Big Ideas Newsletter, Goal Setting

Goal Worksheet (.pdf)

 

Did You Know? 90% of successful people set goals, and 90% of people who feel they have failed did not set goals. Goal setting is a very powerful tool that can boost student performance. To make goal writing more productive, Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson coined a term SMART goals. It is an easy acronym to remember that a good goal must contain specific elements. A goal must be: Specific. Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time bound. While we generally associate goal setting with the start of the semester, having your students reflect on what they have accomplished this semester and what they want to accomplish over the summer is a valuable activity.

 

Try This:

 

• To begin ask some questions: What goals did you set for yourself this semester? How many of your goals did you achieve? Where did you write your goals down?
  
• Explain to students the importance of writing down their goals.
  
• Pass out the student worksheet attached to this email.
  
• Ask students to write down on the worksheet one goal they set and accomplished.
  
• Ask students to describe how it felt when they accomplished their goal.
  
• Explain to students that it is not only valuable to set goals but also to write them down following a set of criteria- like SMART goals.
  
• Have students proceed through the worksheet, setting a goal and then making it SMART. (Like the chart below.)

 

SMART	Yes/No	How?
Is it specific?
Is it measurable?
Is it attainable?
Is it relevant?
Is it time bound?

 

• Review the worksheets with students and ask them questions about how this activity would be useful to them.

 

Next Step: Suggest students get the guidance they need to reach their goals by visiting the Campus Career Center.

 

Quik Quote: Alice’s Adventures (Chapter 6) when Alice asks the Cheshire Cat for direction:

 

Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here? Asked Alice.

That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cat.

I don’t much care where- so long as I get somewhere. Replied Alice.

Then it doesn’t matter which way you go, said the Cat.