"Live in the day," I hear friends and colleagues say.
I hear those words, but to move forward also takes vision and self-coaching, planning and goals, outreach and reflection.
Where are you going? Where do you hope to be a year from now? How will you get there?
I continually chart the path, reflect, revise, and move forward. Sometimes the plans work, and sometimes they don't. But I find that the forward movement profits from reflection and planning.
Last year, I had many goals.
The first goal was to teach in invigorating, up-to-date ways that reflect the research and result in good standardized scores too. It appears that I mostly met that goal. Now, keep in mind that to get good scores takes far more than the effort of one teacher--good scores are the mix of teaching and parenting efforts from birth, the efforts of multiple educators during the school year, a child's effort and ability to learn, and some serendipity too--how did the child feel that day, was the environment conducive to doing well, and more.
Teaching well is also dependent upon multiple factors. I work in a school system that has the best tools for learning, terrific educators, and considerable community support for high quality education. Those factors matter a lot when it comes to teaching well. For my own part, I felt like I spent a considerable amount of time embedding new standards into worthy, child-centered learning design, the kind of design that engages and empowers student learning. Therefore students were engaged and happily learning most of the time most days.
I also had the goal of meaningful collaboration, and I'm still researching that goal as I find that school structure and routines still challenge collaboration mostly due to time constraints, school structure, roles, and the large number of educators who need to collaborate with each other to serve children well. I'm not sure about what the best structures and efforts are for optimal collaboration in schools, and this year my goal is to collaborate when I can, and to also make substantial time for observation and reflection related to these questions: When does collaboration result in meaningful student learning? Who are the most successful collaborators, and what do they do? How do we define meaningful collaboration in schools? What does good collaboration look like in schools, and what is the result of that collaboration? What structures support optimal collaboration? Our system has made good progress in this regard, but as in what seems like most schools today, there is still room for growth.
My third goal was professional learning, and that goal was easily met with the large myriad of professional learning experiences available online and off. Today, that's an easy goal to meet. In fact the challenge is prioritizing with respect to the details of this goal.
So what do I hope to achieve in the school year ahead? I'll look back to this post next year at this time to see what happened.
First, I hope to continue to focus on the details with regard to teaching well. I want to spend considerable time designing learning experiences with and for students that embed standards, utilize multiple engaging tools, and empower students as life long learners who have significant skill, knowledge, and concept with which to keep learning. I am passionate about this area of learning and teaching and know this will be time consuming, but not too challenging.
Second, with regard to working with my team, colleagues, and educators near and far, I want to think more and read more about optimal collaboration when it comes to teaching and learning. I want to look for ways to collaborate well so that children's experience of school is developed with strength and promise. I want to focus on collaboration with student learning as the focus. Therefore this collaboration will mostly center on my work with the teachers and leaders who are invested in my students' progress and development.
Also, I want to continue to learn. First, I want to learn the background knowledge related to the new curriculum I'll be teaching next year. That means lots of reading and study as the curriculum in the areas of science have changed substantially, and the pedagogy related to good math teaching continues to develop. Often organizations don't realize the substantial study that comes with changing grades or subject areas. To teach well means that you need to have a strong knowledge base in the teaching area, and every grade level has significant learning points and concepts to grasp.
Finally, I need to preserve time for family, friends, fun, and personal goals and efforts. Teaching is a limitless proposition requiring that you set aside time for other aspects of life. Teachers who don't do that becomes dull, boring, and even resentful at times. I don't want that to happen.
So as you note my goals, you're probably thinking, more of the same. Yes, more of the same, but like all good goals, goals like friendship, love, contribution, and care, the most important goals are simple in nature, but challenging to meet when it comes to the depth possible. To teach well is a process of learning, experiencing, and trying out new efforts and ideas--you're never there, and that's both the joy and challenge of the job. Onward.
