Setting SMART GoalsIntroduction Day: US Government

Warm-Up: January 3, 2013

Answer Part I (1-2) on your SMART goal handout (personal goals).

When you are finished, trade with the person beside you.

January 3, 2012

Objective: SWBAT explain the importance of goal setting and create personal and academic SMART goals to reach for this semester.

DOL: Given an exit ticket, SW (80% accuracy) Write a thesis statement to explain the importance of

goal setting. Write one personal and one academic SMART goal.

Relevance: It is important to set an end destination before heading off somewhere. Without a specific goal, or a specific end-destination, its often difficult to gauge your progress, and you may

Founding Fathers

When the Founders endorsed the need for public education, their motives were mostly political. Learning to read was less important than, and only a means toward, helping citizens make wise political decisions. History instruction was thought to teach students good judgment, enabling them to learn from prior generations’ mistakes and successes and inspiring them to develop such character traits as honesty, integrity, and compassion. The Founders had no doubt that schools could produce students who exhibited these traits.

Identify the goal of the Founding Fathers in establishing public education. What lessons should public schools teach at the beginning of our nation to

ensure this goal?

Ben Franklin on Public Education

In 1749 Benjamin Franklin proposed that Pennsylvania establish a public school that should, he said, place as much emphasis on physical as on intellectual fitness because “exercise invigorates the soul as well as the body.” As for academics, Franklin thought history particularly important, because “questions of right and wrong, justice and injustice, will naturally arise” as students debate historical issues “in conversation and in writing.” Students, Franklin insisted, should also read newspapers and discuss current controversies, thereby developing their logic and reasoning.

Identify Ben Franklin’s academic goals for American citizens. What lessons should public schools teach to reach this goal?

George Washington

George Washington’s goals for public schools were also political and moral. In his first message to Congress, he advocated public schools that would teach students “to value their own rights” and “to distinguish between oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority.” His farewell address warned that, because public opinion influences policy in a democracy, “it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened” by schools that teach virtue and morality. He wanted to go even further, but his speechwriter (Alexander Hamilton) cut from the farewell address a plea for a national public university that would encourage tolerance of diversity, bringing together students of different backgrounds to show them there is no basis for their “jealousies and prejudices.”

Identify Washington’s academic goals for American citizens. According to Washington, why is universal public education (education for

all American citizens) important?

Readings: Goals for Public Education

Read the document, “No Child Left Behind” and answer questions one and two on a separate sheet of paper.

No Child Left Behind Analysis

1) What is successful about this goal? 2) What would you change about No Child Left Behind to make

sure that we reach the overall goal of NCLB?

Obama’s Educational Goals

Identify Obama’s overall goal for the American education system. Explain the steps he expect states/American

schools/teachers/students to take to reach the ultimate goal.

Critical Thinking

Choose the public education system that you think would work best for your style of learning/the end goals you want to reach as a student. Founding Fathers Ben Franklin George Washington George Bush Jr. (NCLB) Barack Obama

Write a 4-5 sentence analysis to justify why you would prefer this politician’s or state’s policy.

Part III: SMART Goals

Based on the readings, and your own ideas of education, write an academic goal for yourself this quarter (PART III)

DOL: January 3, 2013

On the index card:1) Write a thesis statement to explain the

importance of goal setting.

2) Write one personal and one academic SMART goal.