It's parent-teacher conference time, and I always like to include students' input whenever possible. They do not attend our conferences, and without their voice, it always seems a bit too one-dimensional. I have used goal-setting sheets in the past (HERE), but wanted to mix it up a bit this year.
Working with Growth Mindset, I created a "Glow & Grow" form for students to fill out. The "Glow" side contains what they are most proud of in that subject, while the "Grow" side contains their goals, what they are working towards, or where they would like to dig deeper.
This coincidentally coincided with our science unit that included growing pea plants! Love when that works out!
We began by charting some thinking questions to get them started for each section. On their "Glow", I wanted them to move beyond the outward signs of success (like 100%, or a "high" reading level), and think more about what made them feel proud so far this year.
Along with that, I didn't want their "Grow" to be something they feel they failed, or are the perceived "worst at" in the class. I instead used it as an opportunity to create goals and think about their future in our room. This worked out especially well for some kids who only focus on the previously mentioned signs of "success". It changed the language for them, which allowed for more growth opportunities in other directions than they may have thought prior to this activity. For example, a high-level reader thought about it, and realized they were in a genre-rut. They decided to expand their genre choices to include more nonfiction and mystery. On the other side, a struggling student focused on tackling more of a familiar series instead of rushing on to a "higher level" that may have been too challenging. It was a win-win on both sides.
I encouraged students to use bullet points or complete sentences, whichever they felt most comfortable with, and I was surprised to get about a 50/50 split. On the back side, they wrote and drew their favorite part of the day, which was predominately P.E., but what else is new!?
I'm excited to share these with parents as we talk about the start of the year and the direction(s) we want to head this year as a class, and with their student. It will give us some great talking points about the student, even though they won't be there in person.
Plus, now that we've gone over the "Glow & Grow" format as a class, it can become a part of our regular feedback and goal-setting conversations.
If you're interested in this form, it can be found on TpT HERE. It is available as a PDF with my headings, or as an editable Powerpoint, where you can type in your own headings.
I hope you have fun with this and get the chance to launch into some great goal-setting behavior this year!
For more on Growth Mindset and goal-setting, click HERE or check out these posts below:
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