Growing self-directed learners: Goal-setting in kindergarten

Doing it myself

Even our youngest learners crave agency over their own learning. Think of how many times you’ve heard a toddler indignantly insist that they can do a task for themselves, without adult intervention. Sometimes the child is right about their readiness for independence (“Yes! You know where to put your shoes when you come inside”); other times, they may still need support (“Let’s try pouring the milk together”). In either case, the desire to assert their independence and make choices on their own is apparent from an early age. 

As they grow, children continue to make their own choices at home and at school about all kinds of things, like what they eat, how they play, what books they choose, and what they ask questions about. With gentle guidance from a supportive teacher, kindergarten children can also take charge of their learning in another way: setting appropriate learning goals for themselves and reflecting on how well they are meeting them.

The power of empowering learners

Jennifer Klein, a global education and inquiry-based learning specialist, advises teachers in a recent EdWeek opinion piece not to miss opportunities “to empower students as leaders of their own learning.” When children play a key role in not only choosing, but documenting what they are learning, she explains, they “learn to track progress, set goals for improvement, work together to solve challenges, and curate their best work to show their growth. With tools such as student portfolios and student-led conferences, students develop the metacognitive habits that allow them to articulate their learning—their needs, their successes, and their next steps for improvement.”

It sounds like sophisticated work and it is. Klein may not have had 5-year-olds in mind here—the youngest students she references in her article are in 3rd grade—but what she describes is exactly what we see in Tools classrooms during kindergarten learning conferences, where teachers encourage children to think reflectively about their learning and encourage them to articulate where they are struggling. Teachers also use these conversations to challenge children to think about how they can overcome difficulties, remind them about where they can go for help, and set them brainstorming about what they can do on their own to remember steps to solving a problem or decoding a word they don’t recognize.

Choosing their own goals is motivating for children. The goals they pick are ones they truly care about, which makes achieving them personally meaningful. When setting goals, children are given license to design a vision of their own success that they want to work towards. 

“When students own their own learning, they can build skills in a safe environment, working toward ends that feel relevant to them. This tends to raise the quality of student work because students care more about what they’re learning.”
-Jennifer Klein in EdWeek

There are implications for equity as well. Children, with skillful teacher scaffolding, choose goals that feel right for them. They begin to develop their unique identities as learners, practicing the skills and strategies they need. 

Supporting self-regulated learning

During Tools learning conferences, children meet one-on-one with their teacher to develop weekly goals. The conferences provide kindergarten children with dedicated time to:

• hold a private audience with their teacher
• practice using oral and written language 
• reflect on and express their learning needs 
• advocate for themselves
• experience their learning successes and frustrations in a safe and collaborative environment

Tools teachers encourage children to set goals that are within their ZPDs (Zones of Proximal Development). These goals are more likely to be attainable and can offer children the pride and accomplishment all of us feel when a goal is met. There are also times when children are unable to meet a goal they’ve set for themselves. This can be a rich opportunity for learning. Children can practice addressing the feelings of frustration that are a natural part of the learning process within a positive and judgment-free environment. 

By giving children practice feeling those feelings, addressing them, and moving on, children develop an understanding that the learning process is not linear, not automatic, and not perfect—and neither are they. And that’s ok. Learning how to learn is a critical skill to develop in the early years of schooling and making mistakes, or failing to meet a goal, allows children opportunities to self-regulate, manage their emotional responses, persevere through frustration, and carry on with their learning. 

Listen in as a Tools kindergarten teacher describes what she sees from her children during learning conferences.