Teaching Towards Tomorrow

So often I try to figure out why so many of the students at my school - bright, beautiful, well spoken with personality out the wazoo - do not go on to succeed academically or financially. Poverty is the most obvious reason. A poor home life; domestic abuse; lack of emotional support; poor cultural role models; all of these things are factors. But I realized this week that, in addition to all the above, many of my students were never taught the skills to make long term goals or plans. Maybe it’s because their life in abject poverty doesn’t really lend itself to long term goal making (when you don’t know where you’ll be living in two weeks, thinking about what you’ll be doing a year from now seems superfluous, right?), or maybe it’s just not a trait valued by their parents, role models, former teachers, etc.

I cannot image not having these goals. These are the things that drive me. These are the things that get (and got) me through my most depressive states, the most financially trying, the most high-stress-nail-biting-never-get-any-sleep times of my life. This week I plan to make long-term goal making a part of every unit I teach, and share my own goals with my students. I teach 10th grade, and my school’s attendance and drop out rate becomes horrific by the time students reach 11th grade. I know I need to do something now, and work them now to make a difference. So…long term goals for our class together, and long term goals for the next three years.

Does anyone else see this problem in their students? How do you incorporate long-term goal making in your units/lessons/classes?