It's Not Just Students Who Should be Setting 'Back To School Goals'

Goal Setting for Teachers

One of my favorite activity to do with students in the fall is to do some brainstorming about goals and the importance of setting and realilzing goals.  There are many great goal setting worksheets here that are suitable for grades 1 through to adult. However, what about us and educators? We too need to think about what we can do to become more effective to ensure that our students reach their potential. Have you thought about some back to school goals? What would they look like? How will you get there? I asked a few colleagues and here is what they told me.

1. I will eliminate busy work. (Great, how? What will you do instead? Daily?)

2. I will improve my classroom management skills. (How? When? What does it look like? By when? What will you do when you encounter barriers?)

3. I will use evidenced based practice in my literacy program. (How? With which resources? How will you measure this goal? When will  you know you've reached this goal?)

4. I will focus on critical literacy? (How? When? Why? How will you know that it's working?)

5. I will improve the way I teach math. (How? What will you need? What will tell you that you've reached your goal? What does improving math teaching look like?)

Goal setting requires a great deal of thinking it through. To ensure you're on the right track, fill in the goal setting worksheet which forces you to think critically about your own goals.

Yours in education,