August 2, 2012

• Goal-setting versus ambition…..

  So, here I sit, looking at the calendar and at my to-do list and realizing that there is no way the two will ever meet.

  One of the things I have discovered about myself is that I am great at making to-do lists and very bad and executing them.  Well, so long as you do not count crumbling them up and pitching them into the wastebasket as “executing” them.

  Being an educator means that planning tools are a major part of your work life.  We begin each year with the district calendar (which tells us how to plot and plan our major work around scheduled holidays), our building calendar (which lets us know further interruptions due to testing schedules, etc) and then we are charged with creating planning tools for our classrooms (which let our students know what is coming, students and parents know when things are due, and, in some instances, places our planning in public sites for the public to see how we are working).  So when it comes to planning, we educators have all the tools and lots of practice using them.

  And then there’s the ambition issue.

  I’m going to use some Olympic sports as examples here.

  First of all, there are the individual sports.  We educators are gymnasts who balance everything in a small area (balance beam), make daring leaps to get everything done (floor exercise), satisfy the administration while entertaining/educating the students (uneven bars) and then sometimes jump and twist to improve our skills (pommel horse).  Of course, there is a team score (standardized testing).  Any stumbles are public immediately.

  Next, we need to have a pentathalon attitude-looking down the barrel of data to see the target and adjust accordingly (the pistol shooting part), thrusting and parrying with students to achieve learning (the fencing part), working within a system of copy machines that fail, snow days, and fire drills (the swimming upstream part), the performances for visitors, administrators, parents, press and consultants wandering through our classrooms (the show jumping part), and the dash from day one to the last day to get it all done (the cross country run).

  Often we work with our co-teachers in relays (information, student scores, etc).  Some relays are daily, others are year-long…..

  Sometimes we manage to have fun (badminton, table tennis, synchronized swimming).

  But all of it takes ambition.

  Just like athletes train, educators do as well.  We begin with gathering all the knowledge to teach our subjects.  Then we add to that practice, practice, practice.  Then we re-examine our efforts, study our results and retrain to do even better.  We have days that are better than others.  We have days when we limp from the field wondering why we ever thought we were good at this and still other days when the imaginary gold medal is hanging from our necks.  The medal days easily cancel out the self doubt.

  This is the time of year when seasoned educators look at the coming year as a challenge and as another opportunity to do great things.  The opening ceremony will be the first day of school and the closing ceremony the last day as the kids leave.  In between will be days at the training table, events that challenge our efforts and crowds who are very interested in what we are doing.  It may not be a parade of nations as much as it is a parade of subjects, but you get the idea.

  Well, I’ve got to go.  It’s time to begin putting the goals down on paper for another year…..

   

   

  • 10:04 am
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