Activity 1: Defining Short-Term and Long-Term Goals

Learning terms and concepts: Students explore characteristics of short-term and long-term goals and learn to differentiate between them through a variety of on-line and discussion activities.

Purpose

Students gain exposure to short-term and long-term goals set by other students their age and get practice differentiating between them.

Activity

Students review the characteristics of a goal as something someone wants to work toward achieving in a specified length of time. As a way to personalize this, the students think of something they want to achieve when they get home that afternoon as an example of a short-term goal. The mentor shares an example of how she identified a goal and broke it down into achievable short-term objectives (Climbing the Mountain activity from Steps to Self-Determination). Students then discuss something they want to achieve over the course of the school year as an example of a long-term goal.

Photo of a mountain. Title over top of image: Climbing the Mountain. Text over image: Long-Term Goal: Getting a good grade in my class. Short-Term-Goal: Remembering what my homework was that day. Short-Term-Goal: Asking my Mom to set me up to do the homework. Short-Term-Goal: Actually putting the assignment in my folder to turn in.

Climbing the Mountain activity from Steps to Self-Determination

Students then explore a wide variety of goals posted by adolescent students on the pbskids.org, “It’s My Life” website. Students and mentors discuss the goals and determine which goals fit the criteria for a short-term goal and which goals fit the criteria for a long-term goal.

The mentor shares an example of her long-term goals.

Image of text. The top is modeled like a header section on a website. Title: It’s My Life Menu items (non-selectable): You said it, games, video, advice, celebs, blog. Quote: What do you most want to accomplish this school year? - From Jordan, 10. Dropdown menu (non-selectable): Other “You Said it” Topics in School: Choose a topic.
Text: “My goal is to be a famous actor”
“Find a boyfriend for the next dance”
“I want to get a cell phone in 17 days”
“I want to graduate high school”
“See all the seasons for American Idol”
“My family is going to my grandma’s house next week”
“I might try to raise my hand in school more”
“My hopes are that I get a horse this year”
“Get my parents to allow me to do an exchange program”
Short-Term Goals:
“Find a boyfriend for the next dance”
“I want to get a cell phone in 17 days”
“My family is going to my grandma’s house next week”
“I might try to raise my hand in school more”
Long-Term Goals:
“My goal is to be a famous actor”
“I want to graduate high school”
“See all the seasons for American Idol”
“My hopes are that I get a horse this year”
“Get my parents to allow me to do an exchange program”

Example of short-term and long-term goals.

Adaptations

Students access the internet with their speech-generating devices using computer interface hardware and text-to-speech software that reads aloud web pages.
During the discussion portion of the activity, students can generate their responses using their speech-generating devices, or they can use partner-assisted strategies with communication boards.

Return to top

Activity 1: Defining Short-Term and Long-Term Goals

Learning terms and concepts: Students explore characteristics of short-term and long-term goals and learn to differentiate between them through a variety of on-line and discussion activities.

Purpose

Activity

Adaptations

Welcome toThe Bridge School