I wrote a number of goals for the school year and posted them a while ago. Then I went to a training about writing SMART goals this Friday. I further discussed the idea with my sister, also a Massachusetts' teacher, the next day. After that I refined my goals from big and broad to tight and specific, and looked for and created ways to document evidence to show that I am moving towards my teaching goals.
The process seemed so difficult at first, and I thought, How can I cull all that I have to do into two simple, specific goals. But after great coaching from my sister, and the all day training, I was able to write the goals.
After writing the goals and creating an evidence document, I realized that my thinking about the goals, and actions related to those goals, had changed. I am much more specific now about what I need to do to move these students along with respect to their metacognition, strategies and effort so that they meet the spring goal.
I can also see how writing SMART goals has the potential to move entire schools forward with specific, action-oriented efforts to teach with best effect. Let's see what happens.
