# Lesson 2.4: SMART Goals

**Unit:** Unit 2, Me, My Goals, My Money (Individual Growth and Life Readiness)
**Topic:** 2.2 Goals and Decisions
**Grade:** 6 to 8 (written at grade 7; see Differentiation for the grade 6 support and grade 8 stretch)
**Days:** 1 class period of 40 minutes (day 41 of the year)
**Room:** Classroom or FACS lab

## Standards

- NYS module line: NYS IGLR 2. Goal Setting a) Acknowledge the role of personal values and standards in goal setting
- NYS module line: NYS IGLR 2. Goal Setting b) Differentiate between SMART and Stretch goals
- CTE theme line: CTE CCO 4. Career Plans d) Formulate a personal career plan that includes short-term and long-term goals needed to carry out the career plan
- NYS FACS Learning Standard 3 (Intermediate), Key Idea: Students will understand and be able to manage personal resources of talent, time, energy, and money and make effective decisions in order to balance their obligations to work, family, and self.; Performance Indicator: Students understand the resources available to them, make informed decisions about the use of those resources, and know some ways to expand resources.
- CDOS Standard 3a Universal Foundation Skills: Thinking Skills
- National FCS 3.0: 2.1.1 Use time management, organization, and step-by-step process skills to rank tasks and reach goals.

## Enduring understanding and essential question

**Big idea:** A wish is something you want. A goal is a wish with a number and a date on it. A SMART goal is the next step you can actually take; a stretch goal is the big thing the steps are climbing toward. You need both, and you need to know which one you are looking at.
**Essential question:** How do you know the difference between a goal you are working on and a goal you are just talking about?

## Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
1. (Low) Given the five letters, define each part of a SMART goal in their own words and, given six sample goals, classify each as SMART, stretch, or vague.
2. (Mid) Given five vague goals on the handout, rewrite at least three so that every SMART part is present, and mark which part each original was missing.
3. (High) Compose one SMART goal for school and one for outside school, each tied in one sentence to a value from the Lesson 2.1 sort sheet, and judge whether each is a SMART goal or a stretch goal in disguise.

## Vocabulary

Tier 2 (general academic): specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, deadline
Tier 3 (FACS): SMART goal, stretch goal, vague goal, time-bound, standard (from Lesson 2.1). See the unit vocabulary list for Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish.

## Materials and setup

- `Handout 02.04 - SMART Goal Builder.md`, one per student
- Students' Lesson 2.1 sort sheets, from the FACS folder
- The 3-2-1 index cards from Lesson 2.3 Day 2, handed back (the "1 career" line)
- Slides: `Slides 02.04 - SMART Goals`
- Six sample goal cards on slide 5 for the whole-class sort (SMART, stretch, or vague)
- Timer visible to the class
- Setup notes: hand back the 3-2-1 cards as students enter. No other setup. [Sal: put one of your own SMART goals and one of your own stretch goals on slide 4. Students take the difference seriously when the teacher has both.]

## Pre-assessment

The do now. Almost every student writes a wish ("get better grades," "make the team"). Count how many answers have a number or a date in them; usually two or three in a class. That number is the pre-assessment, and the same question at the end of the period is the post.

## Do now and hook (Time: 4 min)

On the board: "Look at the 1 on your 3-2-1 card (the career you want to know more about). Write one goal that would get you closer to it. One sentence."

Debrief: cold call four. Write the goals on the board. Ask: "How would you know if you reached this one? When?" Most cannot answer. Say: "That is the whole lesson. By the end of the period, every goal on this board will have a number and a date."

## Procedure

| Step | Teacher will | Students will | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Direct instruction: the five letters | Show slide 3: Specific (what exactly), Measurable (a number), Achievable (you can actually do it with what you have), Relevant (it matters to you, it connects to a value), Time-bound (a date). Use one goal and build it letter by letter on the board: "get better at math" becomes "raise my math quiz average from 72 to 80 by the end of the marking period by doing the practice set every night." | Copy the five letters and one word each into Part 1 of the handout. | 6 min |
| 2. Direct instruction: SMART vs stretch | Show slide 4. A stretch goal is big, far away, and not fully in your control: "play in the NBA," "own a restaurant," "be a nurse." A SMART goal is the next rung: "make the school team this spring by going to every open gym." Rule: a stretch goal is not wrong; it just cannot be your only goal. Every stretch goal needs a SMART goal under it. Show your own pair. | Write the two definitions in Part 1. | 4 min |
| 3. Learning activity: sort the six | Show slide 5: six goals. Class votes SMART, stretch, or vague with one, two, or three fingers. Settle each with the five-letter test. | Vote. Write the six answers in Part 2. | 5 min |
| 4. Practice: fix the vague goal | Assign Part 3: five vague goals. For each, name the missing letters, then rewrite it as a SMART goal. Do the first one together. Circulate. | Fix at least three of the five (all five for grade 8). Trade with a partner and check each other's rewrites against the five letters. | 9 min |
| 5. Practice: my two goals | Assign Part 4: one SMART goal for school, one for outside school (home, sport, money, a skill, a friend). Each one gets the five-letter check and one sentence naming which value from the Lesson 2.1 sort sheet it connects to (that is the R). Then the last question: is either of these secretly a stretch goal? If yes, write the SMART goal under it. | Write two SMART goals with the value link. Check them against the letters. Rewrite any stretch goal in disguise. | 9 min |

## Questions to ask

Monitor understanding:
- "Save more money" is missing which letters? Fix it in one sentence.
- Is "become a chef" SMART or stretch? What SMART goal would go under it this year?
- Your school goal connects to which of your top three values? If it connects to none, what does that tell you?

Deepen learning:
- Why do people keep making vague goals if they never work? What does a vague goal let you avoid?
- A stretch goal you cannot fully control (make the NBA) versus a SMART goal you can (practice free throws 20 minutes a day for a month). Which one should you feel bad about missing? Why?
- Yesterday you wrote what you want to be known for. Is that a goal? What is the difference between who you are and what you achieve?

## Check for understanding

Clipboard walk during Step 4: for each student, a yes or no on "names the missing letters" and "the rewrite has a number and a date." A "got it" rewrite of "I want to read more" reads "I will finish two books by December 20 by reading 20 minutes every night before bed," not "I will read more books this year." A student without a number gets the question, "How would you count it?"

## Closure (Time: 3 min)

Return to the do now goals on the board. Ask the four students whose goals are up there to fix them out loud with the five letters; the class checks. Then the exit card on the bottom of the handout: "My school SMART goal in one line. Circle the number and the date." Collect the handouts. Sort into "got it" (both goals have a number and a date and a value link) and "needs more." The goals come back on day 42 for the goal ladder; the "needs more" pile gets fixed in the first five minutes of Lesson 2.5.

## Differentiation and supports

- ELL: the five letters have a picture each on the slide (a target, a ruler, a ladder, a heart, a calendar) and are printed on the handout with the Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish words for goal, specific, measure, and deadline; the rewrite frame is printed ("I will ___ [what] ___ [how much] by ___ [date] by ___ [how]"). Pair with a bilingual peer for the partner check.
- IEP and 504 (general): the rewrite frame makes each fix a fill-in; a student may fix two vague goals instead of three; goals may be dictated; extended time by finishing Part 4 at the start of Lesson 2.5 (the ladder needs the goal, so this is a natural place); printed steps; fidgets allowed.
- Grade 6 support: the sort in Step 3 uses four goals, not six; Part 3 asks for two fixes; Part 4 asks for one SMART goal (school or outside) with the value link, and the "stretch in disguise" question is skipped.
- Grade 8 stretch: fix all five vague goals; in Part 4, write a stretch goal for the career on the 3-2-1 card and two SMART goals under it, one for this year and one for high school (this is the short-term and long-term pairing in CTE CCO 4. d)).
- UDL checkpoint used: multiple means of representation (each letter has a word, a picture, and a worked example); multiple means of engagement (the goals are the student's own and connect to their own values).
- No-kitchen or no-machine alternative: not needed; no equipment is used.

## Assessment

| Objective | Standards met | Learning task | Assessment (formative or summative; tool) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Define the five parts; classify six goals | IGLR 2. b); CDOS 3a Thinking Skills | Steps 1 to 3, handout Parts 1 and 2 | Formative; finger vote; Part 2 checked against the key |
| 2. Rewrite three vague goals with every part present | IGLR 2. b); National FCS 2.1.1 | Step 4, handout Part 3 | Formative; clipboard walk; partner check; handout scored complete, partial, or missing for daily work |
| 3. Compose two SMART goals tied to a value; judge SMART vs stretch | IGLR 2. a) and b); CCO 4. d); Std 3 PI B | Step 5, handout Part 4, exit card | Formative; exit card sorted "got it" or "needs more." Summative in Lesson 2.5: one of these two goals becomes the Goal Plan, the Topic 2.2 formal check |

## Homework

None. Optional: tell one adult at home your outside-school SMART goal and ask them to hold you to the date.

## Connections

Inside the building: the school counselor's grade 8 planning conference uses the same SMART frame for high school course selection; the math teacher, because "measurable" means a number and most students' school goals are about a grade they can compute. Community: none this lesson.

## Sources

- NYS Middle Level CTE FACS Content Module 01, Individual Growth and Life Readiness (nyctecenter.org, June 2018), lines 2. a) and 2. b). Copy in `02 Standards/NYS Module PDFs/`.
- NYS Middle Level CTE Theme Module, Career and Community Opportunities, line 4. d). Same folder.
- NYS Learning Standards for Health, Physical Education, and Family and Consumer Sciences (1996), Standard 3, Intermediate, FACS strand. Wording per `02 Standards/STANDARDS SOURCES - web research.md`, section 2. [Sal: confirm against the NYSED PDF.]
- NYS CDOS Standard 3a, Intermediate, Thinking Skills. Same file.
- National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences Education 3.0 (LEAD FCS Education, 2018), competency 2.1.1.
- SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) is a public, widely used goal frame; no single source is quoted. "Stretch goal" is the state's own term in IGLR 2. b).
- Sal's own materials: the Soft Skills Superpower packet (`Lesson Dups/Unit_2_Career_Exploration/education_teachingwork_soft_skills_superpower_2026_04.docx`) Activity 2 ("how I'll practice it, how I'll measure improvement") supplied the measure-and-date habit that Part 4 asks for.

## Teacher notes

- If time runs short, cut Step 3 to three goals and Part 3 to two fixes. Never cut Part 4; the two goals are what Lesson 2.5 builds on.
- Common mistake: students write "achievable" goals that are already done ("pass FACS") because they hear "achievable" as "easy." Say: achievable means possible with effort, and if it takes no effort it is not a goal.
- Common mistake: the outside-school goal is a stretch goal every time ("get a puppy," "go to Disney"). That is fine; it is the "stretch in disguise" question. Have them write the SMART goal under it ("save $15 a week toward the ticket for 10 weeks").
- The R (relevant) is where Lesson 2.1 pays off. A goal that connects to no value is a goal somebody else gave the student. Say that out loud; some of them will realize their school goal is their parents' goal, which is a real conversation.
- [Sal: your own SMART and stretch pair on slide 4. Students take the distinction seriously when the teacher shows a stretch goal that is not finished yet.]
- Keep the handouts. The school goal or the outside-school goal (student's choice) becomes the Goal Plan in Lesson 2.5, which is the Topic 2.2 formal check.