My 8-year-old recently started Karate lessons and after a few weeks, his teacher sent us an email saying, “Now that you have been with us for a few weeks, you are really starting to progress. Keep up the good work! If you haven’t already set some training goals for yourself, now is a great time to start thinking about where you want to go.” Although we were glad to hear that he was doing well, he, nor we, had a clue about what or how to begin setting training goals. How will he continue his good work if he doesn’t know how to improve? How will he continue to make progress if he doesn’t know where to begin? As parents where do we begin to help him? Being that neither my husband nor I are subject matter experts in karate, we were not sure about how we could support him in setting goals.
On the flip side of being both a parent and an educator, this made me think about the important role that teachers and parents play in supporting and guiding children in setting goals to make progress and reach their fullest potential. I also thought we could apply the goal-setting process to any goal, even if it is karate training, starting small by building a solid foundation and focusing on continuous improvement.
Setting goals is important for the success of all students. Instilling that mindset about taking responsibility for your learning is critical for progress and growth. Goal setting has many benefits.
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It instills the mindset that learning is ongoing and improvement is continuous.
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It motivates students.
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Achieving goals builds confidence.
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It allows students to self-monitor along the way to make changes and celebrate successes.
Students need support and guidance in setting goals for themselves. Here are a few tips that I always keep in mind when setting goals with students.
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Goals should be student-driven by teacher/parent support and guidance.
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Goals should be specific, realistic, and developmentally appropriate.
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Goal-making should include parents. Parents play an important role in supporting and encouraging their children to reach their goals.
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Goals do not always have to be academic. They could be about improving the “quality” of the learner. Some examples may be kindness, respect, honesty, patience, perseverance, confidence and responsibility.
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Goals should be about progress, not perfection.
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Goals should have a step-by-step action plan with a clear path of the process of reaching the goal.
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Reflection on the process and the goals themselves are an important part of goal setting.
I’m sure you heard of it but I like setting SMART goals with my students.
Let The Goal Setting Begin
1. Begin with a mini-lesson about goal setting and reaching goals. I usually start by reading a picture book. Check out this book list for some great book recommendations.
2. Have students brainstorm a few realistic goals they’d like to reach and discuss them in small groups.
3. Students select one goal and independently work on the Planning SMART Goals organizer. Focusing on realistic and relevant action steps is critical in reaching goals.
4. The teacher confers with each student and uses the student’s organizer to guide the goal-setting conference. The teacher and student may schedule future conferences to revisit or check in on the student’s action steps and adjust them as needed.
*You could have these organizers filled out before parent-teacher conferences or you could have the goal-setting conference during parent-teacher conferences to include the parents in the goal-setting process too. I like having the first goal-setting conference with my students before meeting with the parents.
Need a little motivation? Post quotes about goals in the classroom and in the hallways as a way of motivating and encouraging a positive mindset toward setting and reaching goals. Quotes are a great way to learn from others, spark discussions, and motivate.
And don’t forget about student reflection. Reflecting on goals is an important part of goal setting and is often forgotten. Reflecting is a powerful strategy for everyone. Children need to be taught how to reflect and be given time to practice reflecting before, during, and after goal setting. Here are some reflection questions to get your kids thinking and reflecting.
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What is/was your SMART goal?
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Did you achieve it?
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What challenges did you face?
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What did you learn from the goal setting process?
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If you did not achieve your SMART goal, what would you do differently? Go back to your action steps and adjust the steps to reach your goal.
Grab my resources here if you want to support and encourage your students in making SMART goals. It includes a SMART goals poster, the setting and planning SMART goals organizers, a reflection sheet, and 10 posters with motivational quotes about goals.
As far as setting Karate goals, starting with learning the basic structure of the kicks and blocks is where he will begin. 🙂
How do you teach students to set goals?
Happy SMART Goal Setting!
If you like it, then pin it!
Christine Weis is a passionate educator, classroom management coach, wife, and mom of two busy boys. She enjoys teaching, writing, and creating resources for teachers.
The fact that kids are learning to set goals at a early age will only help them as the get older.
Exactly…I agree! Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
This is a great post that anyone can benefit from, including myself. I struggle with setting goals and am going to take some of the steps you outlined here and apply them.
I agree! We all struggle with planning, setting, reflecting and reaching our goals. I’m glad that you could benefit from this post. Best of luck! Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
I love the idea of tae kwando for kiddos, such great discipline and respect! Life long lessons through actions!
-Ashley
Thank you! Appreciate your comment! Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
There are some top tips here! I agree setting goals is very important and keeps focus and some kind of structure too 🙂 x
Thank you Melanie! I agree that goals keep us focused and provide structure. Thanks for reading! 🙂
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
Great post! I’m not a teacher but my daughter started Kindergarten this year and it’s amazing how much and how quickly they learn at this stage. Our goals are to practice reading and sight words every night and she is really enjoying reading, so i think we’re on the right track.
Kendra, those are excellent goals for your daughter. I’m so glad to hear that you are supporting her in her goals as early as kindergarten and that she loves reading! My teacher heart is smiling! 😉 That is fantastic!!! You are definitely on the right track!
All the best!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
Love all the quotes! Setting SMART goals is such a great lesson to learn at a young age.
Thanks Becca! I love the quotes too. They really motivate and inspire us, young or old! Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
this is great advice for any child no matter what activity or sport theyre doing!
Thanks for reading Hal!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
I love this post!
It shares all the right aspects to consider while setting goals. Indeed goals should be about the person in question because he/she is the one to make it happen anyway. And I really loved the part where you said goals is about progress and not perfection! Most times we set goals and feel like a failure because we didn’t achieve it to perfection. We all strive for perfect achievements but we still need to keep in mind that perfection doesn’t exist! Thanks for such a great post!
Thank you for your thoughtful comment! It is so true that people avoid setting goals because they are afraid of failure. Striving toward progress and not perfection is really something that needs to be taught at a young age. Setting goals is a life skill so planning, setting and reflecting on goals is best to start as early as possible. Thanks for reading!!!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
Great Tips for any teacher! great place to start!
-Ashley
Thanks for reading Ashley! 🙂
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
Goal setting is a great topic for a blog post. Thank you!
Thanks for reading Chad!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
The LOVE the SMART goal model. We have phonics, writing reading AND personal goals in our classroom. I agree that is so important to involve your students in the goal setting process. I love how you have discussed the importance of self-reflection after a goal is met. I need to do more of that. Thank you for sharing your wisdom! <3
I am so glad that you love and use the SMART goal model. I don’t see much goal setting in primary classrooms but it is so important for little ones. They can get frustrated so easily and give up. It’s so important to teach them that goal setting is part of learning and success at an early age. I’m all about self and student reflection. It is a must! I think that may be the most important part of goal setting! Thanks for reading and for sharing your thoughtful comment! <3
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
So many great points. Love this.
Thank you Renee! Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
I agree with you 100%! Setting goals for students helps them not get overwhelmed and give up. Plus it will get you into the habit of setting goals as an adult if you are using doing it when your a kid.
I agree…goal setting as a child does lead to goal setting as an adult. Too many kids get frustrated and give up. Teaching them that goal setting is part of learning and achieving is key! Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
I really enjoyed this! Setting goals is super important in the process of achieving something. As you meet each goal, you’re closer to success! You’ve made tons of good points that I plan to use as my children get older!
Thank you Courtney! I appreciate your feedback! Goal setting is so important and is often overlooked. I have to do it more with my own kiddos too. Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
I’m not a teacher – but I found this really interesting. If it were me, I would try and set goals around team working or getting to know someone else in the class – as I wouldn’t know the first thing about karate either! At least then you’re involved with the class and your son’s progress without having to take up karate yourselves 😉
Thanks Megan! Starting out with small training goals to build his confidence is where we decided to begin. I’m going to reach out to his teacher too for some guidance. Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers