Goal-setting can seem like a difficult task for teachers and students, but it doesn’t have to be. There are a number of resources out there to make the process run smoothly for anyone in any situation to set a goal and track their progress. It’s important for students to be involved in goal-setting so that they are working toward something they want to achieve, and are able to understand the intention behind the day-to-day activities planned for their learning. Goals are motivational tools that also help structure the learning path.
The SMART goal framework is one of the best to use when writing a goal. It’s a great way to evaluate whether the goal being set is realistic and manageable while building in how to track the goal itself. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound. Here’s how the process works.
Specific
Start by breaking down a big goal into smaller, more manageable pieces. Plan to set a goal in each academic area, or one in one area. A vague goal might be something like: “Do better in school”, while a specific goal would break down “school” into the subjects and also define what “doing better” looks like. Do you want to read more books? Do you want to score better on math tests? Do you want to turn homework in on time? All these questions help define what this goal will be addressing, so that a clear plan can be made to achieve it.
Measurable
How will you know you’ve met your goal? Writing in the tool used to track progress is key to building a strong SMART goal. There are some goals where this is easier to do than others, which might lead to restructuring the entire goal itself. Let’s say you want to read more books. That’s easily tracked by keeping a reading log or a journal. If you want to score higher on a test, the measurement is built into the goal itself, you can set up practice tests or benchmarks to track progress. Measuring goals related to writing or creative work might mean creating your own tool to evaluate progress, and collecting samples of work along the way in a portfolio is one of the best ways to show progress with writing, fine art, or design work.
Attainable
Some goals are unrealistic because of constraints that are beyond our control. If you only have time to read for an hour a day because of other activities, and you read at a rate of a chapter a day, saying you will read 100 books in a week is impossible. Setting an attainable goal is key to the process, because you want to be able to achieve your goal, not set yourself up for failure. So it’s important to look realistically at the amount of time and resources available when considering the parameters of the goal.
Relevant
This goal is your goal, and should matter to you. Which sounds simple, but this step requires the most self-reflection. It’s easy to create a goal that you will do better on a math test, but what if you don’t really care? Math isn’t what interests you, you’re an artist. Setting and working towards a goal that isn’t relevant to you will feel like a waste of time. That doesn’t necessarily mean not setting a goal in an academic area you dislike, it means determining how to frame the goal in a way that you get the most out of the subject. For example, if you want to be an artist, do you want to go to art school? Do you need to get certain math test scores to get into art schools? If so, your math test score goal might turn out to be relevant after all. Math and art also have a lot of intersecting skills and ideas, which might mean your goal is related to learning to create precise and well-designed graphs or use calculations to design 3D sculptures.
Time-Bound
The final letter of the SMART acronym! A goal needs to have a time limit, and an end in mind. Generally a goal for the school year lasts a year or a semester, but the timeline can be shorter or longer depending on the scope of the goal. It might be helpful to stretch a larger goal over time and set goalposts, which can help it be more attainable as well. If you want to read 100 books in a year, but that seems unattainable, it can be stretched to be 100 books over four years, which is 25 books a year which is much more realistic. Usually a SMART goal will start with the “due date” of the goal: “By May 2023…”
Examples of SMART goals
A good sentence frame is “By (date), I will…, because…” The “because” isn’t necessary all of the time, but it can make a goal feel more relevant and serve as a motivator. You can also use “By (date), I will … by…” to elaborate on how the goal will be measured and achieved.
“By July 2023, I will write 30,000 words in my novel.”
“By June 2024, I will read 25 fantasy books because I want to write a fantasy novel someday.”
“By April 2023, I will write 30,000 words in my novel by writing 1,000 words each day.”
“By April 2024, I will write more clearly and with better detail as measured by a portfolio review.”
Further Reading
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