Setting SMART goals

A new year and goal setting go hand in hand. As teachers we tend to set ourselves a few goals as we move into a new school year. Often this is in the form of promising ourselves that we will do something that we didn't have time for last year, wanting to try a new ICT tool, wanting to up skill in some learning area, wanting to be more organised (that one is permanently on my list).

This year my goals range from SMART to more generalised.
- to keep a personal reflective blog weekly
- to start photo a day site for families
- run with my own version of a daily 5 reading program
- to develop an e-learning class philosophy and system

Already as I looked these goals up in my diary I realise that I already have neglected some, as they have fallen off the radar in the busyness that is term 1.

This gets me to thinking about goal setting with children in class. How valuable is it really? In the past I have tried goal setting, when it was part of our portfolios, and children wrote reading, writing and math goals. Inevitably children would write "I want to get better at..." And we would then work hard to create a SMARTer goal. As the weeks went on into term you would ask children to reflect on what their goal was for maths, and how they are going towards it, only to be greeted with blank stares or "My goal was to join my writing".

So, it is that time of the year again, to set goals or not. I'm all for kids knowing their next steps. Is that not the same as a goal? Or do we have to choose one of those next steps to work on at a time? Teachers then bring WALTs into the equation, they become mini goals for the lessons. Or do we as teachers try to teach to the children's goals? You can see why the unclear use of goals is confusing for children ( and quite honestly me to at times).

This year I want children to be reflecting in their e-portfolio against things they are working on, or trying to achieve. So I suppose that is goals. But I'm not sure if I want them to declare them from the start. To lock them in, since like me, 2 weeks later they may have a totally different focus that they have come across since.

Maybe I need to put it to the children, since it is them that are involved. I will set myself a goal to do this during the week and see what they have to say. Watch this space.