“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” -Antoine de Saint Exupery
I love everything about this quote. It sums up periods in just about everyone’s life. It answers the question...what do you want to be when you grow up? How many pounds do you want to lose? How much growth do you want to see in your students’ math scores?
Many staff meetings in the first month of school will be devoted to analyzing data to inform benchmark goals. With these goals for students teachers are often asked to submit their own professional goals to admin as well. I can look back at countless staff meetings over the years where I was asked to identify my goals for my students and for myself. I wrote these up. I submitted them. For the most part, that was the end of the story. Occasionally we as a staff were asked to remember what goals we had written...reflect on how we were doing.
I can’t remember being asked for a plan or being assigned a travelling companion.
The hard part about creating a plan for a journey such as this is that the adventure never just takes you between point A and point B. You can outline the waypoints but often the journey itself will fall prey to the needs of your students or of yourself. This is where a companion could be invaluable. The Samwise to your Frodo...being mindful of the new challenges they are your sounding board, helping you map out your next steps.
I could have used a Samiwise Gamgee. Being a conscientious teacher I planned lessons, role played what happens when another astronaut fills the last seat in a ten person space craft (You launch that puppy to the space station of course...the space station has a capacity of ten, ten person spacecraft naturally), collected anecdotal data, evaluated performance on quizzes. I retaught when necessary, surged ahead where possible, and differentiated for those who were still puzzled. Samwise could have been my sounding board, could have helped me reevaluate my route, and most importantly held me gently accountable for the goals I had set. In education we are often held accountable for the data we achieve...not whether we achieved the goal we had set...not whether our plan is crafted to get us to our goal...certainly not whether Lucy was able to grow two levels by the end of the year.
Likewise...no one ever asked if I read the professional books I wrote down. No one asked how I planned to squeeze that in in between being a wife, a mother, and a teacher. No one asked what I thought about the ideas I had read for that matter. No one certainly checked to see what impact those professional goals had in my classroom.
So, looking back, were they goals or wishes?
The goals I set for my students were never wishes. My plans may have evolved and changed over the span of weeks or in some cases days! I may have had to change my plan, modify it, seek additional resources. Their growth was tantamount. There was always a plan.
Did the goals I set for myself also receive the same careful planning and nurturing? If I were to be honest with myself I would have to say often but not always. I wince to think that some of these goals went unrealized because I lacked a plan or a critical friend..that perhaps they were just wishes.
This year is different.
Two weeks ago I met the #Sunchatbloggers and last Monday I participated in #Tosachat on Twitter where we engaged in the classic beginning of the year activity...a discussion on goal setting. Here’s the twist...the piece that would have put a unique spin on any goal I had ever deemed to set. I have companions on my journey. The #Sunchatbloggers have encouraged me to not only finish this piece but to be so bold as to post it. #Tosachat asked if we would like an accountability partner. You mean there would be someone checking in with me to see what progress I am making toward my goal? Cheering the successes? Helping me rethink the roadblocks? Well geez...if I am going to do all that and achieve my lofty goals...I guess I will need a plan. I can do that. I’ve done it before! I guess on Monday I didn’t just cast a wish into the universe. I guess I have a real goal.
I better get started on my plan….
What are your goals? Are they goals or wishes? Do you have a plan? What about a travelling companion? A new adventure awaits...best get started.