Happy March Madness! March is easily my favorite time of the school year: college basketball is on 24/7, the countdown to spring break has begun, and students truly start to take ownership of their learning. With end-of-year testing right around the corner, I love getting my students excited about the growth they’ve made this year!

I hold our final data conferences every March during the two weeks before Spring Break. They involve the whole class, student, and family in the goal setting process. They consist of:
1. Whole class read aloud (Week 1, Day 1)
2. Individual conference with students (Week 1)
3. Parent-teacher conference (Week 2)

Read along to learn more about each component & for a free goal setting template!

Whole Class Read Aloud of Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream

I love this book for goal setting and teaching a growth mindset. I prefer it to some of the more popular growth mindset books because the main character is a young black male. It’s important that I keep books in the classroom that look like my students in order to foster a positive sense of self identity.

Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream is about Michael Jordan as a child. He was never as talented as basketball as the other kids in the neighborhood, so he would put salt in his shoes as a good luck charm. The book continues to show that in addition, young Michael Jordan would also spend all of his free time practicing. He eventually became a great neighborhood ball player, and as we all know, one of the most legendary basketball players of all time! I then ask the kids, “Do you think the salt in his shoes was the real reason Michael became great at basketball?” They answer that no, it was because he practiced. I then explain that the district sets a certain goal for us to reach on the end of year iReady test, and we’re going to take steps to get as close to that number as we can.

Student Conferences

I meet with each kid typically during my lunch or prep for about 10 minutes. We use this form, that you can grab for free in my TpT store! I use this during each of our three conferences, and by the end of the year, I have a binder full of evidence for my end-of-year evaluation.

We write the growth window- the start date is that day, and the end date is the day of the test. We then reflect on what the child can do now (based on data the district gives from the middle-of-year testing window) and what they need to be able to do by the final test. We then talk about what they can do at school and at home to meet that goal. I ask the child to speak with their parents about what they can do at home to reach that goal.

Parent Teacher Conferences

I wish these were called parent-student-teacher conferences, because at this point in the year, the student does the most of the talking! We use the goal setting template to guide the parent conference for the first 5-7 minutes. Our conferences are only 10 minutes, so it’s a quick and easy way to communicate progress with parents in a meaningful way!

You can grab the book here and the goal setting template here.

How do you set goals with your students? How do you communicate this during conferences? Leave any tips in the comments!