Tag: Goals

Goal-Setting Conferences 2.0

The weather may have just finally turned, although still unseasonably warm for Ottawa, and we had a noon dismissal followed by a pupil-free day.  That could only mean one thing here at the Ottawa Jewish Community School, it was time for Goal-Setting Conferences 2.0!

We have spent the last day-and-a-half welcoming parents and students to the second iteration of our Goal-Setting Conferences.  What are “Goal-Setting Conferences” you ask?

North Star alert!  At OJCS, our students own their own learning, which means learning to goal-set is of paramount importance to their growth and development – now and throughout their lives.  Our conferencing opportunity to sit together with you and your child to discuss personalised goals is swiftly approaching on Thursday, November 7th & Friday, November 8th, and so we are sending along some much needed information to support you and your child through this growth process.

[We launched this last year as a pilot and you can revisit this post if you want all the possible background and context.]

What’s new this year?

We iterated a new process for this year that comes in response to student, parent and teacher feedback.  We believe strongly that it helped everyone more easily connect the dots with regard to what was prioritised for each child, with their voice and their parents a part of the conversation.   One major change that took place prior to the conferences themselves, was that with the transition back to semesters and with Goal-Setting Conferences sitting on the calendar where first trimester Parent-Teacher Conferences used to live, we decided to add first and third quarter Progress Reports so that parents could be in the know on all matters academic and otherwise.  First quarter reports went out earlier this week and teachers facilitated any related conversations so that the deck was cleared to focus on goal-setting.

Here’s how we prepped:

  • A grade-level appropriate lesson was taught to help children understand the benefits of setting personal goals (whether academic, social skills-related, social-emotional and/or spiritual).
  • Our teachers met individually with each student to help them think about what goals would be most beneficial for them at this time.
  • We encouraged parents to discuss their own goals for their child(ren) with them, or to bring those ideas with them to Goal-Setting Conferences to add with the teacher.
  • Parents booked Goal-Setting Conferences to meet with the classroom teachers to have meaningful discussions about the goals selected and to make a plan to help invite success.

For those who are curious, here is how we templated the different kinds of goals students, teacher and parents could be reaching towards:

And for our older students, we focused on helping them create SMART Goals:

We worked really hard this year to upgrade the preparation and the experience, and the view from the lobby as families have come in and out these last two days seems to validate that the hard work paid off.  From here, we have a responsibility to be explicit about how and where these goals will live throughout this school year – including meaningful updates on future progress reports, report cards, and parent-teacher conferences.  Additionally, as is true with all pilots and prototypes, we will seek feedback now that this round of conferences is complete so we can further refine things.

Here’s to helping our students get…

Introducing Goal-Setting Conferences at OJCS

[General Note: It still feels awkward pivoting towards “normal” school conversations when the situation in Israel rages on and we are all still carrying varying degrees of anxiety, pain and sadness about what has happened and what still may be yet to come.  However, part of how we create psychological safety is by carrying forward with as much normalcy as feels appropriate and respectful.  And so it is in that spirit that I share framing thoughts about this year’s inaugural “Goal-Setting Conferences”.]

[OJCS Parent Note: Yes, you got a much more detailed version of this via email earlier this week.  Feel free to read this edited version for additional clarity…or…please read this edited version if you feel asleep halfway through the email.]

In June of last year, I blogged out the rationale for us shifting from “trimester” to “semester” and in that post, I shared the following:
We love the idea of bringing parents (and possibly students) together in late October-early November to share the goal-setting that we have done with our students.  It is a great opportunity to strengthen and clarify the school-family partnership, to personalize the learning, to build in student accountability and to set students up for success.
And so we shall.
One of the “7 Habits” that anchors a lot of the work in our school is “Begin with the End in Mind” and one of our North Stars is “We Own Our Learning”.  There is a lot of research about the importance of students of all ages learning how to set goals and learning how to create plans to achieve those goals.  Here is an article from this past January that I think frames it well.  One takeaway from the article is that,
Students are people too, and like all people, they benefit from having goals. Learning goals, much like life goals, can help students in a number of ways.
Here is a brief summary of those ways:
  • They help students stay focused.
  • They help students measure their progress.
  • They help make students accountable for their learning.
  • They help to motivate students.
Another article on goal-setting that I really like adds a few more critical points about the benefits of goal-setting on students of all ages:
  • Set a clear path to success.
  • Learn time management and preparedness.
  • Boost self-confidence.
  • Provide challenges.
For all these reasons and more we believe that the time we are spending teaching our children – again, I keep emphasizing at every grade-level because this can be, and is, for students of every grade – what “goals” are, how to set them and make a plan for success, how to measure progress, how to reflect on the learning journey, etc..  It is time well-invested to set our children up to not only do their best in school, but in life.  As parents will see, goals are not only limited to academics, but to all aspects of schooling (art, music, PE, etc.) and life (friendships, self-control, positive mindset, etc.).
Things are already happening and things are set to launch.  Teachers have already begun teaching in developmentally appropriate ways what “goals” are, why they work and how to use them.  Teachers have also begun meeting individually with students to set goals for this year.  Parents are receiving information from teachers with more details about how all of this is working at different children’s grade-levels, and how parents can also contribute by both discussing goals at home and by coming to “Goal-Setting Conferences” with goals that they have for their children.
This pilot is strongly encouraging that parents bring children to school for these conferences.  We’ve finessed the timing and the team nature to allow this to be comfortable and doable at each grade-level.  We will have teachers and support on-site so that parents have a supervised landing slot for siblings.  We also understand that there could be conversations that a parent would prefer to have without their child present and thereto, the supervised locations can come into service.  We additionally understand that virtual conferences were helpful for some families and will continue to offer them, although hoping they will be restricted to just those who could not otherwise participate.  (And even there we encourage student participation.)
We are very much looking forward to this parent engagement opportunity.  Now, more than ever, we feel the value of the strength of our community.  We are partners with parents on the journey of children’s lives while at OJCS and we feel the weight and the joy of that now, more than ever.