THE TEACHER'S TURN TO SET SOME GOALS
On any given school day, the following phrases might be uttered from my mouth:
“Did you bring your growth mindset to school today?”
“If you’re having trouble with these larger multiplication facts, set a goal for yourself. Start small and work your way up. Write your goal on your sticky note”
“How many books do you hope to read this year? Pick a number to work towards.”
“Remember those goals we set last month!”
“Your goal for today is to have zero blurts and earn all of your positive behavior points. You’ve got this.”
Clearly, I am no stranger to goals. I talk about them, preach the power of them, encourage my students to visualize them every single day. However, when it comes to my own personal and professional learning, I tend to take a much more passive approach, snatching up opportunities as they come but rarely taking the time to goal-set. And so, here goes-- I am writing my goals on this “sticky note” portfolio page for all the world to see.
Goal 1: Pass that Spanish test. I completed all of the coursework necessary to earn my Spanish teaching minor as an undergrad at Michigan State. I passed the written test, student-taught for a year in a largely Spanish-speaking elementary school… and promptly began my first teaching job in a rural, small town school without many opportunities hablar español. The oral proficiency exam remains yet to be conquered.
While I do translate occasionally for the handful of Spanish-speaking families in my school and enjoy every moment of it, I would like to pass the oral proficiency exam to broaden the possibilities for future employment. I’ve used the Duolingo app recently to prepare for quick international leisure travel, so I plan to download it once more to fan my once fluent Spanish flames.
Goal 2: Implement a stronger Morning Meeting routine. While I currently hold a Morning Meeting time in my classroom, I feel it is lackluster when I consider all it could be. Presently, my students shake hands with their neighbor, practice making eye contact while giving a morning greeting, and sing a song. I see such benefit in all of the above but would like to accomplish even more good during this time.
The Morning Meeting book provides strategies to promote both a globally-minded and warm classroom community. It is my hope that those fifteen minutes of our school day may become infinitely more meaningful as we greet each other in a new language, delve into studies of character, and strengthen friendships.
Goal 3: Advise a robust Tech Ninjas Club. This fall, my school’s instructional technologist took a new job and left me in charge of his eight “Tech Ninjas.” He had been meeting with this club of upper elementary students once weekly for two years, teaching them basic troubleshooting techniques and coding skills.
Now that I am at the club’s helm, I would like to fine-tune the students’ leadership abilities and provide them the chance to host “STEM Friday’s” once monthly in the cafeteria. I envision a booth that features a different STEM challenge or activity each month, giving children in grades K-5 the opportunity to try their hands at something new. Of course, this would require that the Ninjas’ sensei have a firm grasp on what is up-and-coming, so I would like to commit myself to attending professional learning opportunities in the STEM field, whether the MACUL conference or Code.Org seminars.
The kind of teacher I always imagined I would be was approachable and warm. I would speak Spanish often, seek to bring the latest-and-greatest STEM tools to my classroom, foster a tightly-knit classroom family.
While I might have the “approachable and warm” part down, it is my hope that the rest follow as I pursue my own learning goals.