Well, it’s a new year, why not bring back my “Teaching Tuesday” posts. đ
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m a sucker for New Year’s resolutions. I also find the first day(s) after winter break incredibly hard to engage students and get them to focus on our normal content. I think we all need to “ease in” a little. With that in mind, this year I put together a short New Year’s goal-setting and a 30-Day Challenge Extra Credit Assignment to use in my classes. This was a great way to get my kids talking and writing again as well as thinking about their long-term plans and tangible steps they can take to get there. The whole “lesson” took about 45 minutes – which was the perfect way to ease back in before reviewing grammar and distributing a new novel – and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
If you’re looking for something to do with your high school students to start the new year (or the beginning of the school year), here’s a quick activity you can adapt and use right away:
Link to Printable PDF:Â 30-Day Challenge Assignment
I started by polling the class to see who had made New Year’s resolutions this year. To be honest, I was shocked at how few students actually did. (Apparently this isn’t nearly the trend among teenagers that it is among 30 something mom-bloggers. Who knew? đ We talked about why people make resolutions at the beginning of the year, and what keeps people from following through with resolutions. I also had a few volunteers share about a time when they did make (and stick to / see a real change from) a resolution in the past.
Next, I asked students to write a letter to themselves to be read a year from now. I told them to reflect on what worked and what didn’t work in 2015 and to write out what they want the next year to look like. In addition, they were encouraged to claim two goals for the new year: one personal and one academic. A few volunteers shared. (I just had them write these in their journals since I will have [most of] them again next year and they will likely still be writing in the same composition book; but, if you wanted to go a step further you could collect them to return in June OR – even better – have students self-address them and mail them out next December.)
From there, I showed the 3 minute TED Talk from Matt Cutts titled: Try Something New for 30 Days. It is short and motivating. We talked about it for a minute, and then I asked students to look at the goals they wrote down in their journals and brainstorm one or two daily habits they could implement right away to get them closer to reaching those goals. (For example: if someone wanted to read five novels this year, he/she might set a goal to read for 20 minutes each day for 30 days.)
Finally, I handed out the above extra credit assignment and challenged the class to join me in spending 30 days committed to something. Interested students must turn in a 250 word “contract” outlining their goal and the logistics as well as its importance and relevance to their larger goals next class. Then, after completing the challenge successfully, they will submit a 500 word reflection essay at the conclusion of the challenge to earn 10 points extra credit on the next quarter.
Fun right? My students definitely got excited about it, and we had a lively discussion on how to set goals, what makes them measurable and attainable, and different ideas they had for themselves. There were definitely some old favorites like committing to take a photo, studying SAT vocabulary, running a mile, or writing in a journal every day, and some new ones like doing 100 push ups (ha) and trying a different make-up tutorial every day. I’m anxious to see how many students will officially commit on Wednesday. And, then, from there, only time (30 days to be exact) will tell how it goes… đ
Do you do anything special with your students to kick off the new year?!?
E
P.S. I’m committing to grading papers for 30 minutes every single day for 30 days. Stay tuned. đ
Nikki Miller says
Love this idea.
I teach a once a week Values class at my school to third graders.
I might do a modified version of this.
Love #teachingtuesdays!
Jen lynch says
Great idea
Tina says
Speaking of teaching Tuesday posts…
I want to start by thanking you in advance. I unloaded to you once last year, and you created a post that replied to MANY of my issues/questions. I have a feeling that you will do the same for this one because 1) you remember what it’s like to be me 2) you are quite honestly an amazing e-mentor, and I know you will feel called to help me even though you like .02 seconds of free time.
1. Just started teaching all higher -level courses this year (honors 9th and 10th) instead of on-level. I have MANY students who are just smarter and more intelligent than I am. There’s about two of them who know it, and they’re in one class together. I know that most of my feelings and issues stem from my own insecurities. I know I stumble over words and canât figure out how to say what I am trying to say because I see them smirking and making fun of me (even though itâs the last period of the day, and Iâve taught the class already). And, I know that it says more about them than it says about me – that they think they have nothing to learn from those who are not smarter than or as smart as them⌠but do you have any other advice to get through/deal with this?
2. Iâve been teaching new preps every single year for the past three years. I cannot wait to teach the same course two years in a row. With that being said, every year, I feel like I am learning new texts and content the entire year (every night I am reading ans prepping just for the next day to stay ahead) just so I can teach my students the next day. I. am. Exhausted. And, I feel terrible saying that because I am not even a mom lol. Do you have any tips to make this process easier?
Also, how do you generally introduce/give background information when starting a new novel? I know it depends on the novel and content, but any tried and true methods that really gets students engaged?
Sabrina McAnally says
I love this idea! Is there any way that you can give me an editable copy since today is January 6 and that’s when the contract on the form is due?? If not, I can re-type it up, but I just thought I would ask! đ
Jessica says
This is such a fun idea! I teach science and we have a state test at the end of the year so I find it hard to have too much time for more fun things like this. It makes me wish I taught something a little more exciting…but anyways, we did have a chat about the best things that they did over break and I at least let them get some of their energy out before we jumped right back into cells.
Nina says
This was such a great lesson plan idea! I used this with all my classes (11th, 12th, AP, and Honors English). So many of them are excited to start their 30 day challenge, and I even told them I will be doing it with them! I will be doing a personal one: write 500 words a day, and an academic one: (idea from yours) grade for 30 minutes for 30 days!