Setting meaningful goals and tracking progress is a great way for students to understand their fitness and feeling empowered in physical education. It gives students a sense of ownership in their physical fitness, and monitor their growth, and take pride in their progress. Teaching goal-setting and self-monitoring skills through fitness testing helps students take ownership, build motivation and confidence, and develop real world skills to support lifelong wellness.
S.M.A.R.T Goal
SMART goals helps students focus on what they want to improve and create a plan to get there. It consists of:
Specific - goal is clear and focuses
Measurable - progress can be tracked
Achievable - realistic for the individual student
Relevant - important to student's fitness and health
Time-bound - set time to reach the goal
How to Set SMART Fitness Goals in PE
Start with baseline data - Students record their fitness test scores for their current level of performance.
Choose goal area - Students identify the area of fitness and/or test they want to improve
Write a SMART goal - teachers can model examples and use graphic organizers or sentence starters to help support students writing
Create a personal fitness plan - students develop a plan of how they will work on the goal (what will they do?)
Track progress - students check progress on their performance
Final progress and reflection - at the end of the goal period, students evaluate their progress and if they met their goal.