This week in Spark Studio we introduced goal sheets. Otherwise known as work plans, these single sheets of paper—with their carefully organized boxes for days and subject areas—offer heroes the opportunity to plan their work period. They have a column for each day of the week, with rows for specific areas, including math, reading, and writing. In each box, they specify which material they’d like to practice.
This creates space for the heroes to set their own goals. Guides offer a bit of help here and there if the heroes ask, but for the most part learners decide for themselves what they will accomplish. This is just one of the tools we use to set up a learner-driven environment.
At first, we weren’t sure how the heroes would receive this new tool. Would they find it hard to fill out? Might it be overwhelming to try and think ahead or consider more than one subject area at a time? Were the heroes still too unfamiliar with the materials available in the studio to know what to enter in each box?
To our surprise, the heroes took to the goal sheets as if they had been using them for weeks. They filled them out in the morning and kept referring to them throughout the day. If they couldn’t write words, they used pictures in each box to symbolize what they intended to do. Some asked for suggestions, but most remembered what they had worked on in previous weeks and were eager to review, practice, and build on those activities. Multiple subject areas were no problem either—most heroes planned out the whole work period at once. Some even mapped out their whole week.
Almost immediately, there was a sharp uptick in the variety of tasks the heroes were seeking out and completing during morning work. The reading drawers got more use, the math materials flew off the shelves, and heroes were trying new things outside their comfort zone. More importantly, their level of interest and periods of concentration were the highest they’ve been yet.
It’s so important to introduce the concept of goal setting at this young age. It preps the heroes for the more detailed self-directed goals they will set in the elementary studio. And it’s a valuable life skill to organize one’s time into manageable chunks and plan to accomplish specific things every day.
In addition, it’s important at this point in the year to encourage heroes to bring some balance to their work. It’s often tempting to spend a lot of time on easy, fun activities, such as coloring or building with blocks. (And on some days, even for us adults, this is completely justified.) But encouraging the learners to think about incorporating a bit of math, reading, and writing into their daily schedule helps them learn to manage their time and use it wisely. As one hero aptly put it during circle time “Adding balance to our work helps us grow our brains.”
And are they ever eager to do that! One hero was elated Thursday when she finished her entire work plan for the day. She jumped up and down as she put a check beside the last activity. “Ms. Gwyneth, Ms. Gwyneth, I did it! Look, I checked off the last box! That’s the first time I’ve done that this week!”
It was hard not to share her enthusiasm and joy. No doubt it was buoyed by the fact that it was a goal she set and she accomplished. What a way to finish out the week!
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