Summary
This resource is geared towards students' goal setting and reflection process while participating in extracurricular clubs. Students set a goal for a specific skill they are working on and are given several ways to reflect on their progress towards that goal.
Materials List
Club Goal Setting (attached, one per student)
Reflection Prompts Collection (attached, one per student)
Club Goal SWOT (attached, one per student)
Notebook paper (optional)
Sticky Notes (optional)
Preparation
To prepare for club facilitation, consider having students start by setting goals related to the skill they are learning in the club. Then, at the end of each club session or meeting, choose a reflection strategy for students to use and think about their growth from the club. At the conclusion of the club, have students re-visit their goals and celebrate their progress.
Goal Setting
Begin the first club session by having students create a goal related to the activities of the club participation. Have students use the HARD Goals strategy to create a goal. The components of the HARD goal strategy has students consider each aspect of a goal: Heartfelt, Animated, Required, Deadline (HARD). Provide the attached Club Goal Setting handout to each student and provide time for them to create a goal using these components. As needed, support students in the creation of each part of their goal.
After students have set a goal they are going to focus on, consider collecting the Club Goal Setting handouts and storing them in a place students can refer to them throughout the duration of the club.
Reflecting
At the end of each club session, provide time for students to reflect on the skills they have worked on and think about the progress they are making towards their goal. Print multiple copies of the attached Reflection Prompts Collection handout and cut each paper in half. Before students leave the club session each week, choose one of the reflection prompts from the Clubs Reflections Collection and have students complete it. There are eight prompts to choose from so vary the prompt each week.
Alternatively, write the chosen prompt on the whiteboard and have students reflect on a piece of notebook paper or a sticky note. Another way of having students reflect is by creating an assignment in the school’s chosen learning management system such as Canvas or Google Classroom.
The reflection prompts are as follows:
Glow and Grow - What is one way you grew your skills today? What is one thing you will do next time to reach your goal?
How Am I Feeling? What Am I Thinking? - How do you feel about what skill you practiced today? What are you thinking you still need to do to reach your goal?
Muddiest Point - What is the most unclear part of what you practiced today? How can you overcome this to reach your goal?
POMS: Point of Most Significance - Describe one thing you practiced today to help you reach your goal.
Six Word Memoirs - In six words, summarize what you practiced today.
Tell Me Everything - Write down everything you did today to help you meet your goal.
What Did I Learn Today? - In one sentence, summarize what you practiced today.
What? So What? Now What? - What did you practice today? Why did you practice this? What is your next step?
At the end of the club’s duration, consider having students revisit the goal they set at the beginning of the club and reflect on their progress by using the SWOT strategy. See the attached Club Goal SWOT handout that students can complete to reflect on their goal completion.
Research Rationale
Club participation can lead to higher grades, regardless of the focus of the club, or extra-curricular or co-curricular activity (Durlak et al., 2010; Fredricks & Eccles, 2006; Kronholz, 2012). Club participation also enables students to acquire and practice skills beyond a purely academic focus. Participation in these activities also affords participants the opportunities to develop skills such as self-regulation, collaboration, problem-solving, and critical thinking (Allen et al., 2019). Supportive relationships between teachers and students can be instrumental in developing a student’s sense of belonging (Pendergast et al., 2018; Wallace et al., 2012). These support systems enable high-need, high-opportunity youth to establish social capital through emotional support, connection to valuable information resources, and mentorship in a club context (Solberg et al., 2021). School clubs can enable participants to build the critical social skills and “21st-century skills” that better position them for success in college and the workforce (Allen et al., 2019; Durlak et al., 2010; Hurd & Deutsch, 2017).
Resources
Allen, P. J., Chang, R., Gorrall, B. K., Waggenspack, L., Fukuda, E., Little, T. D., & Noam, G. G. (2019). From quality to outcomes: A national study of afterschool STEM programming. International Journal of STEM Education, 6(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-019-0191-2
Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., & Pachan, M. (2010). A meta-analysis of after-school programs that seek to promote personal and social skills in children and adolescents. American Journal of Community Psychology, 45(3–4), 294–309. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9300-6
Fredricks, J. A., & Eccles, J. S. (2006). Is extracurricular participation associated with beneficial outcomes? Concurrent and longitudinal relations. Developmental Psychology, 42(4), 698–713. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/10.1037/0012-1649.42.4.698
Hurd, N., & Deutsch, N. (2017). SEL-focused after-school programs. The Future of Children, 27(1). 95–115. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44219023
K20 Center. (n.d.). Glow and grow. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/4962
K20 Center. (n.d.) Strategies. How am I feeling? What am I Thinking? https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/187
K20 Center. (n.d.). Strategies. Muddiest point. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/109
K20 Center. (n.d.). Strategies. POMS: Point of most significance. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/101
K20 Center. (n.d.). Strategies. Six-word memoirs. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/75
K20 Center. (n.d.). Strategies. Tell me everything. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/107
K20 Center. (n.d.). Strategies. What did I learn today? https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/169
K20 Center. (n.d.). Strategies. What? So what? Now what? https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/95
Kronholz, J. (2012). Academic value of non-academics: The case for keeping extracurriculars. Education Digest, 77(8), 4–10.
Pendergast, D., Allen, J., McGregor, G., & Ronksley-Pavia, M. (2018). Engaging marginalized, “at-risk” middle-level students: A focus on the importance of a sense of belonging at school. Education Sciences, 8(3), 138.
Wallace, T. L., Ye, F., McHugh, R., & Chhuon, V. (2012). The development of an adolescent perception of being known measure. The High School Journal, 95(4), 19–36. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23275415