Ah, the start of a New Year—a blank slate, a fresh start, a chance to turn over a new leaf…and a perfect time to set some new goals. At the Village School, we talk a lot about goals. Having learners set their own and map out the steps needed to get their puts them squarely in charge of their own learning. This will serve them here at TVS and well into adulthood!
For our deep dive into goal-setting in Spark Studio this week, we spread our discussions out over several days to make the information more digestible. We introduced the concept on Tuesday, asking what goals are and what the heroes would like to achieve over the next session. We heard aspirations such as taking on more challenging work, getting better at reading, and doing more math.
The next day, we emphasized that achievable goals are specific. The heroes responded by narrowing their focus, proposing goals such as completing the orange reading drawers, mastering Golden Bead Addition, or completing sound object exploration. We even heard goals that had to do with physical activity and creativity—making a city from the metal insets work and getting across all the monkey bars, for instance.
When the heroes had their Session 4 goal in mind, they wrote it down in their writing journals. We then talked about how to break these larger goals into smaller, achievable steps, either with a mind-map or step-by-step instructions.
The next day, they copied their goals onto art paper and decorated them with markers, cut-up paper, oil pastels, crayons–whatever would help visualize their ambitions. They then hung those pictures on the wall of our studio to serve as reminders throughout the session of what they want to achieve.
We have little doubt that the heroes will be eager to dig in to their goals next week. But if they reach a lull in working toward them, we might offer a helpful nudge by asking: What work would you like to do today to help work toward your goal? How much work do you need to do every day to help you reach your goal? How do you feel now that you are close to your goal, or now that you’ve achieved it?
We are excited to see where this takes us at the end of the session.
Stay tuned, and Happy New Year!
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