Back to School: Helping Students Create SMART Goals | Extended Notes

Students Can Create SMART Goals

A great way to ensure that students have a successful school year is by helping them set goals based on their own specific needs.  Each new school year brings greater challenges and higher expectations for students. They have new rules to follow, academic standards to meet and obstacles to overcome.

Goal setting helps students improve their academic performance, increase their motivation to achieve and develop self-confidence. Just setting goals, however, is not enough. Encourage students to create SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely) goals to increase their chances of success:

• Specific: Ensure that students clearly state what they want to accomplish. Their goals should answer the 5 Ws - who, what, where, when and why.
• Measurable: Students should build short-term objectives into the larger goal so they can measure progress and stay on track.
• Attainable: Help students identify the most important goals, and discuss the abilities, skills and attitudes required to achieve them.
• Relevant: Encourage students to assess their needs and set goals that are meaningful.
• Timely: Instill a sense of urgency by setting a deadline for each goal. This gives students a clear target.

By setting SMART back-to-school objectives, students become personally invested in their growth as they strive to attain their goals throughout the school year. Visit our Teaching Goal Setting board on Pinterest for activity ideas.