Teaching Students How to Set Resolutions

 The New Year is right around the corner! With a year like 2020, it seems like we should only have one resolution: survive. When things get difficult though, setting goals and can help us look toward a brighter future. 

It took me a few years of New Years resolutions activities with my students to realize that they need to be taught how to make quality goals. Most students would write things like, "be nice" or "get good grades". But I wanted my students to dig deeper than that. 

So, that next year I decided to read them a few books that had strong central themes. As we read these books, we discussed how we see those themes in our own lives. Providing students with vocabulary words to describe the different experiences and emotions they have everyday is the first step in writing a quality goal. 

I've created a resource that can help you guide your students this new year, and it is tried and true. Here are the steps I follow for my unit:

#1: Choose 2-3 themes that you want to focus on and grab some books

Read books is an easy way for students to apply new vocabulary and observe how character's learn and grow from life's lessons. 

#2: Discuss theme vocabulary and practice using it 

Students need multiple opportunities to practice new vocabulary words and use them in various contexts. Interactive notebooks are one of my favorite ways to do this. 

#3: Apply themes from literature to student lives and set new years resolutions

After discussing each theme, give students the opportunity to share and discuss where these themes appear in their own lives. Ask students to think about how they would like to improve on these specific areas of their life. 

 

Teaching theme is such an amazing way to give students the vocabulary they need to set meaningful New Years resolutions in such a chaotic world. Not to mention, it ties into state standards at the same time! 

Here's to a bright and hopeful future in 2021. 💗