their learning, however at this point, it feels very different to teach this group as compared to the older Butterfly class, which seemed more competent in this area to begin with. Will see how we go!
Hi Rosemarie,
Would you like to share a bit more about Dig It ?
It sounds really interesting.
I find it so difficult to have the students establish their own goals. Even with a significant frame work they tend to want to just be directed as to what they need to do or they will set themselves a goal that isn’t in the right area for what they are needing to achieve in terms of outcomes. They would need to be masters of what they would need to achieve before setting the goal and the only way they could do that is by the direction of the teacher.
I’m challenged as this quiz has pointed out some areas I’m lacking within my classroom. The idea of students viewing learning as the goal rather than the performance is something I’m keen to establish.
In an ideal world I would love to be a coach to my students but I find that a great majority of my students have no drive to set goals. This quiz challenges me to create opportunities to set goals while learning. I am keen to hear from anyone with advice.
Why don’t learners share our enthusiasm for coaching, I wonder? Could it be that they prefer to ‘be told’ because it requires less effort than working it through for themselves?
Or perhaps their experience of school has, thus far, suggested that their ‘job’ is to listen our wisdom??!!
I’m a keen goal setter and teach it to all my students. Because most of what we do is PBL in VA we need to set goals to achieve.
Right now my Yr 12 have an ass task that includes specific, accountable and measurable goals sheet for the Year 12 year on a weekly basis so that they can achieve their desired goal within the time frame and it also helps them feel in control, and that they can monitor their progress along the way and amend where necessary.
They have found to complete it is a bug task, but gave them the framework to see it is achievable and they can do it in the time frame.
I was exposed to excellent goal setting training outside the school framework and have taught it to students since then. An essential life skill.
Working with a mix of classes and students, I have found that some of the students are in the receives phase- a neutral mindset, sitting in their comfort zone, needing adult direction, but complying with suggestions. Others are in the lacks phase- learning in an ‘aimless’ way.
This is a pattern we frequently see as teachers begin to look at their learners through the lens of learning power – some learners preferring to leave all the work to us, with others willing but perhaps lacking the skills to do it for themselves!
Working with the former group is more about changing attitudes, whereas the latter ‘neutral’ group require a more up-skilling approach.
I’m feeling challenged as this quiz showed me that there are very few learners in my classroom that are even aware of goals. I touch on individual lesson goals, and broader goals for themselves as learners, but getting them to the level of understanding and empowerment to create their own goals? I think I’ve just discovered my goal!
In our Butterfly class I find that often we (the teachers) are the ones setting the goals during DIGGER time (what we call our intentional teaching program) that covers mainly Literacy, Numeracy and BPL dispositions. For example, the goal may be for the children to focus on learning initial sounds. There is definitely a place for teacher-oriented goals, particularly in this age bracket where children are learning foundational skills.
During the play program however is when the children are able to undertake more of their own goal setting activities such as “I want to build a house using magnetic tiles”. From there, the teacher is able to scaffold the childs’ learning as we look at steps to achieving their goal.
I find that students have an understanding, although limited, of what goals are, but these are often learning intention goals that I have set rather than individual goals that the student is able to set. Interesting thoughts into the next step forward in this space.
very interesting outcomes! I completely see this in my pupils! They do not always see the bigger picture of achieving goals.
My results suggest that the children can give up too easy but when they ‘get it’
this is when they achieve their goals.
My results relate to a Nurture Group. Their motivation and drive is very varied, but few of them have the self belief to set goals and work towards them. I think we will have to start small with this group of children so they can build this self-belief.