1. Embedding Personal Goal Setting and Self-Monitoring into the Curriculum
Becca Leech
Special Educator, Coordinator of the Personalized Learning Program, Warren County High School

2. Starting Activity: Set your personal goals for this session
Grab a pencil and a blank “My Class Goals” page. I use this form with my students. We’ll experience the process together. Write only above the dotted line for now.

3. In pencil, lightly sketch your personal goal
For this session. (Don’t stress too much. We will refine this together)
How will you measure your success?
Break your overall goal down into specific knowledge or skills you want to learn

4. Benefits of teaching goal setting and monitoring
Enhance Executive Functioning Skills – skills that help young people plan and complete tasks
Promote Intrinsic Motivation – so that you do not have to provide rewards for them to learn. They want to succeed for self-defined, inner rewards
Personalize Learning to make the learning relevant to their values and long term aspirations.
Encourage Independence – When students know why they are working and where their learning is headed, they can initiate self-directed work rather than depend on the teacher to constantly guide

5. Performance Goals vs. Mastery(Learning) Goals
Characteristics of Learners with Mastery vs. Performance Goals

6. SMART Specific Measureable Achievable Realistic Timely
What is the specific goal you want to reach? I will ...______________________
______________________________________________________________________
How will you measure it? ______________________________________________
Why do you think this goal is achievable for you (give evidence)?
____________________________________________________________________
Why do you think this goal is realistic for you? __________________________
________________________________________________________________
When do you plan to achieve this goal? Day __________ month: ___________ year: ___________

7. Breaking down a larger goal into sub-goals or steps
Make the steps more immediate. Have students reflect on what they need to learn this week and this month in your class.
Share and discuss your class standards. Have students mark/highlight/prioritize and reflect on the standards they think are most relevant to their own goals and values.
If a student isn’t interested in your course standards, try focusing on transferable employability skills – most young people want to be able to get a job

8. Sharing your course standards to help break steps down

9. Transferable Employability Skills

10. From TN DOE Work Based Learning Toolkit

11. Offering feedback for goal setting
During the first teaching goal setting teaching session, it’s important that students get it right. So, feedback and revision are essential first steps.
Students need private feedback, and time for self evaluation using the rubric and opportunities for revision, before their goals should be shared publicly. Establishing a culture of trust and respect is essential to the process
Use the language of “not yet”, from the growth mindset research, to encourage growth

12. Rubric to use for feedback and reflection

13. Activity #2: Offer feedback to each other on your goal setting pages
First take time to use the rubric, self-evaluate your goal pages, and make revisions
We will share the goal setting pages you created for this session with partners and offer each other feedback using growth mindset feedback

14. Activity #3: Providing Feedback for Effective Goal Revision
You will find a number of student examples
Work with 1 or 2 partners to discuss the goals and provide effective feedback to the student, using the rubric
We will share out a few examples with the whole group

15. Self-Monitoring
Should be daily at first, until students are accurate and independent in the process.
Offer written and verbal feedback to help students learn how to monitor
Self monitoring can be intermittent later, so that the process does not become rote. I move from daily, to 3 times a week, to 1 – 2 times weekly.

16. Examples of Goal Self-Monitoring

17. Activity #4: Practice Self-Monitoring
Complete the self-monitoring sheet on the bottom half of your “My Class Goals” page, evaluating your progress toward your session goals so far in the session.
If there are goals you haven’t met yet, what can you do to move forward on this session? Are there questions you ask, resources you need, or ideas you would like to share with the group?
After you have completed the page, turn to one of your partners and ask them to give feedback on your goals.

18. Written Reflections on Longer Term and Performance Goals
Long term goals and performance goals need periodic (once per grading period or semester) reflections that ask the student to evaluate long term progress and remind them of their values and overarching goals.
Sample prompt:
“Read your long term goal on the wall or in the front of your notebook and write a journal entry reflecting on your progress toward that goal. Does the goal still reflect your values? Are you still working to achieve that goal? If not, how would you change it to reflect your current values and goals?”
Allow students to modify their long term goals, if they wish.

19. For students who need more intensive intervention
Consult your special department for students who do not seem to respond to goal setting. Some students have more severe executive functioning difficulties and need more direct instruction to understand learning expectations and self-monitoring.
Some tools for explicitly defining expectations are included in the handouts and links provided.

21. Self-monitoring of classroom expectations

24. For more information: Email me at leechr@warrenschools.com
Resources can be found at:
Code to join Google Classroom “Teaching Personal Goal Setting and Self-Monitoring” : ng0hgxu
Or sign up with your and I will invite you