Psychological Skills Training Goal Setting

If you're like most teachers, one of the most difficult challenges that you face is the inclusion of psychological skills training in your curriculum. This is especially true in the classroom, where it is a constant battle to draw a distinction between personal development and teaching theory.

Some people view personal development concepts as entirely separate from instruction and training, while others see it as integral to the study of theory. For both these viewpoints, the challenge lies in defining the parameters within which it can be considered to be an instructional element. Many teachers who use this educational format feel that it can be a valuable tool, yet still feel that there is room for study and personal growth in general instruction.

The philosophical divide between instruction and goal setting is perhaps best exemplified by David Myers' assertion, "Instructional issues are goals". This assertion rests on the assumption that teaching theories and teaching methods must be derived from instructional principles in order to be relevant to teachers and thus valid for students. Whereas some proponents of this viewpoint define "goal" as an absolute objective, such as a grade, a grade level, or a standard achievement, others define the word as something more symbolic, such as a standard of achievement that can be achieved at any time, in any circumstances, and without help.

Regardless of how you view goal setting, the fact remains that psychological skills training will have an important part to play in your classroom planning. It is also a proven instructional technique that creates a language of understanding.

Instructional models that integrate psychological skills training into instruction often use the process of goal setting as the initial step. As the introduction to the model, goal setting creates a framework within which students can understand how instruction can be accomplished. Goals should be useful, measurable, relevant, and goal-oriented, and the model allows them to be articulated.

Using a framework that allows students to apply some theory and then apply that theory to their individual learning situations is a skill that the instructional model takes advantage of. There is no better way to demonstrate this approach than to introduce students to the following activities:

In this activity, students are assigned a large group of individuals from whom they will determine if they can join the team. If the group fails to arrive at a decision, a point is scored based on the amount of time required to reach consensus.

Students then try to construct the final form of the team. They construct two main groups, with one group composed of the same four individuals from the initial decision group and the other group composed of four individuals from the second decision group.

After this exercise, students come together to make decisions about the team composition. As a collective decision maker, they discuss the needs of each team member, value contributions from each team member, and then proceed to make a decision as to who they believe should be the members of the final team.

These exercises allow students to determine numerical values of their contributions to the team and determine whether or not they can add value to the team as a whole. By setting the expectations for every participant prior to the exercise, students can increase the odds of making better decisions when it comes time to make the actual decision.

Goal setting can be used in other ways to demonstrate the importance of psychological skills training. Consider creating an activity to motivate your entire class, a series of tasks that are intended to test student motivation.

A variety of options are available for students to choose from, from a classic bingo game to a classroom activity using Microsoft Word or Excel. Regardless of what your motivation might be a combination of goal setting and classroom activity will increase the effectiveness of the instructional strategy in your classroom.