Interestingly, those who make a higher priority of learning goals have been shown to achieve higher performance levels than those who actually emphasize performance goals.88 When students are focused on a performance goal, they tend to pay less attention to “understanding” and more on “the score.” For example, one of the formative assessment tools we regularly use with our students is having them read passages to us – individually – for a minute each and then count the number of words they read accurately, while at the same time noting their level of prosody (reading with feeling and intonation). A performance-goal-oriented student might try to rush through this evaluation of reading fluency to get the highest word count number possible, notwithstanding our cautions about accuracy and prosody, and may not care if they know the meaning of many the words they are reading. On the other hand, a student with a learning goal of improving their reading comprehension, fluency, and prosody is likely to have a much higher increase in their overall literacy level.
That is not to say that performance goals are evil. We live in the world as it is, not the world as we would like it to be. In the world as it is, most school cultures (and the culture outside the four walls of educational institutions) put a high value on performance goals – grades, test scores, and so forth. As you will see in the Goal Setting and Planning Sheet (see Exhibit 2.1), the form does include space for one performance goal, with several other spaces for learning ones. As with most things, it's not a question of either/or. Rather, it's more of a question of where we place an emphasis. Researchers suggest that including a performance goal is fine as long as the person “has the knowledge to attain it.”89 This is just one of many reasons we began this section discussing a “scaffolded and supported” goal-setting process. Teachers can play a key role in helping students choose challenging, yet realistic, goals. However, it's critical that students take the lead in setting their goals because of the effect it can have on increasing intrinsic motivation, its effectiveness in helping them more ably suppress distractions, and its impact on strengthening perseverance.90
Recent research suggests that self-perception also plays a major role in accomplishing goals, and that it might be valuable to say, “I am a writer, and will learn the skills needed to write better in English over the next two months” instead of just saying “I will learn the skills needed to be better in English over the next two months.”91
The next “Goal-Setting Lesson Plan” provides step-by-step instructions on how to apply these points in the classroom. You can also find additional lesson plans and other resources about goals in our previous book, The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide92 and in Larry's books, Helping Students Motivate Themselves,93 Self-Driven Learning,94 and Building a Community of Self-Motivated Learners.95
Goal-setting Lesson Plan
This lesson is designed for Early Intermediate ELLs and above, but can easily be modified for Beginners with even more simplified sentence frames.
Instructional Objectives
Students will:
1. Practice English reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills.
2. Write a list of personal learning goals.
3. Develop a system of self-assessing their progress toward those goals.
Duration
Forty minutes, plus 15 minutes each week or every other week for self-assessment of progress.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards
Writing
• Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Speaking and Listening
• Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
• Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
Language
• Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
• Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Materials
• Access to the Internet and a computer projector to show a video from the Best Video Clips on Goal Setting (http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2013/07/11/the-best-video-clips-on-goal-setting-help-me-find-more/).
• Student copies of the Goal Setting and Planning Sheet (Exhibit 2.1).
• Student copies of the Goals Feedback Form (Exhibit 2.2) when self-assessments are done weekly or biweekly.
• Individual notebooks or folders for each student.
Procedure
First Day
1. The teacher writes the word “goal” on the board and asks students to write down anything they know about the word or any similar or related words. Students share what they wrote with a partner, and the teacher invites some to share with the entire class. Once the definition is clear, the teacher tells students that scientists have found that people tend to be more successful – they accomplish more of what they want – by setting goals and regularly checking to see how they are doing in achieving them.
2. The teacher then shares an example from her life in which she set a goal and accomplished it, and how she felt that setting a goal helped her (for example, when she felt discouraged, remembering her goal kept her going).
3. Next, the teacher shows a video of the 2012 Volkswagen commercial titled “Dog Strikes Back” or another video of her choice at the Best Video Clips on Goal Setting (http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2013/07/11/the-best-video-clips-on-goal-setting-help-me-find-more/).
4. The teacher then lists these questions on the overhead and asks students to work in pairs and write down the answers in complete sentences (the questions can be modified for different video clips):
• What was the dog's goal?
• What actions did the dog take to accomplish his goal?
• How did the dog check to see if he was making progress in accomplishing his goal?
• What obstacles (problems) do you think the dog had when trying to accomplish his goal?
• Did he accomplish the goal?
• Students share their answers with a partner and then the teacher reviews them with the entire class and collects the responses.
5. Then, the teacher explains that she's given an example of goal setting in her life, they've seen a commercial about goal setting, and that now it's time for students to set their own goals. She then distributes a copy of the Goal Setting and Planning Sheet (Exhibit 2.1). The teacher completes a