getting ready for NHD

In World History we’re still in the creation process of our National History Day projects so I haven’t been able to really teach anything new since we’ve gotten back from break. One thing I was able to create was a worksheet with a list of goals for each day. On the first day the students received the sheet they wrote down the last thing they completed in class for their projects. Each day as the students came into class their preview was to set a daily goal and write one thing they can do to achieve that goal. With about 5 minutes left in class each day I had the students reflect on the progress of their goals as well as create a plan of action for their next day’s work. Due to the shortened periods I hoped that setting goals and creating a plan of action (the day before) would eliminate some wasted time in class. I noticed that we didn’t use as much time on the preview and students were able to come into class, immediately write down their goals, and begin working. Overall I think this was a successful teaching strategy for shortened days. One thing I think some students may need to improve on is setting more difficult goals. Some student set relatively simple goals that could easily be completed in a few minutes. I collected all of the worksheets from last week and plan on giving them feedback suggesting a more careful thought process while creating their goals for this upcoming week.