Helping your students begin with the end in mind

Have you ever wondered how to help your students begin with the end in mind?  Today, we read the second story in 7 Habits for Happy Kids.  In the story, Goob the bear decides on some goals he wants to achieve that will take some money.  He makes a list of his goals, so he can figure out how much money he needs to raise.  He meets up with Jumper the Rabbit, and they decide to start a lemonade stand.  They split $20, and Jumper quickly loses his $10.  Goob wisely spends his $10 and is able to achieve all of his goals.  We discussed ways we could plan ahead.  This week I handed my students a take-home project related to volcanoes since we had read Will it Blow? about Mt. St. Helens. We discussed how they could plan ahead to get their projects done by the due date.

We also started our book club books today.  Some of my students will be reading My Side of the Mountain and the other half will be reading Island of the Blue Dolphins.  Since we are discussing the Native Americans both of these stories really reinforce how people have to adapt to the climate and natural resources in order to survive.  These are important foundations for History. My students have calendars in their planners.  They met in their book club groups today and planned out with a calendar exactly how many chapters they would read each day.  They all had to agree to the amount and write it down on the calendars in their planner. They will have assignments they will complete while reading the book.

I have found this strategy to be much more effective than if I assign how much they have to read.  It gives them ownership.  When I assigned how much to read each day, some read too far ahead and some never finish the book.  Giving them ownership can help your reluctant readers finish a book.  You also could apply this same strategy with projects, science far, or even individual choice books.  Make your students plan ahead how to finish something by a due date.  How do you help your students begin with the end in mind?

Teachers also should begin with the end in mind

I sit and think about all the things written down in my to-do-list in my Erin Condren life planner.  The lists never end.  As we begin to settle into a routine, I find myself wanting to finally try to get a little ahead in my planning for once. 

We are going to begin discussing habit 2 of the 7 habits: Begin with the end in mind. I remembered tonight that I, too, need to begin with the end in mind.  It is a constant battle to not get so bogged in the details that we forget the goals.  Why did I become a teacher in the first place?  Why did I want to have a small class again?  Is this really about the content we learn and the activities we complete? 

Do I really remember what my teachers taught me?  No, I remember the teachers who took the time to show they cared.  So tonight I reminded myself to slow down and think more about how I can show my students that I care.  How can I spend more time listening and less time worried about grading and planning?  As routines settle and my students become more independent, my goal is to build in more conferencing.  I feel the one-on-one conversations with my students as readers, writers, and math students will also afford me more opportunities to get to know them as people. 

I feel the need on a regular basis to remind myself to show them I value their thoughts and feelings.  I am considering that a morning meeting routine may also be a good idea.  I'm not really sure what people discuss in classroom morning meetings.  Do you discuss goals for the day?  Do you discuss what has been going well and what could go better?  What about things you are thankful for?  In the month of November, I really want to keep a gratitude journal with my students.  I am thinking maybe we will start morning meetings next week.  Any suggestions?  How do you show your students that you care about who they are as people?  How do you begin with the end in mind?

Getting Started with The 7 Habits of Happy Kids

The last few days have been a little hectic. We are trying to get into a routine with the diabetic cat.  Giving insuline to the cat is really not that difficult or time-consuming.  It just has to be done exactly every 12 hours. So, I can't just leave early to stop at the store. I can't go to yoga at 6pm because we need to give the insuline at 6:30pm. I would go to yoga at 4:20, but I have several appointments this week and next at 4 and 4:30pm. Anyway, we are getting there.  I was so tired I went to bed at like 8pm and woke up in the middle of the night to work on some things. (I have not done this since graduate school.)

The last week or so have been pretty good at school.  We finally are establishing a routine, which is helping my students tremendously.  We have had a huge improvement in independence, maturity, and a lot less anxiety. This year has been interesting.  I have a small class of primarily gifted, multi-age students.  The year began with a lot of anxiety and emotions for my students.  Coming from teaching a mixed ability set of 5th graders, I just was unused to seeing such emotional displays from my students.  Most 10-12 year olds have matured a little more than younger students and tend to mainly just cry when they get seriously hurt or something is really wrong. I have taught primarily gifted students before, but they were sixth graders.  Sensitive, gifted 12 year olds have different behavior than gifted students at younger ages.  This year has helped me grow as a teacher.  My students are academically 4th and 5th graders, but emotionally many of them exhibit more like 2nd and 3rd graders.  I have taught 4th through 6th grade, so I am learning how best to help my students emotionally handle disappointment and frustration.

I decided to try out the book 7 Habits of Happy Kids after reading some posts by Little Lovely Leaders.

She has some amazing free resources in her TpT store for the 7 Habits like posters and bookmarks. I printed them out and plan on using them.

I bought the book and can't wait to read it with my students.  We are going to read one story a week.  I also bought this planner for my students that incorporates the 7 Habits.  It is absolutely fabulous.  It walks kids through the habits in a fun way and incorporates them throughout the planner. It also includes story suggestions to read with your students. Our planner looks like this one, but incorporates the 7 Habits like this one.  Somehow, they have combined some of their planner lines.  I will share some pictures later. The vendor, School Specialty, has some teacher planners, too, I may consider later.

We have had some great discussions as a class so far on being proactive versus reactive.  It has been awesome!  The last couple days when one of my students says or acts inappropriately, I ask them "Are you being proactive or reactive?" It has been really awesome to see them pull it together and change their attitude pretty quickly.  Tomorrow (today), we are going to discuss "Putting First things First."

I also really want to incorporate the habits into our literature discussions.  I am planning on making some 7 Habits Reading Graphic Organizers and maybe some writing prompts. (Scrappin Doodles has some 7 Habits Clipart I may use.) Here are a couple graphic organizer freebies I made to get students thinking about being proactive versus reactive:

Here are some links I found online with lesson ideas:
http://lcmacademy.wikispaces.com/file/view/PE+Lessons.pdf
http://www.polk-fl.net/staff/grants/pefgrants/documents/S2SGrants0708/SevenHabits.pdf

Anyone have any requests or lesson ideas on how you use the 7 habits?  I really want to check out the book The Leader in Me, as well.