Hello to all,

My name is Jennifer Adams, and I am currently student teaching in a fifth grade classroom at Barre City Elementary and Middle School (BCEMS). Though I’ve only been here for a short time, there are about a million things I’d love to write about; although today I’ll be writing about positivity and goal setting.

Within the first two weeks, when I was strictly observing and becoming familiar with the school and the students and teachers who embody it, I noticed a reoccurring theme of positivity speckled through my notebook. There were positive notes on little sticky notes throughout the entire school, posters which encouraged positive thinking, and cabinets covered with strategies on how students could turn their negative thinking to positive thinking. For instance, one scenerio involved a student saying or thinking “I’m not smart because I made a mistake” with the thinking strategy attached below stating “mistakes help me to learn”. Another example involved a student stating “I’ll never be as smart as her” and the thinking strategy attached advised students to state “I’m going to figure out what she is doing, and try that!” This cabinet is called Change your words. Change your mindset, and this is a huge focus within our school.

Knowing that positivity is a primary focus within the school, I set aside time on Fridays now to make goals. It may sound silly, or like a waste of time to some teachers, but I’m already seeing a change among my students.

I started with talking to the students about goals. I asked them what a goal was, how many had set one before, and why they’re important. Finally I asked the students how many of them had set goals and not achieved them, and how that made them feel. Surprising to me, many of my students had set goals, and then felt defeated or ashamed of themselves for not accomplishing what they had planned on. We talked about this and how when setting goals it’s good to start with small goals, something they can achieve within a week’s time. To some students, this may be as simple as bringing a pencil to class with them everyday. For others, it may be practicing conversion in math so that next Friday they can convert centimeters to meters. For the rare few, setting a goal may be too daunting or intimidating, so I advised them to think about their personal life, and not set a goal for school but for home instead; many of those students chose to set goals for the sports they play.

I then handed each student a piece of paper with a goal bubble on it. Inside the bubble it stated “My goal this week is…” Then I instructed them to write their goal and write 2-3 steps in which they’ll take to achieve said goal. I gave them 10 minutes to accomplish this, and did so because I know that there were some students who were going to struggle with writing even the simplest goal for themselves. I encouraged those students to make that a goal for themselves, “My goal this week is… to become more comfortable with setting goals for myself. I can do this by thinking of what things I may be struggling with. Then I can brainstorm ways in which I can help myself not to struggle. Once I have found that out, I can make a goal, in hopes to see improvement”. For those who struggled this week with writing a goal, my hope is that by thinking about it for a week, they may feel more comfortable writing a goal next Friday.

After the ten minutes, I asked if there were any students who’d like to share their small goal and the steps in which they’d take to achieve it. Many students offered to share their goals with the class, which even inspired struggling students, and it really enforced a positive outlook among the students right in the morning!

After they had shared and left for their first class, I began looking at the pile of goals. I was amazed, and felt very warm. Some students had made goals to stand up to any bullies, and they would do so by telling the bully to stop. If that didn’t work, they’d take the student being bullied away and tell an adult. One student made the goal to raise their hand at least once in Math class, because they knew they had good things to say, but just didn’t have the courage to speak up (I actually saw this student raise their hand twice in math throughout the week!).

Some of you may be reading this and wondering why it’s important. Here’s my answer… It’s important because you may know your students as students, but do you know them as a person? Do you know what is bothering them? Do you know what’s important to them?What they’re thinking about when you’re up there teaching and they’re off in space? Knowing your students as more than students is key to not only them improving, but for your improvement as well. It’s also an important step in helping students who have a hard time being positive, to be more positive by changing their words, which will change their mindset.