Assigning $@ to target-specific variable

[Ryan Berdeen]

I've just started using GNU make (3.80), and I'm confused why the  
following doesn't work:

$(TARGETS): target := $@

The target variable remains empty.

According to the manual, "All variables that appear within the  
variable-assignment are evaluated within the context of the  
target" (http://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_chapter/ 
make_6.html#SEC77). As far as I have been able to determine, inside  
the context of the target, $@ contains the name of the target.

Am I doing something wrong, misunderstanding the manual, or is  
something else going on? Is there a simple way to accomplish what I  
want?

Full disclosure:
I encountered this situation while completing a homework assignment  
on the recursive use of make. Since I wasn't able to use the above, I  
submitted my solution listing the targets as follows:
target1: target = target1
target2: target = target2
...

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Ryan