Note from me, the author:  Hello readers! As I have been busy working to build my blog (that I started years ago, and left to fend for itself for quite some time), I stumbled across this old draft I had been working on while I was in grad school. As it relates to a concept dear to my heart…and a blog I recently posted…I decided that I would go ahead and publish it now! (Talk about a blast from the past!) I hope you enjoy this ancient relic of my past, find it useful, and as always, thanks for stopping by and happy teaching!

Recently, my current grad class posed the following discussion question:  What ideas do you have for having students set learning goals to personalize their learning? How can this be worked into the students’ daily practices (e.g., where, when, how)?

This got me thinking—    “what a perfect time to create a post based on this practice!”

The idea of growth mindset versus a fixed mindset is trending right now and for a good reason:  for years students were raised to believe that getting good grades was what mattered. I, myself was one of them. I honestly cannot recall much of what was taught during my K-12 schooling. Today, we have learned that there is a much greater importance in instilling a thirst for knowledge in our students and children. We’ve realized that placing importance on performance achievement can result in what is called a “fixed mindset,” that fears failure and believes that success is the result of chance or “talent.” This “learned helplessness,” results in students failing to see failure as a learning experience…they do not try to figure out what to do differently the next time.

With this knowledge in hand and an understanding that this kind of mindset is learned, comes the task of developing students who instead have a growth mindset.

As teachers, we are required to create personal goals each year as part of our yearly evaluations. Knowing the importance of having a growth mindset, I made it a goal of mine to emphasize this in my own classroom. Below are some practices I have already implemented in my classroom (and still do!), as well as ones I think would be great to try, even for the littlest kiddos:

1.  Incorporate specific, personal learning goals and growth monitoring towards said goal:  

Sometimes my students set HUGE goals that could very easily become unattainable due to their enormity, so I make it a point to emphasize using smaller goals to build to the bigger goal. I want my students to feel successful, and the best way to do that is through those small, achievable goals. If we set small, personalized (differentiated but not “easy”) goals, then every student can feel successful and have an “I can” attitude. Before students move to set their goals, I have them take some time to practice being meta-cognitive…to take some time and reflect on their strengths and areas for growth.

(I’d like to take this statement farther and add that with “concrete, stretch goals” comes specific/precise feedback. I also can’t expect my students to be able to set an achievable goal if they don’t know what they’re doing well and hear how their teachers set next steps for them. I want to note too, that I feel it is important that my students also understand the why of the learning so it becomes meaningful for them.)

2.  General (but could be content specific): have students write a “not yet” goal on a note card and then tape it to their tables as a visual reminder. I’ve also done sticky notes on chart paper with goals and strengths for various things.

3.  In writing, we have writing offices. Each office has a genre checklist and a universal proofreading checklist (see above FREEBIE!). I use these checklists with students to mark strengths and next steps/goals with a vis-à-vis (so strengths and goals can be modified as needed). I like this strategy, because students know that in order to be proficient in the genre/first grade, they ultimately need to incorporate the elements listed…but we can focus in on the individual elements to help us get there. Some people use an “I’m learning to, I can” chart, but I found it just became a lot for students to navigate and use effectively when used along with the checklists.

4.  In math, we focus heavily on computational fluency (within 10), so many of our stations are centered on this..for upper grades, this can transition to multiplication/division facts . To help motivate students and goal set, I staple a “hiding number” card in each of their math journals. Students can then monitor their progress and work towards their goal of 10. They get SO excited for themselves, and the whole class breaks out in applause for each other when they move to a new hiding number (this is what Kathy Richardson uses to practice fact families).

5.  And finally, in reading each student has a bookmark with strategies on the front and levels on the back. During guided reading, we set a quarterly-level goal and mark it using a vis-a-vis (wet erase marker). We mark off the levels as we progress for visual affirmation. I’ve also highlighted a strategy with students if we determine it is something we want to get better at. Teachers Pay Teachers has reading strategy bookmarks you can download/purchase (the one I used, I would not want to post until I have gone through to ensure the images I used are still in the public domain).

Example of the backside of a reading strategy bookmark:

For more ideas and resources check out my most recent post: Instilling a Growth Mindset Vs Fixed Mindset!