Goal Setting Activities For Middle School: 20 Strategies And Ideas

In the classroom, most teachers try to set goals or objectives for their students. We tell the students, “This is what we want to accomplish today” and the students become familiar with the term “objective”. How often do we talk to the students about goals outside of the objective? We should be talking to our students about academic goals as well as personal goals. Let’s look at twenty ways we can address effective goal-setting and action steps with our middle school students.

1. SMART Goals 

We must teach our students the value of a SMART goal. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Once we address what a SMART goal is, we can teach how to create their own.

Learn More: Khan Academy

2. Classroom Behavior Goals

A great first day of school activity is to review your classroom behavior goals. Every classroom needs to have standards and a clear understanding of what those are. Discuss your goals on the first day and talk about action plans to accomplish the goals.

Learn More: Wahoo Schools

3. Goal Pendants

Goal pendants are a fun and visual representation of your student’s attainable goals. Each student can get creative and create a pendant listing some actionable goals they have and then hang the pendants up around the classroom or on a bulletin board. This serves as a visual reminder and daily reminder of their goals.

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

4. Classroom Goal Charts

Some schools require you to track data for many subjects. Get your students involved by setting classroom goals and discussing the aspects of goal setting.

Learn More: Sweet Tooth Teaching

5. #Goalgetters

@Misswestbest created a bulletin board showcasing her students’ goals using #goalgetters as the theme.

Learn More: Miss West Best

6. Ring the Bell

A school in California has a bell in their hallway and when students complete a goal, they’re able to ring the bell. This would be very encouraging for middle school and elementary students. Add one to your classroom for the students to see (and hear) the benefits of goal setting!

Learn More: Principal Ramirez and Amazon

7. Goal Setting Workshop 

The Brain Garage has a workshop he does for goal setting. He uses one hundred index cards for the past, the present, the future, and revisions. You could easily do this with less than one hundred in your classroom.

Learn More: The Brain Garage

8. Purpose Challenge

Greater Good in Education developed an entire “purpose challenge”. Each challenge helps the students to learn a little more about themselves, their strengths and weaknesses, and their desires. The final challenge involves setting long-term goals.

Learn More: Greater Good in Education

9. Career Quiz

It’s very possible your students do not have long-term dreams for their life. We can help our students develop a career goal by helping them see their true strengths and abilities.

Give your students this career quiz and then recommend some resources and action items.

Learn More: Truity

10. The Million Dollar Question

There is an inspirational speech by Alan Watts that questions what you really want in life. Listen to the speech in class and then have the students write what they think is the overarching goal for their life. This activity can be done with middle school students, high school students, and even college students.

Learn More: T&H – Inspiration & Motivation

11. Bucket List

Another activity to get the students thinking about their overarching goal is a bucket list. The students try to make a list of ten goals they want to achieve before they die and the action steps to reach those goals.

Learn More: What’s Danny Doing

12. Biography Study

A great way to help your students see the effectiveness of goal setting and some attainable goals is by doing a biography study. Assign a biography to your kids that show how individuals have struggled and how they overcame those struggles. Your students can write about the person’s goals and what steps they took to achieve them.

Assign an entire book or check out this website for shorter texts and videos.

Learn More: Biography

13. Vision Boards

Create a customizable vision board with your students at the start of the school year. This is a creative activity for the students to think about what they want for themselves in the upcoming school year. You can create physical boards in class or this is an excellent lesson plan for a digital vision board template.

Learn More: Mrs. Yelenick’s Classroom

14. Goal Map 

Create goal maps that not only address what the students’ goals are but also how to get there and any roadblocks they may face. Talk to them about meaningful goals and realistic goals. It’s helpful to have the students create a timeline of when they want to achieve their goals.

Virtual Ventures has templates for setting school, physical health, mental health, family, and financial goals.

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

15. Growth Mindset Lesson

When we’re talking to our students about the effectiveness of goal setting, it’s helpful to discuss growth mindset and fixed mindset. The students have to recognize their mindset if they truly want to achieve their goals and grow.

Christina Winter created an entire classroom lesson for this topic and has many additional resources.

Learn More: Mrs. Winter’s Bliss

16. Growth Mindset Interactive Fans

Study All Knight created this excellent resource for students to focus on a growth mindset. The students create interactive fans with their achievable goals. Pair this activity with a lesson on the benefits of goal setting.

Learn More: Study All Knight

17. Bell Ringer Journal

The SuperHERO Teacher created 275 journal prompts that encourage a growth mindset and effective goal setting. Starting each day with a journal entry is a great daily reminder of their goals and mindset.

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

18. Weekly Reflections

Having students check their goals on a regular basis can be extremely helpful for them. Weekly reflections give the students a chance to look back at their previous goals and set a mini-goal for the upcoming week.

GrammarlyGracious created a great Instagram template.

Learn More: Etsy

19. Student-led Conference

Student-led conferences can benefit all. Parent conferences with students can be a great digital activity for them to reflect on their previous goals and to make future goals.

Two Sharp Pencils has an awesome template that students can use to score themselves.

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

20.  Dance Party

@kimsteachingcorner hosts a dance party complete with a disco ball and microphone when her students complete goals. Doing this will definitely motivate and inspire your students to push towards their achievable goals.

Grab your own fun microphone here.

Learn More: Kim’s Teaching Corner and Amazon