The Handbook for Poor Students, Rich Teaching. Eric Jensen
of each type of gutsy goal—a process goal, a relational goal, and a result goal. Make sure each of them meets the criteria for a SMART goal. See figure 4.3. Note that, if they apply, you are free to evolve your goals from figure 4.2 (page 43), or you can set some entirely new goals. If you find yourself answering “no” to any of the SMART questions, return to figure 4.2 and keep refining until it does meet these criteria.
Figure 4.3: Your gutsy goals.
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Student Examples
Beyond the goals you set, it’s important for your students to set goals that give them ownership over their own ambitions and growth. So, after you have established classwide gutsy goals and presented them to your students (along with information about what gutsy goals are and why they’re important), it’s a great idea to have them set some of their own. Here are student examples for gutsy goals.
• A process goal: “I will read at least five pages a day and take at least two pages of notes every school day of the year.”
• A relational goal: “I will know every other student in class by first name.” Or, “I will initiate three new friendships from this class before we end.”
• A result goal: “I will get an A or B in every class.”
Note that it’s important for students to share their goals with you and each other as well. To that end, pass out notecards like those illustrated in figure 4.4, and have students fill them out. Then, have them form teams of four to six peers. Each team member stands to read his or her goals. When each student has finished, the team gives a standing ovation.
Figure 4.4: Gutsy goals for students.
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Giving a Reason to Believe
When you share gutsy goals, those around may be tempted to roll their eyes. It is as if they are saying, “Yeah, sure, right; like that’s going to happen.” Students may have trouble buying into the gutsy goals you set and those you ask them for, which is why it’s essential for you to give them a reason to believe in you. Big goals sound good, but unless you can back them up, you will lose your followers. How you do this is critical.
Believe it or not, it takes just twenty seconds to give students a reason to believe in you. All you have to say is some variation of, “I care about you, I’m good at what I do, and I’ll work hard, persist, and learn from my mistakes. You do your part, and I guarantee I’ll do my part. I won’t let any of you fail. Now, let’s get to work!” Did you ever have a teacher say this to you in school? I didn’t. That kind of confidence, when backed up by subsequent action, can move mountains.
Use figure 4.5 to write down your gutsy goals from figure 4.3 (page 45), and this time add in your plans for making your goals relevant to your students and how you’re going to approach achieving their buy-in.
Figure 4.5: Making your gutsy goals relevant.
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Reinforce your gutsy goals weekly, so that students can visualize them, hear them echo in their minds, and feel them viscerally. Post reminders and encourage students to talk to others about them. Many teachers (at both elementary and secondary levels) post college banners around the classroom. These are inspiring, especially if you write the names of past students who have gone on to that college below the banners. Unless you help students understand that it is the pursuit of the goals that makes life worthwhile—and that we all will encounter temporary failures—they may quit on you and on themselves.
Finally, and maybe most important, help teach students how to deal with failure. Tell them that failure is part of life and part of progress. Remind them often that failure is simply feedback on what did not work. Failures are lessons. Failures teach us. They can be positive when we positively accept and learn from them. When you have a student who experienced a failure and needs encouragement to build back up, use the worksheet in figure 4.6 to plan how you will approach him or her.
Figure 4.6: Learning from and overcoming failure.
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How we respond to failure defines us, not the encounter itself. Getting knocked down is nothing; getting back up is everything. Students will show their true grit (see chapter 6, page 67) and get back up if their vision of worthwhile goals is strong enough and they have reinforcement along the way. That’s where micro goals come in.
Using Micro Goals to Close the Gaps
For most students, having gutsy goals is exciting. However, it’s difficult to reactivate the long-term sky-high goals over and over on cue. Any of us would find it hard to stay psyched about a goal that seems so far away. Training for the Olympics or trying to get an advanced degree are big motivators, but still, we all need those hourly, daily, and weekly nudges to keep us going. It is the trail of emotional highs that keep us moving forward, not the once-a-year goal.
That’s why you’ll need to constantly set micro goals that your students can reach within a week or less. These specific, concrete goals can:
• Reaffirm a specific competency
• Give measurable progress toward the gutsy goals
• Provide a quick emotional affirmation and moment for a celebration
Because micro goals allow students to get immediate feedback for themselves, the effect size is a sizzling 0.97 (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001). That’s almost two years’ worth of gains! Set daily and weekly goals that students can reach with a solid effort. This step is critical. They need to see that they can reach the big gutsy goals, one bite at a time. When students set their own micro goals, the effect size is a strong 1.21—well over two years’ worth of academic progress (Marzano et al., 2001).
Although adults understand the power of greater expectations, students will use their past experiences to set goals and often set them too low. However, they don’t know how far they can go with an amazing teacher (like you). You can help them set and link the micro goal completion to the bigger gutsy goal. Every week, check in on your goal progress. See figure 4.7. For example, a student’s gutsy goal might be to finish fifth grade ready for seventh grade. On week one, he might set a micro goal to get 100 percent proficiency on assessments; for week two, he wants to be on time every single day; and so on.