January is a great time to revisit goals we set in September or to start the process for the first time. Typically, I’ll show students my actual goals and progress monitoring. I take out my personal planner and my goal-setting sheets, so they can see my process and decide what might work for them.

This is particularly helpful, because I often set multiple personal and professional goals throughout the year. I use different tracking systems and strategies to achieve each goal, so they can see a variety of tools. If this doesn’t work for you or you don’t feel comfortable sharing yours (or you don’t use a system – some people are more successful without one!), I’ve included some images of mine that you’re welcome to use with your students.

Student Goal Setting

Depending on the group of students, I’ve done this really simply using printer paper and colored pencils or crayons or with a handout or other scaffolding tools. In either case, the quality of my modeling has a direct impact on the quality of goals my students set.

Here are a few things that work for me:

Be Specific

The more specific a goal is, the more likely we are to achieve it and typically, the more thoughtful and purposeful it is. For example, in order to become a better reader, we have to consider what makes a good reader. What do good readers do regularly? What might be missing from your reading life that will help you become a better reader?

So be a better reader is one option, but a better goal would be practice reading regularly.

Make it Actionable

This is one of the keys to goal-setting success. We improve if our goals include things we can actually do. For students, making it really concrete is also helpful. So, rather than trying for a goal of improving my reading level, I’d focus on the actions I can take.

We might improve the goal above to say read for 20 minutes each day

Plan for Success

This was a turning point for me as an adult – when I knew what success looked like, I was able to reach my goals much more effectively! I’m always mindful of including this point in my mini lesson, so students are able to picture what succeeding will look like. This will be easier with some goals than others.

Perhaps a student ultimately wants to have all their fast facts memorized. Success might look like completing a particular assessment in a given period of time. With reading, it can be trickier, especially for those of us who are less inclined to focus on student reading levels. I’ve had students set the goal of reading a particularly challenging text. Several years ago, Harry Potter was a popular goal in my classroom. In order to do it, they knew they needed to flex their reading muscles regularly and build really strong decoding and comprehension skills.

With our reading example, we might modify the goal to be read just right books for 20 minutes each day so I can eventually read Harry Potter.e

Monitor Progress

I often show students a few examples of my own progress monitoring: my Goodreads page is a great example for students who like to use technology to track their progress, though I always remind them to talk with their parents before using any digital tools.

I also share my water intake tracker. My goal is to drink 8 glasses of water a day (obviously still a work in progress!). I point out that I haven’t reached my goal yet. If the class is ready, we might talk about evaluating whether our goal is achievable or if it needs to be broken into smaller steps, as I did with my 5K.

Professional goals are also helpful to share. When I was in the classroom, I would often share exactly what I was working on with the students. They were always eager to keep me accountable! This was particularly helpful if it was something I could track publicly. One year, I worked on wait time and kept a tally on the board each time I remembered to use it.

My 2020 writing goal would be a great one to share with students: I plan to publish 24 posts in 2020. This came about as I was seeking ways to pay it forward and share what I’ve learned with others, as well as continue writing regularly (an essential component of a writing teacher’s life). Google sheets is already working beautifully as a progress monitoring tool!

Know Yourself

I always point out that everyone is different, and every goal is different. Some people feel success when they are tracking a particular goal. Others feel that certain goals shouldn’t be monitored because it can steal the joy.

I ask that students try monitoring their progress with whatever goal they set and be mindful of how the process works for them. This is an important opportunity to learn something important about themselves, and it will serve them well to experiment and determine what process makes them most successful.

Share Your Goals

We typically write our goals, then share them with an accountability partner or post them in the classroom. If we’re displaying them, I always warn students ahead of time, so they can pick a goal they’re willing to share.

Reflect

Reflection is an essential component of this process. Some people are firm believers in setting goals with a time limit and checking back at the end of that time. I absolutely see the value in this, but it just hasn’t worked for me in elementary school. I find it’s often too long a period of time for students, and I tend to forget about the goals if we’re not checking in on them more regularly.

My students and I reflect on our goals as part of our weekly routines. Each Friday, we wipe down our desks and check in with our accountability partners before packing up. We’ll celebrate anyone who has achieved a goal or a milestone toward a goal, and sometimes have a class meeting where people can ask for advice from others. Some students choose to leave themselves a sticky note to remind them of their plans for next week or a quick word of encouragement to find Monday morning.

Do you set goals with your students? I’d love to know your process. Feel free to share in the comments or share your goal setting pictures and tips over on Instagram.

Mother Nature is calling on us to make changes to the way we interact with the world. We try to use less water, be mindful of what we throw away, turn off the lights, and generally be good stewards of what we have.

I must confess, though – All my efforts to be good to the earth tend to stop when I enter the school building! I find myself throwing away stacks of worksheets I copied and never used or throwing away perfectly good materials that no longer fit my style. It’s always made me cringe, because I strive to model what I hope to see from my students.

After reading Zero Waste Home (which was at the same time wonderful, inspiring, and so completely overwhelming that I began reading it in small chunks…), I decided to start a list of ways I could reduce waste in my classroom. In addition to helping me do my part for the environment, I have become mindful of my educational choices (after all, I want students to be creating with what they learn more often than they are completing a rote practice worksheet). In the long run, this is also way better for my finances, because I’m not as drawn to the Dollar Spot at Target (well… at least not as frequently!).

Each of these ideas is simple and easy to implement. I found it even improved my instruction. I started with trying just one thing (a scrap bin, because I had an extra crate!). If we each implement one new idea every month, who knows how far we can go!? So here are 5 tips that have worked for me. I’d love to know what works for you!

Tallest Tower Challenge

Use Fewer Worksheets

Have you heard of a week without worksheets? This might be a great place to start if this is your first step into using less paper in your classroom.

I am generally not a worksheet person (though I do believe in the importance of practicing particular skills), and I still find I go through a lot of paper! I ask myself every time I’m standing at the copy machine whether those copies are essential. It’s a strange habit that has actually caused me to put down the workbook and step away! My teaching improved dramatically when I started asking this question each day.

A Few Replacements for Worksheets:

• Writing Workshop: Students spend most of their time writing. I almost never use worksheets for this.
• Reading Workshop: Students spend most of their time reading books that they’ve chosen. Very few copies needed, and huge growth in reading skills.
• Science: 5E Lessons have been a game changer for me. Simply and practically speaking though, I just try to think of ways I can get the children to drive their learning. When I want to teach the scientific method, I create a problem to be solved. What should we use for cleaning up water spills in our classroom? Test out various brands of paper towels or compare paper towels to cloth towels.

Interactive notebook for problem solving… and I only photocopied 2 pages!

Reduce Paper Use

A few years ago, I learned about Interactive Notebooks, and it changed my teaching forever. No longer did I feel the need to print a full worksheet just so students would have the task at the top of the page and plenty of space for their thinking. I’m cringing just thinking about how many almost blank pieces of paper I printed while notebook pages sat unused!

Here are a few ways I handle this now:

• Type the task multiple times on a sheet of paper. Cut it out, and have students glue it into their Interactive Notebooks.
• Print the task on each side of a piece of paper. Fold the paper into a table tent. Use for learning centers or group work
• Have students create the task on whiteboards, solve a partner’s task, then check and compare answers

Class Scrap Box

Have a Class Scrap Box

Put extra paper of all sizes into a scrap box. In younger grades, I split the scrap box into big pieces and smaller pieces. In upper elementary, we just mix it all together. We use paper from the box for any crafts, posters, practice work, etc.

Practicing Sight Words With Rocks And Sticks

Incorporate Recycled and Natural Materials

My son taught me this one! He is forever creating experiments using supplies he’s found in the yard or on a walk. We take a collection bucket outside with us most of the time, and we bring in whatever he finds that we may need.

In the younger grades, sticks make great tools for building letters, loose parts, and math manipulatives (acorns work just as well as erasers from the Dollar Spot… and you have the benefit of counting them when you come inside).

In upper elementary, these materials can be used for a STEAM cooperative learning challenge. Put various materials on the table and invite students to create the strongest structure, tallest structure, or a structure that can do something. My students made some incredibly strong structures using only materials they found in our classroom recycling bin.

Place Value Practice With Dice, Base-10 Blocks, & A Laminated Place Value Mat

Practice with Games

Some things just have to be memorized – math facts, spelling rules, important dates, etc. These are things we just have to know. I try to embed this practice into classroom games, which typically increases movement, reduces time, and reduces paper!

I use Match It games during Morning Meeting or as a way to form groups. These games use just a couple pieces of paper for the whole class, and we reuse them frequently throughout the year. They are also great as exit tickets (ex: tell me the sum, then line up).

There are lots of math games that can be played with dice, decks of cards, and other materials we have in the classroom. I try to use these as much as possible for review and warm ups, so we’re just using a worksheet for our weekly assessments.

BONUS! Use Recycled Materials for Classroom Storage

I have no idea why it’s taken me so long to figure out how wonderful shoeboxes are for storage! They are easily decorated (and can be a great group project for your students at the start of the year), and are basically the same size as the containers I tend to use for craft supplies. It’s important to label them clearly (and draw a picture if your students aren’t reading yet), because they aren’t clear like the storage containers I usually use. However, they are PERFECT for storing stickers, small containers of glitter, extra pencils, etc.

Diaper boxes are my other new favorite storage system. Depending on the size, they’re great for storing paper, notebooks, and games for learning centers. These can be trickier to redecorate in an eco-friendly way, because they often have a shiny coating that isn’t easy to paint. Tape is one way to cover it, and recycled paper is another. This is a great use for those copies I know I’m not going to use and would typically throw away. If you’re less picky than I am, just using the box as it is would probably be the best option!