Resolutions For Math

It's that time of the year again, when most people make their New Years resolutions and about 80 percent of those same people give up by February.  I got to thinking that maybe we can help students learn to use the same criteria for successful goal setting.  I discovered early on that my students can make goals but they haven't learned to figure out how to meet the goal.  For instance, they might say, they want an A in class but they don't know how to do it.

I came across the SMART system for writing resolutions which can also be used to set realistic goals and I think it is something we can introduce our students to so they become more successful.  SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.  

When we say specific, it means to set the goal and be specific about the goal.  Setting the goal of getting an A is not specific but stating they will complete half of all the assigned problems is specific, especially if they seldom turn in any work.  Let them know the goal is what they hope to accomplish and they need to address what challenges they will face, and where they expect to see themselves at the end of the semester or year.  They need to express what the completed goal will look like at the end.

Measurable means stating what criteria is being used to "see" how the person is making progress towards reading the goal.  How will they monitor their progress? If they decided on working towards a C when they struggle with getting a D normally, they can use daily work, quizzes, tests, and any projects to monitor their progress.  

Attainable refers to setting the goal at a level the person can reach and writing down the steps needed to make that goal.  If the goal is to make 70 percent on all assignments which is attainable, the student might then determine the steps are to do all the problems for each assignment, ask for help as needed, be willing to come in after school, and maybe even redo all missed problems.  On the other hand, if a student seldom works, setting a goal for an A may not be attainable so it all depends on the student.

The goal needs to be relevant to the student rather than the teacher.  The student needs to be able to express why the goal is important and what impact it will have on a students life.  The impact might be that it helps them get into collage or it might be the first time the student got a C in a math class.  The reasons have to be student centered and should not be set because their friends are choosing it.  They need to look at their strengths and weakness when they set the goal.  It might be something as simple as memorizing their multiplication table if they don't know it or it might be learning to solve two step equations.

Finally is timely which refers to  setting a time limit and in school, that is set by the length of the semester.   The goal needs to have an ending time so the student might say they want to know their multiplication table by the end of the first semester so they know when the deadline is. Students should also be aware that the time line might consist of a series of deadlines such as knowing all the multiplication facts for ones the first week,  ones and twos by the end of the second week, adding one set each week so by the end of the quarter, they know everything from 1 x 1 to 9 x 9. 

This site offers a view of what a graphic organizer for SMART might look like and it says it offers a free version.  If it is written down, students can revisit them at the end of the year and see if they made their goals.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.