5 Ways To Use Google Calendar's New Goal Setting Feature With Students

 Oh, the all too elusive wild animal: Studentum Procrastinatus!  Their natural habitat is in the classrooms and halls of numerous schools and educational institutions and are well-known for their last-minute completion of projects, due-date anxiety, and creative excuses.  I know this species well as I have tried to tame it and domesticate it for almost a decade, and I am often a Teacheri Procrastinatus (especially when it comes to grading)!  Although creative and extremely intelligent, they lack motivation and planning skills.  Today, however, I will share with you a tool to help students take more ownership in their project planning and avoid procrastination with the NEW Google Calendar feature:  Goal Setting!

5 Ways To Use Goal Setting in Google Calendar With Students 

1.  Project Planning:
Provide students with times to work on their Science Fair, Paper, etc.

2.  Budget Reading Time:
Research suggests that students (anyone for that matter) who read more have a greater vocabulary, better analytical skills, and an improved memory.

3.  Improve Student Organization:
Help students budget time for locker/desk cleaning or sorting.

4.  Practice Skills:
Give students specific times when to practice their instruments or multiplication tables or a language or any skill...

5.  Foster Healthy Habits:
Workout times, exercises, or check off a certain amount of water drank in a day.  (Ok....That last one might be for me, too. Can't seem to stay hydrated!)

Really, who are we kidding! These wouldn't just work with students, but they could also apply to any one of us and to any of our work, education, or personal goals!

Here's how it works:  

The feature automatically budgets times for specific goals that they want to accomplish.  Google Calendar looks at their schedule (practices, appointments, etc., which don't have to be there) and finds some appropriate times for them to complete their goal and then adds it to their calendar based upon their preferences.  It's not set in stone, so they still can:

•  Edit the goal   If the time ends up not working out for them, they can change the one occurrence or all of them.
• Defer the time   Procrastination is always an option, but now, they have to think about it and press a button, admitting they are procrastinating.
• MARK AS DONE     Yay! The sweet feeling of accomplishment!

Here's how you use it:  

Using the Google Calendar App, have the student log into their Google Apps For Education account.  If they don't have the Google Calendar app downloaded, have them download it.

• In the bottom, right-hand corner, have them add a "Goal" by selecting the "+" symbol and choosing "Goal".
• Pick (select) the category:
• Exercise
• Build a skill
• Friends & Family
• Me time
• Organize my life

• Then pick the activity:   read, meditate, practice an instrument, do chores, etc. or customize it...
• (More options may appear depending on your activity choice...)
• Then pick how often:  once a week, every day, etc.
• After that, you get to choose "For how long?":  15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours.
• Then they get to pick the "Best time?":  Morning, Afternoon, Evening, or Any Time
• Then click on the check mark on the next screen to confirm and Google does the rest!

Thought of other ways to use the Goal Setting feature in Google Calendar in your classroom??  Share it in the comments section below! I would love to hear about it!