As a classroom teacher, I loved all of the beginning of year activities that we did as a class. Some of my favorites were Hopes and Goals, Establishing Rules, setting up Morning Meeting, and a bunch of getting to know you glyphs. Somehow, this is something that I feel like I have been struggling with as a Library Media Specialist.
I finally feel like I have a clear vision of what I should be teaching each grade level. I am starting to build scope and sequence for the 3 overarching topics (research, coding, engineering and design) that I want to ensure that each of my students has. I have a brighter understanding of what it means to teach in a finite amount of time.
Last year, I had intended to begin the year with Hopes and Goals. Well, it just didn’t work out. This year, I am making it a priority. It will be my day 1 activity with each grade K – 5.
Hopes and Goals are an important start to the year. They build excitement around the year’s learning and provide a focus for the important work that we will be adventuring in together. They are also a place to build investment in our school rules when we are together and I want to do a better job at helping my students understand that we follow the rules so that we can do all of that super fun stuff.
To help me kick off the school year, I have created these simple but brilliant goal setting sheets. I designed them in a way that would meet the different developmental needs of my students, help them reflect on previous years, set goals for the upcoming year, and personalize.
One thing that I took into consideration is the online communication and collaboration that I intend for my students to participate in. While I have all of them, regardless of age, collaborate and communicate online; the degree to which I do varies by age. One thing I help my students begin to understand is online perception of self and others (aka branding), and these goal setting sheets help set the stage for that.
The one thing that I love about these, is that I have created flexibility for my own teaching. I can have my students create these digitally or on paper. This is something that I continuously grapple with as someone who teaches technology skills. But sometimes, paper makes sense for the needs, task, or available technology.
If you are wondering how I created those digital Media Me sheets … I used Pic Collage. Erin Integration inspired me to utilize Pic Collage for a digital option. I would also recommend Canva, Glogster, Popplet, or Padlet. I have complete directions for this beginning of year activity, along with a tutorial for using Pic Collage. Go grab your copy.
Love this arrow? Grab your own from Creating 4the Classroom!
