For this week in class we have been discussing goal setting and how to help students set appropriate goals. Alderman states that, "Goals are cognitive representations of a future event and, as such influence motivation through five processes. Goals: direct attention and action toward an intended target, mobilize effort in proportion tot he difficulty of the task to be accomplished, promote persistence and effort over time for complex tasks, promote the development of creative plans and strategies to reach them, and provide a reference point that provides information about one's performance"(p. 107).
When I think about setting goals I know that I have long term goals (or distal) as well as short term goals (or proximal). For instance 3.5 years ago I set a goal to obtain a Master's degree in ESL. I set short term goals such as signing up for classes, completing assignments, and getting good grades. Those goals were broken down into smaller more proximal goals but I think you get the idea. And now I will be graduating this summer with a 4.0 (hopefully if this class goes well).
This process is the same for anyone who wants to achieve a goal. First you set a long term goal (getting a masters). Then you break that down into smaller more proximal goals (completing assignments on time). For this step the more specific you can be about your goals the better. Alderman claims that having specific goals will highten performance (p. 116). One must also consider what obstacles may hinder your ability to achieve those proximal goals (possibly friends wanting to take you out drinking instead of studying) so you must have strategies to face these obstacles in order to be successful (turning off my phone and staying in?).
If we can teach our students how to do this process of goal setting we will be doing them an enormous favor. Through setting and planning goals our students will be more successful with achieving their goals and increase their self confidence and self efficacy which could alter their learning process for the better.
Before taking this class, I didn't reflect on the fact that we need to actively teach goal setting, and rather I assumed people inherently do so. I think it's great you write about how you achieve a goal, because it takes our own metacognition as the first step to be able to guide kids/learners to do the same. I think its essential to take big goals and break them down into reasonable smaller level goals. As teachers, our job then is to give students feedback on their progress and keep their proximal goals attainable and reasonable. Good reflection!
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