January is a time for self-discovery and setting goals for the upcoming year. New Year's resolutions traditionally provide people with a chance to think about past behaviors and resolve to make positive changes. With this in mind, why not make New Year’s resolutions for your classroom, as well, this year? Offering your students the opportunity to reflect on their actions and create individual or group goals is a great way to start off the new calendar year. Complement the lesson by providing them with valuable ways to stay focused in order to meet their objectives for the year.
Set the Stage
Create a festive, engaging environment that will set the tone to spark conversations and make it easier to introduce New Year's resolution lessons to your students. Hang a celebratory New Year's banner on your classroom door to welcome them back after the long winter break.
Share your own personal resolutions on a bulletin board, highlighting examples of your intentions for the new year. Give a little background for each resolution and let your students know how you plan to achieve your goals. This will help your kids to start thinking about what types of changes they would like to make.
Designate a corner in your classroom where small groups of students can brainstorm New Year's resolution ideas together. Provide plenty of note cards and pencils for kids to jot down a few of their thoughts. Get their creative juices flowing with some New Year's hats, which can double as thinking caps.
Keep Them Focused
It happens to the best of us. Many people often abandon resolutions before the month is over. Distractions, fast-paced lifestyles, and numerous commitments make sticking with New Year’s resolutions a daunting task for anyone. With school, sports and club activities all competing for students' attention, providing them with the means to stay motivated and focused is the key to their success.
Help students reach their goals by having them map out an action plan for each of their objectives. Listing a few smaller steps that they can regularly do can make seemingly difficult ambitions much more manageable. Also, have them create a timeline and carve out a few minutes each day to devote to their resolutions. Remind them that making time every day to commit to long-term habits can keep their focus on the end result. Making this process a visual one—with charts, stickers, and other fun accessories to help them chart their progress—will make this something your students look forward to working on.
Another way to help them maintain their focus is to have them write letters to themselves outlining their New Year's resolutions and documenting their plans on how they intend to reach their goals. Then, students can seal these letters in envelopes, and at the end of the school year, they can have a big reveal day. Kids can read their letters aloud and see if they've accomplished what they set out to do. Making them accountable to themselves for their own actions can be a very motivating experience.
If they get off track or have difficulty with a particular step, help them through it. Don't let them get discouraged. Remind students that making mistakes is an important part of the process, as are learning from them and moving forward.
Reward Them
Determine a reward for their accomplishments ahead of time. It can be a small prize for completing each step. Or if they are working as a group, identify one grand prize such as a pizza party at the end of the year if everyone succeeds at sticking with their New Year's resolutions.
Krista Wolfe
Quill.com Contributing Writer
Krista Wolfe is a marketing project manager for Quill.com where she writes to help small businesses, teachers and healthcare professionals make more informed decisions on office essentials. She also writes on our new community blog, Café Quill, about a wide range of business matters such as leadership, productivity and work-life balancing. Krista lives in Chicago and you can find her on Google+ or LinkedIN.