Setting Students Up for Success

Identify Resources and Set SMART Goals Download for FREE! I've got a *NEW* offering on teacherspayteachers.com!  I used this little 2-page number last year in the front of our interactive notebooks.  When I used it last year, I basically did a micro-lesson (not even a mini-lesson) on SMART goals and study skills.  Next time I do it, I'll use it as part of a "flipped" lesson that includes some cool infographics on technology tools, various study strategies, and goal setting.  (Here I go making "flipped" plans when I said I wasn't going to make that my 1st quarter technology goal... well, it can be a supplement, right?) This post by Learning in Hand by Tony Vincent, would be my "go to" for tech tools.  I'd explain each of these generally and let the kids explore them individually.  It covers the web and mobile apps for the following product types (*don't forget to differentiate the product*): audio recordings, collages, comics, posters, slide shows, digital books, narrated slide shows, movies, animations, screencasts, study aids, and other useful sites. I think I'll be able to assign choices in my technology station (I'm really hoping I can get funding for 5 Chromebooks and 5 iPad Minis, have you checked out DonorsChoose.org lately?)  And I hear that we are a Google Classroom school district, so as I learn how that works I can have the digital media submitted, graded, and returned all without paper rubrics!  Wahoo! In terms of study skills, I've been saying for years that I want to do a book study on Study Smarter, Not Harder by Kevin Paul, MA.  On one of my adventures as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana, I found myself in the capital of Accra.  I wandered around Kwame Nkrumah Circle (in tro-tro speak that would be the “Circ-Circ-Circ!" stop) toward the central bank.  As you walk from the station on Ring Road, the book store (the name of which I can't remember) is on the left-hand side.  The front is unassuming, but its a two story, air-conditioned (this is a big deal!) store with familiar organization and classroom supplies that make me wonder if the owners are foreign or have lived internationally.   This book leapt of the shelf at me, and I used it with my tutoring  students.  I used the money their parents' tried to pay me to purchase books for them to use in the future.  I gave them each a copy of this one, and a random college level biology text.  It's a great book for high school aged students.  It's funny, it's straightforward, it's written in a conversational tone, and it has fantastic, simple steps to optimize retention and  learning.  I liked the pictures of the brain studying so much that I made a bulletin board in front of the headmaster's office of the brain with the retention graph.  Here's an example lifted from Amazon's preview. Maybe this will be the year that I finally buy a half-class set and offer a study skills tutoring session before school.  Or maybe I'll have an online book club and we can use this as our first book.  Have any of you ever tried something like this?  How has it worked? Last, but not least, I would include a breakdown of SMART goal setting, reinforcing small goals that build up over time to a larger goal.  I would have the kids set specific due dates in their planners, and make sure to schedule conferences at those times (i.e. the week before interims). How do you help your students set goals and use resources?  Do you have any favorite study strategies to share?  Leave a message in the comments.