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Goal setting 2

1. Relevant Courses

This lesson is applicable to the following primary areas of the curriculum:

  • Business Studies
  • Entrepreneurial Studies
  • Health and Wellness
  • Career Education
  • Physical Education
  • Canadian History/Social Studies

2. Specific Learning Objectives

  • conduct research via the Internet
  • analyze and prioritize research findings
  • report on their findings
  • practice short-, medium-, and long-term goal setting

3. Skills Targeted for Development

  • research skills
  • analytical skills
  • goal-setting skills
  • presentation skills

4. Estimated Time for Implementation

  • 15 minutes to organize groups and to introduce the assignment

5. General Overview of the Lesson

Learning to set realistic, achievable and appropriate goals is one of the keys to success in sports, and in most human endeavours. Often it is said that failure can be defined in large part as the lack of ability to set goals.

In this lesson, students will work in groups to analyze the ways that goal-setting and planning to achieve the goals contributed to the success of the famous "Crazy Canucks" and created problems for the even more famous Team Canada, in the 1972 series with Russia. In the case of the Crazy Canucks (recall the most famous members, Ken Read, Todd Brucker and Steve Podborski) it can be argued that careful planning and goal-setting led to their championships.

As for Team Canada, although they had a clear goal-to win-they nearly lost because they were not prepared for the level of play the Russians brought to the series. Many students may not know much if anything about these two Canadian teams, so this lesson provides an opportunity to learn some important Canadian Sports history, as well as the importance of setting goals and planning to achieve them.

Students will work in groups to produce a report on the ways planning figured in both teams' ultimate successes. They will deliver the report orally, and then work on their own success plans by creating short-, medium- and long-term plans for athletics, career-choices, or for their academic futures.

6. Resources Required

Classroom Internet access to the Canada's Sports Hall of Fame website to view the following video clips:

Paul Henderson (use all clips)
http://www.sportshall.ca/tpl_honoured_members_video.php?id=20

Ken Read (use all clips)
http://www.sportshall.ca/tpl_honoured_members_video.php?id=12

Anne Ottenbrite (goal setting)
http://www.sportshall.ca/tpl_honoured_members_video2.php?id=66

Supplementary Honoured Member Information

Paul Henderson
http://www.sportshall.ca/hm_profile.php?i=291

Ken Read
http://www.sportshall.ca/hm_profile.php?i=182

Annie Ottenbrite
http://www.sportshall.ca/hm_profile.php?i=93

Supplementary Collection Links

Library

The Crazy Canucks
http://www.sportshall.ca/collection_detail.php?i=1234&t=l

The Days Canada Stood Still: Canada vs USSR 1972
http://www.sportshall.ca/collection_detail.php?i=1066&t=l

7. Suggested Implementation Strategy

First class period

Introduce the lesson by asking whether students know about the Canada-Russia hockey series in 1972, and the "Crazy Canucks" ski team. Encourage students who know of these teams to tell the class about them. If no one knows these teams, provide minimal information, such as the fact that Canada won the series with the Russians, and that the Crazy Canucks were a championship downhill skiing team. They will do the rest of the research on their own.

Explain that the activities for this and the next class are about goal-setting and planning to achieve goals. Point out that it's important to have short-, medium-, and long-term goals, so that your progress can be measurable, and that you can adjust your goals as you progress, to ensure they're realistic and achievable. Note that part of the assignment will involve students setting goals for themselves.

Organize your class into as many groups of five-to-a-group as your class size allows. Use your own best judgment as to the composition of the groups, but you may want to consider assigning as many students who have already demonstrated leadership ability into one group by themselves, so that other students can be chosen as leaders in their own groups. If asked, note that in business and sports, for example, most people do not get to choose the composition of their teams.

Provide groups with the student handout for this lesson. Students are to simply assign tasks to their group members today, do research work on their own and bring their collected research to the next class (or other class as you prefer) for the continuation of the assignment.

Facilitate group work as needed. Encourage all members to participate.

See the student handout for details of the group assignments.

Second class period

Working in groups, students will compile their reports, select a reporter and report to the class on their work. When the reports are completed, students will work individually on setting goals for projects or plans for their future. Collect these plans and evaluate them according to the SMART guideline: They should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-constrained.

8. Suggested Follow-up Activities

Ask students to review their goals from time to time to see how well they are doing in achieving them. Encourage them to revise their goals as necessary and to develop new plans to achieve them as well, if necessary.

9. Suggested Evaluation Activities

Evaluation for this lesson could include:

Evaluating research work and ability to work effectively in groups.

Consider having groups perform peer and self-evaluations as well, to ensure that one or two students in each group don't do all the work while the rest "go along for the ride."

10. Links to other Relevant Resources

11. Appendix:

Link to Relevant Video Clips

Student Handouts

Handout for the essay assignment, "Goal-setting"

First class period

Choose your group leader. This person will keep discussions on track and set the order of the way reports are presented.

Choose a group reporter, who will record details of the oral report that will conclude this part of the assignment.

Choose a member of the group to deliver the oral report. It need not be the group leader.

All members of the group will conduct the same kind of research, but independently of each other.

Your homework assignment:

Using the Internet, conduct research on Team Canada '72 and the "Crazy Canucks" to find out to what extent the way each team set goals and planned to achieve them affected the their respective success. For overall information on both teams, consider using Wikipedia.

For more research, enter "Team Canada '72" and "Crazy Canucks" into a search engine, and review the results.

Next go to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame website (www.sportshall.ca) to review the information you'll find there on these teams. Search for a video on Johnny Esaw, who talks about the Team Canada series. Find as much information as you can and make notes on what you find.

Next, click on the "Lessons and Learning" part of the website, then on "students." Then select the following clips for review:

Note their comments on the teams they were part of, and note in particular Anne Ottenbrite's comments on goal-setting.

Bring all your notes to class for the second part of this assignment.

Second class period

The leader will lead the discussion by asking people to talk about the two teams: Ask, why do you think they are so famous? Do you think they belong in Canada's Sports Hall of Fame? Why? Why not?

The leader should then call for reports from all group members on goal-setting. The group will work on pulling the most relevant research: recall, you are looking for the role that goal-setting played in the success of both teams.

The recorder should make summary notes to provide to the person who will give the oral report.

When the teacher asks, present a report on your findings. Try to answer the question: Did goal-setting have anything to do with the way each team achieved their success?