Developing Personal Goals
Please read this article before beginning to plan goals with your student!
Once you and your student have discussed their strengths and challenges at school, you can begin the process of goal setting. Explore the following topics with your buddy to motivate them to create their own academic goals.
1. Reiterate the motivation/ core values your student has discussed with you.
“Now, I’m going to try and recap the motivations you shared with me, so we can start thinking about your goals. Let me know if I missed anything.”
If the student agrees that your summary is accurate, you can move on.
2. Explain what a behavior is and identify their current behavioral patterns.
Begin by explaining what behavior is to your buddy. A behavior is the way a person acts or what they do during specific situations. Behaviors can be big or small, positive or negative, and they help us understand how someone is feeling.
3. Explain what a consequence is and have them identify some consequences they’ve experienced.
A consequence is what happens as a result of an action or a decision.
Consequences can be positive, meaning something good happens, or negative, meaning something bad happened.
Example: You study very hard before a math test (behavior), and then as a result you earn a high grade (consequence).
4. Connecting behaviors to consequences
Students may be used to reacting to situations instead of taking time to critically consider which would be the best action to take.
Children can not always make the connection between their behaviors and consequences.
For children to create an attainable goal, they must understand what their current behaviors are and what results they are getting from them. If the results are at odds with what the student would like, then they can begin thinking about what behaviors they can change.
5. Help the student identify one positive behavior or consequence they’ve experienced.
If they choose a behavior, then discuss any results/consequences that come from this behavior.
If they choose a consequence, ask them to speak about which behavior(s) they think helped them get there.
6. Now have the student identify one behavior or consequence that is not positive or ideal.
If they choose a behavior, then discuss any results/consequences that come from this behavior.
If they choose a consequence, ask them to speak about which behavior(s) they think helped them get there.
7. Begin discussing the idea of change
Ask them if this is something they have thought about changing. What do they think would happen if they change “X”?
