Ideas for Teaching Goals
To achieve success, children need more than good grades and strong academics, according to Education World, an online resource for teachers and parents. Children need to learn the concept of setting goals and creating plans of action. Goal setting is an area that's often times overlooked as a concept children need to understand before entering the real world.
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Classroom Goal
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Telling children about the importance of goal setting is not as effective as giving them a chance to work together to set and accomplish a common goal. Ask the children to brainstorm a few manageable goals to be accomplished during the school year. Examples may be to read a specific number of books as a group, or the class could turn their homework assignments in on time for an entire month. What may work for one classroom may not work for another. It may be beneficial to allow the children to determine the goal as a group. Help the class with the entire process and encourage them along the way. When the students achieve the goal, reward them with some kind of incentive, such as a pizza party or ice cream social.
Inspiration and Motivation
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"Teaching students to set personal goals begins with teaching them to believe in themselves," according to Education World. Help children understand that they can pursue their dreams through hard work. Show them how other people have tackled tough issues and accomplished their goals. Locate true motivational stories about people, movie stars and singers included, and share these with the students.
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Fund Raiser
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To teach the concept of goal setting to a second-grade class at an elementary school in Virginia, a teacher hosted a fund raising event that made children accountable for developing the plans and setting realistic goals, according to the Washington Post. This particular classroom set a monetary goal of $350 to benefit a local nonprofit organization. The children raised these funds by selling candy canes. Implement a similar fund raising project, and as a class, set monetary and planning goals. Host a bake sale or invite the community to a car wash in which funds earned will benefit the school or charity. Keep in mind it's important to set realistic goals that can easily be achieved. The concept is to teach children the importance of goal setting and how every goal should have a plan of action.
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References
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