Goal Setting and Data Notebooks

Classroom goal.

Student data notebooks.

Schools use the habit of “Begin With the End in Mind” to think about what the staff and parents want for their school, what the mission for the class will be and to set individual goals and monitor progress   to reach them.  I visited a school in  Michigan where the teachers were modeling for the children how to set and record progress on a goal.  Teachers set a real goal for something that was hard for them.  Big chart paper was posted on the wall for the children to watch the teacher graph her progress toward the goal.  One teacher’s goal was to read the student journals.  Next, the class would set a goal. One class set a goal to see how many students had a sharpened pencil, ready to work.  Each day the graph grew as more children had their sharpened pencils ready. Next, the students set individual goals in their data notebooks.  The goals might pertain to math, reading, social, school behavior or other areas.  The children graphed their progress and then shared the graphs with their parents during student participation conferences. 

Not all schools would use all of these steps.  A very nice part of the Leader in Me is that it is not a canned program that must be followed in any particular manner.  Each school determines the ideas that would most work for promoting the 7 Habits within their school.