Set Learning Goals
Often when faced with daunting tasks students can become discouraged and lose interest in learning.  This is because they may believe that their fate has dealt them a bad hand, or that they have no control over their learning.  Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) note that several reports since the 1960's have, "shown that students' sense of 'fate control'-that is, the extent to which they feel they have some control over their own destinies-has a stronger link to achievement that all other school-level variables combined". (Be Demanding, Item 2, Developing fate control and learned optimism, para. 6) 

Furthermore, teachers need to break large challenges down into smaller pieces or goals so that students do not become overwhelmed.  Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) illustrate the importance of this by stating, "providing students with challenging yet achievable short-term goals is one of the most powerful strategies at an educator's disposal" (Be Demanding, Item 2, I help students set learning goals, para. 1) Therefore it is important that teachers help students set and maintain learning goals that correspond with manageable learning challenges in order to help keep students motivated when working towards their goals.  

One way teachers can help students set goals is by providing them with a goal setting worksheet that they can use to determine their own learning goals and gain ownership of their destiny in a class.  Teachers then use the learning goals along with the unpacked Common Core standards to set specific learning objectives.  According to Goodwin and Hubbell (2013), "teachers need to narrow standards and benchmarks into more concrete steps that students can accomplish during a lesson or series of lessons- steps that move students toward these larger goals". (Be Demanding, Item 2, I translate standards into specific learning objectives for students, para. 2) Below is an example of a personal goals worksheet provided by Poway Unified School District. 
Below is the personal goals worksheet I used for my parliamentary debate class.
To access Item 3- Peel Back The Curtain please click here