Goal Setting for Students

Every instance of professional and personal success is an example of perfect goal setting. Student life is the golden period of an individual's life. Our dreams and aspirations are shaped in these formative years of life.

However, if the student remains in a dilemma of if's and but's, and is unable to chalk out a career plan, their dreams may not be able to materialize. For this reason, goal setting for students becomes very important and almost mandatory.

A sad thing about most educational institutions is that children are rarely taught to set goals. Establishing an objective is not just getting a job after graduating from college. It covers a larger sphere of life, aiming for an holistic development of one's personality. It inculcates self-esteem, discipline, focus, concentration, dedication, and hard work.

Teachers should set an intent for the entire class, that are well within the each person's reach. The teachers must assist and guide everybody in achieving their targets.

Raise some fund from the local area for helping the school library.

Help new children in the school or college to get involved.

Prepare charts and pictures based on famous people and their accomplishments.

Children can be made to realize the importance of this step with the help of writing assignments. These assignments will help them to gain better understanding of objectives. Here are some questions you can include in the assignment.

• Given all the resources, what would you like to become in your life and why?
• Name three tasks that you would like to achieve in the next three months? How do you plan to tackle each one of them?
• Write about a situation when you committed to achieve a target but didn't succeed. Describe the situation and how did you handle it?

• Mention a situation when you committed to achieve a goal and succeeded in achieving it?
• How do you set goals for yourself?
• How do you define success and failure?

Students can discuss and decide among themselves, some objectives for the coming months. For example, the classes can be divided into groups and each group can set an objective to score the highest marks in some particular subject. They can set the time limit to be the next semester exams or the next unit tests.

Besides fostering healthy competition, it will help the weaker children to perform better. The class can also decide to behave in more sensible and respectable manner and treat every other class with respect and courtesy. This will help the class to be more disciplined and will also enhance the reputation of the class in the school.

Also, everybody in the class must try to set two personal targets, and write them on the chart displayed in the classroom. As a group, the entire class should cooperate and help each other to achieve the set intents. Once they are achieved, rewards in forms of school picnics and other perks must be given.

Teachers should ensure that goal setting for students must be directly or indirectly a part of the teaching methods. This will be beneficial for them.