Goal Setting and Tracking with the Little Ones

Setting and tracking academic goals with six year olds.....

Other than fluency.....

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!

We have all heard that students should set and track their personal academic goals. As a primary teacher I was not a fan and didn't do it. {{SHHH, Don't tell}} 

We all agree that our time is precious. 

Would the time it takes to teach students how to set goals, set the goals, and track the goals REALLY be worth it?

This fall my school attended a John Hattie Visible Learning Professional Development. After this PD, I decided to rethink goal setting and give it a try!

I decided to start out with one area....Reading Levels. We use DRAs to monitor our reading levels, but this could be adapted for any reading assessment or even any subject. 

First off, I did NOT want each student's reading level to be visible to everyone. I KNOW there are many out there who disagree and that is a whole other discussion! I made our tracking area have end check points instead of levels. The end of each grading period is a check point.

We started with our October Reading Levels...

We will check our progress in January, March, and June. Those are the end of each grading period.

Our boats will move as we move!

Here is the hard part...

Setting the goals!

I conferenced with each child individually to have them set their goals. We completed this sheet together.

This is the sheet I used for my on level & below level students. 18 is the end of first grade expectation.  I used one that goes to a level 24 for my above level students.

I showed each student their actual DRA to help them set their goal and choose what to work on...fluency, comprehension, etc. I am not going to sugar coat it, this took a couple of days and a lot of "coaching." I am optimistic that it will be easier each time.

My goal is to conference with each child and revisit their goal sheet at least once before the end of the grading period.

Do your students set goals and track their progress?