An amazing thing about goals is that they can be set and achieved at any age. As a teacher, it is understandable that not all students will have the necessary tools to set their academic goals. Most of the students may not know how to effect change and strive to achieve their set goals. That is why you have to set a structure that can aid your students in setting their academic goals having it I their mind that the process is continuous.
When students are equipped with goal-setting skills, it provides them with the mindset of thinking forward towards their academic development, assists them to reflect on the goals, and helps them prepare their minds for the future.
Setting academic goals is a vital aspect of student growth and development because it helps personalize the learning process based on students’ needs, develops the motivation and intention that empowers students, creates accountability to shift responsibility to students, and provides the required foundation for the needs of students to be advocated for.
So how can you assist your students set their goals and achieving them with time?
You can spend some time with them to have a free discussion on their goals and the actions they can take to attain the goals. You can also ask them during discussions to imagine some task, behavior, or skills they intend to focus their thoughts on having the discussions in groups or pairs. The focus should also be on the strategies for achieving those goals, and aspects they can improve on if they did not achieve the goal.
Always advice students to their goals and progress are documented in a book so they can always reflect on them. This will influence their creativity and personalized mindset due to the visual representation of the progress in their journey.
Always try to ask students a variety of questions that range from which of their goals they were able to achieve (which aspects they did well or improved on), aspects they think they can improve on, what actions they can embark on to meet up, what can they do differently to attain better results, and in what ways they can be assisted by others to attain their set goals.
This will assist them to put things in shape and ensure they are on track.
Assisting students in setting goals can help you manage your classroom and assist the students with their academic performance as it helps students become more aware of their expectations and equips them with actionable methods to attain their goals.
