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by Barb S. hs/ret
Mar 8, 2017
<h3><font color=brown>Delegate.
<i>~ Randy Pausch</i></h3></font>
It's been a hectic "day off" today. I started the day walking the first grader to school, then headed to the gym to spinning class for an hour (16.6 miles), got home in time fora team intervention meeting for the 4th grader, home in time to pick up dd to take her to a couple appointments and the store, dropping her off at home to get back...See MoreIt's been a hectic "day off" today. I started the day walking the first grader to school, then headed to the gym to spinning class for an hour (16.6 miles), got home in time fora team intervention meeting for the 4th grader, home in time to pick up dd to take her to a couple appointments and the store, dropping her off at home to get back home in time to take the 7th grader to her appointment(still here), then go to her favorite Mexican restaurant for supper, before heading home to take the golden retriever on her much looked forward to night walk, and THEN maybe some time to relax before bed. Who ever said they would. bored if they retired?
Looking forward to leaving town for a short vacation with the grandkids next week for spring break. Gotta get through this week first!
Keep movin', everybody!
by Chantel G.
Mar 7, 2017
Hello, I need to interview an ELL, ESL, or ELD instructor from a Title I school for my fieldwork experience requirement. If you can help me out, please let me know. Chantel
I think it is safe to say that little happens in life intentionally and efficiently without goals. Goals come in all shapes and sizes, and most all of us have them. They are personal, professional, educational, etc. For example, personal goals could be for weight loss. Professional goals may include Walmart’s target profits for the year. Educatio...See MoreI think it is safe to say that little happens in life intentionally and efficiently without goals. Goals come in all shapes and sizes, and most all of us have them. They are personal, professional, educational, etc. For example, personal goals could be for weight loss. Professional goals may include Walmart’s target profits for the year. Educationally, you may have a goal to achieve a 4.0 on your Master’s degree. Whatever the goal may be, however large or small it is, the goal itself is a critical component. Goals separate successful from unsuccessful teams and people.
Goals make people act, plain and simple. When you are invested in a goal, and I mean truly invested, every action and every choice drives you towards accomplishing that goal. This is something that I came to a realization of during my third year of teaching. I didn’t really have personal goals and I certainly didn’t have strong goals for my classroom, other than what our administration had given us. After seeing the transformation in my classroom after becoming goals oriented, I now such an advocate for putting a strong focus in setting them and seeing them through. I want to share with you the THREE goals that EVERY teacher should have in their classrooms.
You might hit yourself in the head after hearing how simple these goals are, but they are transformational. The three goals every teacher should have are:
Short-Term Goals Mid-Term Goals Long-Term Goals Short-Term Goals
Short term goals should be established so that they can be measured on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. For my classroom our goal was that 90&37; of our students would score a 70&37; or higher on their bi-weekly assessments. Other short term goals could include weekly tests, independent work scores, exit ticket scores, etc. Short term goals are essential because they allow students to be able to see growth on a shorter time scale. There are multiple purposes to these goals. One purpose is that these goals build confidence with students. Students who see growth, even if it is slow, are more likely to stay invested over the long haul. Another purpose of having these goals lies in the celebratory factor that they bring. Every time one of my classes reached on of these goals, we celebrated either by having a special event together or by enjoying a snack. These celebrations should be replicable on a weekly basis. The last reason why short-term goals are essential is because they allow for strategic tracking that guides interventions and re- teaching. This is a must in order to close any gaps that will certainly arise. This tracking also guides powerful conversations that teachers can have with students to motivate them to develop even further. Short term goals can be set class-wide, grade-wide, or even individually. The great thing about them is, you can develop competition amongst classes to see who outdoes the other.
Mid-Term Goals
These goals can often be the most overlooked goals, but provide an essential purpose. These goals should mirror your end of year goal, but should occur more often. For my classroom, this goal was reviewed three times during the year at the time of our benchmarks. The goal for our benchmark was to have 90&37; of students score a 70&37; or higher on their benchmark/interim assessment. This goal was once again celebrated if reached. The celebration was slightly larger and was something that my classrooms agreed upon months prior to the actual assessment. For example, if our weekly celebration was twenty minutes of dodgeball or a class game outside, then our mid-term celebration could be an ice cream party/mini movie and popcorn. This goal is essential because it provides students with an opportunity to see how their short term growths add up to a larger goal. Once again, I always tracked student progress at these marks and it guides all reteaching and reassessing that must happen. Additionally, I always pitted one homeroom against another to see who could perform best. Even my homerooms with struggling students improved because they wanted to get first, and certainly didn’t want to be last!
Long-Term Goals
By now, you can probably assume what this goal represents. This is the goal that happens once, maybe twice a year. For me, this was the goal we set for our end of year state assessment. 90&37; of my students needed to score a 70&37; or higher (56&37; was the passing STAAR score for 5th science, but I told the students 70&37;) on their STAAR Science Test. Long-term goals of course require the largest celebration and should be the end all piece that shows how yearlong growth leads to an accumulating success. The best/hardest part about this goal are the conversations that happen with students when we share our successes/short falls. For our students who met or exceeded this goal, these times are the ones that truly show why we teach. For our students who fell short of their goals, the conversations were difficult. But I can say that for most of them we were able to share how much they had truly grown throughout the course of the year. Without these goals, they wouldn’t have grown as much as they did.
Goals are a funny thing. They make you behave and make choices in a very guided way. You see when you have these three types of goals implemented in your classroom, everything you and your students do should build up to those goals. Here is the ah-ha piece of information about having these goals. If your students are consistently meeting short-term goals, then they should meet mid-term goals. If your students consistently meet mid-term goals, then they should meet long-term goals. It sounds very simple and it really is. Invest your students in these goals early, have them track their progress (this can happen at any grade level although it may vary), have conversations about growth, and celebrate! Goals build impeccable classrooms that are focused and efficient. Implement them in your classroom, or even your every day life. You WILL see a difference!
Thanks for reading and God Bless You! Come visit us at A-plusteaching.com
Rich
A-PlusTeaching
by Barb S. hs/ret
Mar 7, 2017
<h3><font color=green>Faith means believing the unbelievable, or it is nothing at all.
<i>~ G. K. Chesterton</i></h3></font>
How often throughout the year do paraprofessional nominations open?
by Elaine/ret/IN
Mar 5, 2017
Two walks today: 9460 steps. Spring is coming.
Elaine
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Teacher Chatboards
Elaine, I finished Ove this morning. For the first time in my life, I was laughing and crying at the same time I love books with such strong humanity (like 2 faves Nick Hornby and Ann Taylor). This is the kind of book I wish everyone would read.
Short ...See More