1. Short-term goals
Short-term goals (especially ones that are realistic and attainable) have the benefit of providing nearly instant gratification, unlike goals spread over a year or a few months. These small milestones can actually set the stage for accomplishing goals over a longer term or be used throughout the year as benchmarks. Short-term goals work well for younger students, but you shouldn’t discount their worth for older students — everyone loves the feeling of accomplishment. Plus they are a great way to get the ball rolling and introduce goal setting to students.
2. Long-term goals
For a more complex goal, you need to set your sights on the long term — a goal that is worked on throughout the school year or over a semester. These goals will involve multiple steps and require check-ins along the way to ensure that the student is still on track. As mentioned earlier, you can sometimes check off short-term goals along the way as they lead up to the main goal. Encouragement is key here, as well as simple reminders of both the goal and the required pacing.
3. Work-habit goals
Some goals may depend less on what’s being worked on and more on how the student is working. If some students practice poor work habits and that ends up impeding their learning, those areas may great targets for goal setting. Students of all grade levels can analyze their own work habits with guidance to identify areas for improvement.
4. Subject-area goals
These goals are fairly straightforward in terms of their meaning: You and your student identify which subject requires the most extra attention and go from there. The steps involved in reaching a subject-area goal should be specific; the end goal is typically to improve a final grade, or to improve a series of grade marks. If grades are not an issue and a student still identifies a certain subject as one that they’d like to set goals for, they may be craving more extended or advanced learning in that particular area.
5. Behavioral goals
Behavioral goals are those such as getting along better with classmates, practicing patience, being quiet when needed, etc. Depending on the nature of the behavior goal, these may be best set privately between teacher and student (with parental involvement, or other support staff). If the behavior goal applies to the whole class, it’s best to set the goal when all students are present. Talk to students about why it would be important to improve in these areas and be sure to give concrete examples of good behavioral goals. Reward systems align well with behavior goals. Rewards can be for the whole class if a class behavior goal has been set and met; alternatively, if the focus is on individual goals, students who begin to complete milestones for their goals might earn extra reading or computer time.
6. Specific knowledge goals
A specific knowledge goal can be set in any class at any time. There is always more to know and improve on, so each student can choose something they want to learn more about, a skill to refine, or an entirely new concept to dive into. This goal pairs especially well with personalized learning initiatives.
Finding out what students really want to learn about is excellent information for a teacher to have. With this knowledge, you can tailor your lessons to student interests, plan extension activities around knowledge goals, and even give students the opportunity to teach their peers about what they’re learning. For that last point, you can set up a learning swap activity if it works in your classroom: Partner students with others to have mutual learning sessions, in which one student ‘expert’ shares their knowledge with the other, and vice versa.
Taken from: https://www.classcraft.com/blog/features/learning-goals-for-students/
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