Are you better today than yesterday?

"THE KEY IS NOT TO PRIORITIZE WHAT'S ON YOUR SCHEDULE,

BUT TO SCHEDULE YOUR PRIORITIES." - Stephen Covey

Happy New Year everyone!  I believe all of you (i.e. all of the schools and instructional coaches I support) are officially back in school today, so I thought I’d kick things off with a little goal-setting contemplation. You see, my husband gave me a Full Focus Planner as a Christmas gift this year and (being the organizational nerd that I am) I was pretty excited to see the assistance this book had to offer for accomplishing my goals. Specifically, I appreciate the way each day of the daily planner encourages you to write down what actions you’ll take that day IN SERVICE OF YOUR GOALS. You know, so you have no other choice but to accomplish them!?  It put into perspective for me, though, why it’s so critical to clearly articulate your goals. Without the initial clarity, how will you know what you’re striving to accomplish each day!?

So, I thought I’d share with you a little look into the structure this one planner uses (you can view the 14min video here on how the creator of the planner, Michael Hyatt, fills it out as well). I appreciated the nudge to acknowledge when I had an “achievement goal” versus a “habit goal.”

Achievement goals (which focus on a one-time accomplishment) might be:

• Incorporate one community partner (that isn’t a personal friend or relative) into a PBL/PrBL unit by March 1^st
• (For NTN educators) Give student’s feedback using audio/video with the “Feedback tool” in echo on three student submitted activities on my first project of the new semester.   
• (For NTN educators) Earn the “New Tech Implementer” Badge by April 1, 2018.

Habit goals (which focus on maintaining a practice) could look like: 

• Observe another colleague’s classroom for 10min, once a week, during a planning bell.
• Take a daily 5 minute walk with my co-teacher at lunch
• (For NTN educators) Complete one NTN Badging “accomplishment” per week

Then, as in true NTN fashion, you articulate your “why” behind each goal. Why is that goal important to you? What’s the motivator? Side Note: This actually had me thinking about how frequently (or infrequently) when have students articulate the motivators behind accomplishing their project goals as well. Examples to goals named above:

• I’m tired of artificial or fabricated project scenarios. I want my students to engage in learning that supports a real dilemma in the community! I also want to challenge myself professionally to begin networking in the community.
• It takes me FOREVER to give 150 individual students (written) feedback on each assignment so I usually give up. I don’t want to be a feedback-quitter and I want to give time-efficient feedback
• We have a lot of unique teaching styles on our campus and I want to learn from our own staff. I want to know how to support a specific student that seems to respond well to Mr(s) ______.
• I want/need to get to know my co-teacher outside of our classroom. I need a “pick-me-up” before entering 5^th bell!!
• I want to be able to participate in staff conversations about PBL/PrBL . I feel like I’ve done the same projects over and over and I’m ready to improve them! I want to earn my Professional Growth Points without scrambling to collect them at the last minute!

Next, identifying your starting points to the work. They don’t have to be super specific next steps (your students never come up with detailed ones during the project launch either)! BUT, name what will get you started on your journey. Examples:

• Ask the other teachers if they know someone in the field of ______ (related to my project scenario) that I might connect with.
• Watch this 5 min. video to learn now to give audio and video feedback in echo.
• Enroll in the NTN Badging Course in Echo (i.e. the NTN Learning Management System).  Choose one “accomplishment” to complete this week..the “Project Design Level 1” looks like a good one! ;)
• Decide what I want to see in a colleague’s classroom.  Ask a colleague if I can sit in for 10min to observe ____.
• Ask my co-teacher if they’d be up for a walk & talk between lunch and 5^th bell.

Finally, after naming what reward you’ll give yourself for achieving your goal and/or building your new habit, then get after it! What are the top 3 things you could do each day that will help you accomplish those goals? Write it down (or email it to me if you’d like an accountabilibuddy!) As per my husband, “commitment is what you do when no one is looking” which is following through is the hardest part….also why he chose this gift for me. We started last year with a goal to declutter our home, room-by-room. And as soon as his students went back to school and I started supporting all of you again (it might have been January 4^th), we didn’t get beyond the kitchen. And by June, even that was a wreck!

So, I ask you…. What do you want to achieve professionally over the next 6 months (until early June)? What do you want to get better at over the next 6 months? And how might you/we make that happen?!   I’d also love to know how you support your students in setting their own learning (perhaps “habit”) goals this semester, and for sure…how do you support their ability to name and accomplish their project/problem goals?   Don’t be a hypocrite and ask them to do it without ever practicing goal-setting and attainment yourself! Let’s find a structure that works for you!

Peace, love, and lots to say after 2 weeks away!

Sarah