Week 1: Students have aspirations but often have trouble following through to achieve their goals. Teachers can help students by engaging them in intentional dialogue about setting and reaching goals. The dialogue would help students articulate the specific goal and any potential obstacles to achieving that goal. For each obstacle, students should make a specific plan of how to overcome it. At the end of the dialogue, students may say something like,
"I would like to achieve ... goal. Along the way, I may face ... obstacles. I know that I may get sidetracked from my goal. When ... obstacle arises, I will do ... to overcome the obstacle."
My Classroom: I see this as being especially helpful with my CP freshman students. Perhaps I could include a 10 minute individual writing exercise where students go through the thought process above. Exams are around the corner and they could use some motivation to study...