24_Small Steps to Reach Big Goals

If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else. —Yogi BerraBig Ideas For This Lesson Small Steps to Reach Big Goals At Home Resources Level: Lower Elementary (K-2) Concepts: • Accepting Failure & Mistakes • Accountability • Power StatementsEarlier this year students learned how to set goals using the SMART goal format. While goal settingprovides a necessary framework for skillful action, the real work is in the follow through. As conditionsand needs inevitably change, so must our vision. Effective goal setting, then, requires constant moni-toring, adaptation, re-envisioning, and re-aligning to present circumstances. These skills and attitudes –popularly referred to as a growth mindset – enable greater success and reduced stress in today’s fast-paced, dynamic work environments.In this lesson, students had the opportunity to reflect on their goals using the following growth mind-sets:• Accountability: Making goals public by writing them down, setting regular check- ins for yourself,and sharing your goals with peers, mentors, parents and teachers increases your chances of success.• Accepting Failure and Mistakes: This is a great place to tie in the self-compassion practices welearned earlier in the year. “How would you support a friend who is struggling to meet their goal?”“What can you learn from this ‘mistake’?” Essential Vocabulary PAGE 1 of 2Goal: A clearly defined objective you are trying to achieve.Affirmations: A positive statement of encouragement and support.Self-Monitoring: The ability to track, measure, observe, and reflect on one’s own behavior. © 2018 Empowering Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

SMALL STEPS TO REACH BIG GOALS | GRADES K-2 PracticeAsk your child to share about their SMART Goal (this should have been reviewed and updated in class this week).Decide how you can support them in achieving their goal. If they have already achieved their goal or do not have agoal, what is something they would like to accomplish? If they are having trouble meeting their goal, what help dothey need?Bonus: Set a regular time on the calendar to check back in on your child’s goals. Effective goal-setting involveschecking and re-checking progress often. Student Resources• C ourage by Bernard Waber (Grades K – 3)• Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullay Hunt (Grades 4 – 6)• Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate (Grades 5 – 9)• If I Never Forever Endeavor by Holly Meade (Grades K – 3)• Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins (Grades 2 – 5)• Serafina’s Promise by Ann E. Burg (Grades 5 - 8)• Small Steps by Louis Sachar (Grades 5+)• 8 Apps for Goal Tracking for Teachers and Students (Website)• Dare To Dream!: 25 Extraordinary Lives by Sandra McLeod Humphrey (Grades 4 – 7)• It’s Our World, Too!: Young People Who Are Making a Difference: How They Do It - How You Can, Too! by Phillip M. Hoose (Grades 5 – 8)• More Goal Setting & Goal Tracking Apps (Website) • My Hero Stories (Website)• Real Kids, Real Stories, Real Change: Courageous Actions Around the World by Garth Sundem (Grades 4 – 8) Adult Resources• How Kids With Learning and Attention Issues Can Set and Stick to New Year’s Goals (Blog)• How Students Can Achieve Goals by Setting Deadlines (Blog)© 2017 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 2 of 2 All rights reserved.