TOUCHSTONE 2:  I ensure students set personal learning objectives for                                               each lesson.

 

Explanation

The second of the touchstones in demanding student expectation is highly imperative to student success. Educators must help students set personal learning goals within a lesson. Setting these goals help students develop a sense of fate control and keep them self-engaged with conditioned optimism within their schooling careers as we all know success is addictive. We should strive to encourage students to want that feeling every time they enter our classrooms. While developing learning goals students should set large ambitious long-term goals for their learning. These are best applied to tasks that are challenging, presenting frustration and possible setback but allows the student to push through the challenge. Short-term goals should act to break up long-term goals into smaller more digestible pieces with higher achievement rates. These are often exhibited in personal learning objectives for the student in which they set for themselves. As with any goal we need to communicate them for accountability and have them visual for remembrance. This is on the educator to communicate and remind students of the goals they have set for themselves when they trip up or stumble, they must adapt and overcome to have that ever so addictive feeling of success. This is the same in their educational journey as it is in life itself. While setting goals is important for student success so is painting a picture of what the end is supposed to look like, in other words how do they form a plan for success if they don’t know what success looks like. In our planning stages in education we need to keep a focus on backward design so we know what mastery looks like. This keeps things very transparent to the student in setting both long-term and short-term goals.

 

Application

In setting student learning goals, I envision students setting one long-term learning goal at the beginning of the course. Within each of the twelve units taught within the blended Captains Course students would be asked to set three short-term learning goals for the unit. These can be tied to the learning targets and objectives that would be laid out on the onset of every unit. These short-term goals can be on assignments, projects, and assessments. Since this is a blended learning course a large portion of the class will be self-guided so short-term goals may also include to complete reading, time spent on online learning or time spent reflecting on learning in their captain’s journal. I will then aid and guide student-athletes in preparation of their learning goals to help them achieve both their short-term and eventually long term goals. This may come in the form of journaling goals at the beginning of the unit so it is in a visible place the student may reference throughout the unit. Planning time to review and revise goals will be made three times per unit and may be incorporated as a lesson closure activity. This will give students the opportunity to ask questions for improvement, allow them to keep on path and determine next steps to achieving their personal learning goals.

 

Examples of long-term goals

      I want to become an effective leader on my team.

      I want to conduct a team building activity for my team by mid-season.

      I will be an outstanding communicator and build team cohesion by the postseason.

 

Examples of short-term goals

      I will devote three hours per week to this captains course.

      I will complete my assigned reading in Energy Bus.

      I will apply the concepts of positive motivation this week in practice.

 

Additional Resources

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