Start of School Goals

Aug 17, 2025

Welcome to the new school year. Consider kicking it off by working with your students on setting behavior and/or academic goals. I tell younger students, “One goal makes our heart happier, and the other makes our brain smarter.” Frame the discussion in terms of strengths and opportunities. “We are all good at some things, and we all have areas needing improvement.” Model this concept by setting your own goals and sharing them with your kids.

With younger students, write a note home letting parents know the goals on which their children are focusing. Older students can write the letter themselves and follow up with weekly journal entries about their progress over the course of the semester. This activity lends itself well to great discussions with kids and parents come report card and conferencing time.

One caveat: Keep the focus of this activity on the process of continuous improvement rather than the finite end-result of making or breaking a goal. This can be accomplished by setting realistic goals and working with your students on finding some degree of success in achieving them. Success builds confidence, which in turn leads to greater effort.

Everyone can benefit from goal setting. It’s a healthy lifelong practice. I can only imagine how much better the world would be if all adults and kids worked to have happier hearts and smarter brains.

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