New Year's Writing Activity for Secondary Students

Starting back after winter break is always so stressful. There is so much to do, sunlight is scarce, and students have been home for weeks. I like to ease back into teaching with a few activities that really help students regroup and get ready for the new year. These New Year’s Resolutions for students are a fun and relaxing way to help students set goals and get ready to work hard.

I’ve used these New Year’s resolutions writing activities with middle school and high school students. They are a fun way to spend part of the first day back from break. I usually combine this with student self-evaluations that we do before conferences or in between semesters to really help students focus on school goals.

I’ve taught students who were very proficient in French as well as beginning French students, so I created two versions. I use a full-French version with some students and an English version with others.

Students really love setting goals and reflecting on the past year. Sometimes, they’ll let me put them up on the bulletin board. Usually, we keep them in portfolios, because keeping them private really allows students to open up.

The variety of pages allows students to set broad resolutions or get more specific, and they absolutely love looking back at the past year!