Student Agency in Goal setting
My current improvement goal as a professional has been to assist students better determine their own goals. So far this year we have discussed goals and a few things I had seen as a fail. We made some goal cards, one for reading/writing and maths. Setting our goals at the start of the year and aligning them with things from the Ao's and progressions. With 3 different types of goals and using the LLI's, then translating to the Asttle marks. It was all a little bit complicated. I have been thinking about how to better integrate the whole process and make it simpler.
Turns out I was already on the right track. As the students are aware that they need to have goals now and we are always discussing next steps- when I asked them (without any prompting or warning that this would be a question) whether they had a literacy or a maths goal. 13 out of 15 could articulate both a literacy and a maths goal that they thought was appropriate for them. The maths goal for all was times tables, which to me is fine. They all knew the basic facts that they needed help with straight away. As well as how to meet their goal, and what resources they could make themselves. For a literacy goal, 2/15 could articulate their literacy goal without looking at any resources. Those 2 had not yet individually conferenced for writing with me yet this term, and they were goals I also thought would be their main focus. The 11 others used the literacy wall to help them choose something they needed help with without me pointing them out, with the last 2 needing direction to choose from the wall. Some students recognised that the practice of the skill was actually what they needed to be doing and being motivated to do that at home would be their goal.
Overall, this is definite evidence that although my focus on goal setting has been haphazard and not at all perfect, the constant focus on setting goals and how we achieve them has been working. It is by no means the end, but I seem to have come a lot further than I had realised. I can't wait to share this with my students, as they know this has been something I have set as my goal.
NS: Help the students develop their ability to set and achieve SMART goals.
With a focus on time bound- how long will we give ourselves to achieve our goal and how will we measure them?
Turns out I was already on the right track. As the students are aware that they need to have goals now and we are always discussing next steps- when I asked them (without any prompting or warning that this would be a question) whether they had a literacy or a maths goal. 13 out of 15 could articulate both a literacy and a maths goal that they thought was appropriate for them. The maths goal for all was times tables, which to me is fine. They all knew the basic facts that they needed help with straight away. As well as how to meet their goal, and what resources they could make themselves. For a literacy goal, 2/15 could articulate their literacy goal without looking at any resources. Those 2 had not yet individually conferenced for writing with me yet this term, and they were goals I also thought would be their main focus. The 11 others used the literacy wall to help them choose something they needed help with without me pointing them out, with the last 2 needing direction to choose from the wall. Some students recognised that the practice of the skill was actually what they needed to be doing and being motivated to do that at home would be their goal.
Overall, this is definite evidence that although my focus on goal setting has been haphazard and not at all perfect, the constant focus on setting goals and how we achieve them has been working. It is by no means the end, but I seem to have come a lot further than I had realised. I can't wait to share this with my students, as they know this has been something I have set as my goal.
NS: Help the students develop their ability to set and achieve SMART goals.
With a focus on time bound- how long will we give ourselves to achieve our goal and how will we measure them?
So good that the students get a chance to be part of their goal setting. So often teachers decide for them.
ReplyDeleteIt's been really interesting following your journey as you have figured out the most effective way of teaching goal setting to your students and enabling them to take responsibility for their learning. It seems like you have found a way to embed the notion of goal setting into your day to day classroom programme.
ReplyDelete