Celebrating Goal Setting

This lesson plan is the result of having a concern that students no longer have a sense of setting goals and lack the pride and enthusiasm they feel when they are able to achieve those goals.
This lesson begins with students discussing what a goal is and deciding what goal they will set for the upcoming weeks. It is important that students understand that these goals should be something that is measureable and achievable, but also one that will take daily and weekly work to achieve. Goals should be individually set and not have the same goal be used for each studeent. The goals may be academic or social. It is important that the students record these goals and put up in the classroom as a reminder to them the personl goal that they have set. This may be a classroom bulletin board entitled "Putting Our Best Foot Forward" and using footprints or a sports theme entitled "We're After our Own Goals" with soccer balls.
Throughout the next weeks, discuss their goals with them. Have them share with partners small celebrations they are having as they work toward their goals. Have them record weekly what they are doing to take small steps toward their goals. This should take small amounts of time, but be used to keep them focused on their goals. This is a perfect opportunity to record with pictures the small steps they are doing to meet their goals. Students can also be given small tokens that have been created to remind them to work toward their goal or to encourage them to stay focused on their goal. These could include bookmarks that have been created that say "I'm Working on Reaching My Goal" or "Almost To My Goal".
Set a date to evaluate whether students have been successful in reaching their goals. Now, it's time to celebrate! This could be extended to include parents and guardians. Students will create a poster for display that includes a picture with a symbol to represent their goal- holding a book, an Honor Roll Ribbon... These posters will be displayed in the classroom. Students will also have a small celebration ceremony. This celebration is another way to enforce the feeling of pride and accomplishment you feel when you set and achieve your goals. During this time, a slide show will play that reflect the student goals and will include those pictures taken throughout the weeks as students continued to work on achieving their goals. Other options for celebration include creating a "Meeting Our Goals" scrapbook or a "Meeting Our Goals" section on a classroom website. Pictures and names can also be part of a classroom newsletter or local newspaper.
At the end of the celebration, students will again create new goals for the upcoming weeks.