Making goals

So I came back from the New Year's break wanting to have the kids make resolutions. But then I decided that instead of resolutions I would have the students make goals. Resolutions are broken all the time. So we read about making goals and I had students focus on making S.M.A.R.T. goals. S.M.A.R.T. being specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timebound.

I had students make lifetime, 25 years, 5 years, 1 year, 6 months, 1 month, and daily goals in 6 different areas. The areas are family and home, spiritual and ethical, social and cultural, financial and career, physical and health, and mental and educational. I told students that they had to have 3 copies. One for me, one that they keep with themselves, and one that they physically posted up on my back wall. I feel that the physical act of posting up their goals will give them more pride and ownership of the goals. When it came time for the goals to be due I got one student turn it in on time. Now 3 weeks later I am still getting some laggers. I realized after doing the assignment that it brought up some powerfully strong emotions with some of my students. Students were forced to confront their lives and oftentimes look at all the obstacles that are in the way of their success. After reading through some of the goals it became very easy to see that many students are lost. It's not that I was expecting kids to know exactly what they wanted in their lives. God knows that when i was their age I had no clue. But I was hoping that the assignment would force them to think about their lives. And for many it seemed that it was the first time that they did really think about it. I wanted them to understand that if they have goals then they need a plan to get them to their goals.

I also tied in metacognitive exercises with the assignment as a way for students to understand metacognition and apply it to their lives. It's not just enough to think about things. They have to evaluate how things are going with their plans and make changes as needed.

Unhappy Holidays and Dance Dance Revolution

The last week before the break I told all my students that they needed to hold it together and take care of all their shit before the break. Unfortunately, I had students melting down left and right. I finally realized what it was.

The holidays can be a rough time for a lot of people. If you don't have a good family life or a lot of money then the holidays can be a depressing time. During the break, people are supposed to get together with their families and give and get presents. The holidays are the time of conspicuous American consumption. Lots of businesses really rely on the holidays to keep their businesses going. If you are living at a group home like a number of students then you aren't hanging out with your family. You also won't be getting a lot of presents. If your family is filled with jerks and/or drug addicts then you won't be getting a lot of presents. If you see everyone around you getting stuff and showing off their new presents, it's a stark reminder of what you don't have. Sometimes, students and people aren't consciously aware of the depression brought on the holidays and they just act out.

When school got out on Friday, we had a lot of students just hanging out around the school. When I was in high school and there was a break the last place I wanted to be was at the school. Like many of my students, sometimes I started the break early on Thursday and skipped Friday. But the students' desire to stay just shows how much the students need and like my school.

Friday before break was a minimum day so I busted out the Dance Dance Revolution to play with kids. I cannot tell you the response that Dance Dance Revolution has among the students. At one point I must have had 50 some odd students in my class watching kids do Dance Dance Revolution. There is this one student that we have who is completely socially awkward and somewhat mentally unstable. The best thing for this kid is a safe place and proper socialization. He got on the Dance Dance Revolution and when he was done the entire classroom erupted in cheers for him. Knowing this kid's history I'm sure that this was the first time he'd ever had a group of people cheering for him. It was an incredible experience to be a part of.