2. Student Goal Setting

Think of the value of a team of teachers working together to generate transitions that focus on the five SEL building block components that specifically correlate to SEL grade-level essential standards. This type of focused, intentional teaching requires proactive purposeful planning. Therefore, in chapter 5 (page 223) we discuss the importance of planning SEL transitions throughout the school day and provide planning tools and specific ideas for making this manageable for teachers.

Maria watched as Daniel and Maggie cleaned up from their reading center using the breathing exercises she was leading the class through during the transition. She smiled as the two of them laughed together at blowing out their finger-candles. Later in the day, while Daniel was working on his writing, he threw his paper across the room. “It’s not perfect!” he cried. Maria went to him and suggested he try breathing, but he just put his head down and sobbed. “I can’t! I try to be perfect and not get upset and everyone else is perfect, and I just can’t!”

Reflecting on this made Maria realize that Daniel is putting a lot of pressure on himself to “be perfect” but he does not necessarily know what this means. It seems like an unattainable goal. To even learn to use these self-regulation strategies, Daniel must begin to understand how to set a goal and achieve it through small steps so that he can celebrate his successes along the way. Come to think of it, all students benefit from goal setting, Maria thought. What if we incorporate goal setting into our classroom?

Essential SEL standards can be made into student-friendly “I can” statements and used for student goal setting. When students know their learning targets, they are not only more likely to learn the skill but are also using and practicing a cognitive executive functioning skill (namely, goal setting) needed for academic learning and something that is a lifelong skill. Edwin A. Locke and Gary P. Latham (2002) find that setting higher goals yields greater effort and performance. Experiencing guided goal setting with a teacher helps to develop the child’s executive functioning which supports the academic cognitive skill area as well as the area of emotional regulation (SEL building block component 4).

Goal setting should require shared ownership on the part of the teacher and the student. It is important for the teacher to facilitate the process, but it is just as important for the student to take personal ownership in the act of goal setting. Student goal setting becomes meaningless if the student is not part of the process. Matthews (2015) shows that people are 33 percent more likely to accomplish a goal when the goals are recorded, shared with others, and frequently updated.

The question becomes, How can teachers help facilitate social-emotional goal setting so it is meaningful and manageable for the teacher and the students? Look at the goal card in figure 4.4. These are four essential learning targets that progress and build on one another. They could be four core essential learning targets at kindergarten that students focus on for the entire school year, or they could be goals to focus on for one to two months such that all lessons connect and build on these four essential learning targets. To learn more about how to create goal cards using learning progressions, visit go.SolutionTree.com/PLCbooks and refer to the book What About Us? The PLC at Work Process for Grades PreK–2 Teams (Kerr et al., 2021).

Self-Awareness and Self-Management Skills

I can identify feelings and emotions (happy, surprised, sad, angry, proud, afraid, and so on). I can identify my feelings.

“I am sad.” I can use tools and strategies to help manage my feelings and emotions. I can try to calm down by . . . I can use words to share

my feelings and emotions

with others.

“I am mad because . . .”

Scared Happy

Sad Excited taking deep breaths counting to ten thinking happy thoughts Someone teases me. Someone gets in my personal space. I didn’t get a turn.

Source: Kerr et al., 2021, p. 81.

Figure 4.4: Self-awareness and self-management skills goal card.

Let’s take the first learning target and think about how we would monitor if students have achieved their social-emotional goals. At a planning meeting, a team of kindergarten teachers determined they would use goal setting with the students and would monitor the children’s ability to identify feelings and emotions (SEL building block 1: self-awareness). The team introduced the concept to the students by reading books connected to feelings and emotions, and students engaged in learning activities that required them to identify and label a variety of feelings. The team then decided to create a chart that included visual examples of various feelings and emotions for the students to use when they entered the classroom each morning. The students would each take a clothespin with their name and picture on it and place it on the feelings chart. If the student wishes to keep their feelings private from the class but wants to share with the teacher, they may place their clothespin backwards so their name is hidden from public display. This activity would not only take attendance and allow the students to practice identifying and sharing their feelings but would also communicate to the teacher which children may need a check-in before the day starts.

During the two or three weeks of this unit, the teacher can make general student observations and plan for specific days to engage with students by asking them questions like, “Can you point to the excited face on the chart?” or “Can you make an excited face?” This quick check-in then serves as an informal assessment to help the teacher determine which students can or cannot identify and label feelings and emotions. For students who can accurately identify feelings and emotions, the teacher can quickly conference with them sometime during the week and have them place a sticker on or punch a hole in the applicable star on their goal card. For students still learning, the teacher might decide to use small-group targeted instruction to support them with extra time and guidance to learn the skill.

It is important to know that although these skills have a natural progression, they are developmental and may take some students longer than others. Also, students may show inconsistency with demonstrating certain skills based on their current emotional and physiological states. Many of these skills are built over time through life experiences. Keep in mind, the components are building blocks and some students may not have a strong base to support secure SEL growth in the higher blocks. The object is not to expect mastery, but rather for a student to demonstrate knowledge of the concepts and skills and show growth. The age and independence of the students will determine the level of support they need in monitoring their own goals. Teachers with younger students might strategically house and organize students’ goal cards, whereas older students may take more responsibility in maintaining and monitoring them. Or, the teacher may just use this as an interactive teaching tool used during instruction. We share additional information about monitoring students’ growth of SEL in chapter 6 (page 293).

Student goal setting can be more individualized for students as well. For instance, teacher teams can use universal screeners, common formative assessments, or informal observations to help students with individualized SEL needed areas of growth. Look at the individual SEL student goal card in figure 4.5). This teacher used an assessment tool to determine that a student was struggling with keeping her hands and feet to herself at the carpet, in line, and at recess. The teacher created a personal goal card for the student and conferenced with her regarding its use and purpose. The teacher then decided that the student’s goal card would be taped onto her desk, so it was a consistent visual reminder. When the student was able to keep her hands and feet to herself at the carpet, in line, and at recess, the teacher would check in with the student and give positive verbal praise. The student would then be given a star sticker to be put on the goal card. When the student modeled the behavior five times, the goal card would be completed and sent home for the student to share with her parents. The goal card also became the teacher’s informal data collection tool, serving as a record that demonstration of the skill was observed.

I can keep my hands and feet to myself.

Figure 4.5: Individual SEL student goal card.

Although most of the students may be working on one goal card over the course of one to two weeks, children who require more individual and targeted goals may need to have their goal tracking broken down into more concrete periods of time. They will require a higher level of positive and specific reinforcement for their behaviors to change (Fosco, Hawk Jr., Rosch, & Bubnik, 2015). In these situations, teachers can give the students a new goal card each day, with the intention of the child demonstrating the targeted behavior at least five times in one day. In these cases, the child will not master the goal by achieving the five stars but instead will see themselves as continuing to be on their way toward the goal. These daily cards can be tangible evidence for the child and their family of the progress the child is making and should be a source of daily celebration and reflection. Be sure to date each goal card and note how many stars the child achieved before sending the card home. This information can serve as data to reflect the child’s overall progress toward this goal.

Some students may need a more complex goal-tracking system. We recommend talking with the school counselor, behavior specialists, or special education teacher to develop a meaningful individual behavior plan. In these cases, it is often helpful for the team to take pre-data, or data before an intervention begins, to determine patterns in the student’s behavior, identify common antecedents or triggers, and note the typical consequences of the behavior. These data are often called ABC data, which stands for antecedent, behavior, and consequence.

It’s important to consider how goal cards will be managed and maintained by the teachers and students. Some teachers might not have assigned seats for students within their classroom, so goal cards can be placed in the students’ cubbies where they keep their personal belongings, put in the students’ personal classroom mailboxes, stored

in a special folder to serve as student goal portfolios, or hung on rings in a designated area of the classroom set aside for student goal cards. Again, in this situation, the expectation is student growth and learning.

At this point, you might be saying, “Wait, you want me to create personalized individual social-emotional learning goals for each of my students? How is that manageable?” Imagine that at a meeting your whole team identifies a list of expected essential social-emotional skills and generates corresponding I can statements. Next, one or two team members volunteer to make a template and add pictures to the various student goal cards you created. You’ll notice that in figure 4.6 the SEL skill is about asking for help when needed. The team used student-friendly language and changed the wording to I can ask for help from a friend or a trusted adult when needed. Some students may consistently already ask for help when needed, while others may really struggle in this area. These students may get a different student goal card that better fits their needs, such as the example in figure 4.7. These two goal cards help students reflect on their goals and give personal examples of when they use that SEL skill in real life.

I can ask a friend or trusted adult for help when needed.

SEL Skill:

Asking for help when needed I can statement in student-friendly words: • I can ask a friend or trusted adult for help when I need it. At recess when I fell I asked Akash if he would take me to the nurse to get a Band-Aid. I didn’t understand the directions on the 3-D shapes math task and asked Mrs. Gupta if she could help me.

Figure 4.6: Reflective student goal card—asking for help.

Practicing selftalk in different situations (to calm or to praise self for accomplishments) I can statement in studentfriendly words: • I can practice self-talk in different situations (to help calm me or to praise myself for accomplishments).

I can practice self-talk in different situations (to help calm myself, to praise myself for my accomplishments or maybe when I need to do hard things).

I can do hard things.

Writing is really hard for me and I didn’t want to get started but I kept saying in my brain, “Liam you can do hard things.” I was playing a game at recess and my partner won and I was really upset, but I said in my brain, “Liam it’s ok, maybe you’ll win next time.”

Figure 4.7: Reflective student goal card—practicing self-talk.

Teachers can decide what works best for scheduling time for students to reflect and share their progress. Some may make time with a daily routine during the last five minutes of the day, where students are given time to reflect on their student goal cards. During this time, students can make real-life connections, put meaning to context, and monitor their own goals. Alternatively, other teachers may offer a weekly routine on Fridays during morning meeting when students have opportunities to reflect on their week, share with a friend the various times they used that skill, and also have time to hear and celebrate their friend’s accomplishments or struggles. After a few weeks, students are given time to reflect on their goal in a journal-writing activity at the start of the day or during writing time and describe how and when they used these skills over the course of a few weeks or during the month.

It is not realistic to think that a teacher will generate every personalized goal card needed for their students, but it is a start, and something the team can share electronically, store in a shared file, and add to over time. Instead of just randomly assigning goal cards to students, teachers can use data gathered from team-generated common formative SEL assessment tools (see chapter 6, page 293) to help determine students’ areas of need. When doing this, we make the learning more focused and targeted for our students.