Spark Student Motivation: Student Goal Setting

You did it! You made it to the weekend! Can you believe October is almost over? 

I already feel like this year is flying by!

Let's spark some student motivation!

 Every year I have my students set goals and usually they're yearly goals, but I wanted them to make some short terms goals at the end of the grading period for the next grading period.

We discussed the importance of looking at what we've accomplished (as a team and individually) and what we hope to achieve this nine weeks.

I explained that writing goals holds us more accountable and can help put us on the right track.

I wanted my students to take ownership of their own learning by setting their own goals and hopes for the next grading period. I stressed the importance of participation and its correlation to learning. Some of my not so eager participators agreed to tally and keep track of their participation to see where they can improve. I explained that in order to participate, you have to listen and be engaged, which means you're learning! :)

 

I met with each student individually to share their grades. I think it's important to share their averages with their letter grade because some As were right at the cut off point or some Cs were very close to being a B. They know they have to start over for the new grading period, but with a little double checking and rereading it could make the difference. :) Sometimes it could average out to be just getting one extra question right on each assignment to improve the nine weeks letter grade. (This sounded very doable to my students and they thought it would be easy!) I like putting things in perspective for them.

 I love the honesty of this student. She expresses her feelings about the difficulty of science and how she plans to make sure she gets an A again.

 This student wants to work on his quiz grade and improve his rating of reading at home. How cute is it that he gave himself a 9 on his homework because he does it every day at 2:10! :) We get out at 2:05, so he must go home and complete his homework immediately!

 I LOVE this student's accomplishments! I work so hard at building a class family and that's the first thing she wrote! We're also working on an anti-bullying campaign. I also like that she appreciates that we have a routine and never give up! They could write class accomplishments and/or individual accomplishments.

This student is an avid reader and has 250 Reading Counts points and is planning to double his points next nine weeks. We brainstormed how to set realistic goals and how to achieve them.

For example if they only earned 30 Reading Counts points, it would be unrealistic to set a goal of 200 points for this quarter.

 

They loved setting these goals actually! Most were pleased to see their grades (report cards haven't officially been released) and what they've accomplished already in this short time.

 

Would you like to use these goal setting forms with your students? Grab them here. I've included a form for Reading Counts and Accelerated Reader. I also added parent signature and comments. I had several parents text or write notes that they loved the idea of their child setting goals for themselves and also how they would help their child at home too. :)

I hope you had a wonderful week! Please link up any lessons, ideas, tips, tricks, incentives, ANYTHING you do get your students motivated or excited!

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