Well, the term break is coming to an end and then it will be back to the usual routine of school, studies and fun. Soon it will also be time to get all three sons thinking about their goals for the final term of school.
I started this tradition when Mr.14 was in year 3. He needed a bit of a helping hand in focussing on his work and getting more proactive in his approach. I thought it would be a good idea for him to take ownership of his work and achievements. I asked him to set his goals for the term and he also had to work out how he was going to achieve them. Setting goals gave him something very concrete to work towards. He also listed down possible rewards that he could get for achieving those goals.
There was a noticeable difference in his work and work ethic by the time he got to year 4. Following his success, I started the eldest on goal setting too. And now I have Mr.9 setting his goals.
My rationale behind this was very simple. How can one achieve something or aspire to achieve something if one doesn't know what it is? I could set them all the goals I wanted but then they would be my goals, not theirs. The motivation is much stronger to achieve your own goals rather than someone else's.
The rules to the goal setting is very simple.
Yes, it does work.
I started this tradition when Mr.14 was in year 3. He needed a bit of a helping hand in focussing on his work and getting more proactive in his approach. I thought it would be a good idea for him to take ownership of his work and achievements. I asked him to set his goals for the term and he also had to work out how he was going to achieve them. Setting goals gave him something very concrete to work towards. He also listed down possible rewards that he could get for achieving those goals.
There was a noticeable difference in his work and work ethic by the time he got to year 4. Following his success, I started the eldest on goal setting too. And now I have Mr.9 setting his goals.
My rationale behind this was very simple. How can one achieve something or aspire to achieve something if one doesn't know what it is? I could set them all the goals I wanted but then they would be my goals, not theirs. The motivation is much stronger to achieve your own goals rather than someone else's.
The rules to the goal setting is very simple.
- They have to list only 2 goals and they have to be very specific. That involves asking them a lot of questions and getting them to think about what they want. If the goals are too generic then achieving them can become quite difficult.
- They have to work out what they have to do in order to achieve that goal.
- They have to let me know who is going to help them and how.
- Lastly, they have to list some rewards that they can get.
- They, then, write it up and put it somewhere they can see it.
Yes, it does work.
