Every Friday, I have students in my mainstream ninth-grade English class complete a short reflection. It usually consists of two or three questions they can answer within five minutes. Students then share in pairs, and then a few with the whole class.

This past Friday, these were the questions:

What are three things you can do to help you finish the school year strong academically?

What is one thing you can do to help your classmates finish the year strong academically?

People seemed to take it pretty seriously. Monday, I’m going to ask them to make posters highlighting what they wrote and illustrate them. Then I’ll post them in front of the classroom for the rest of the year.

I’ve written about studies that show the importance of making goals public. I figure having students see these each day, and me — at times when they might be forgetting what they said — being able to point out what they had written sure can’t hurt.

I might make a slideshow of the posters and and share them here.