Friday, July 10, 2015

Changing Times: Goals Set & Met

In the last few posts, I’ve been discussing the inevitability of change as the new school year approaches. Previously, I’ve listed common pitfalls for change initiatives and how to avoid them. Research on change provides another important step to consider on the road to positive change: Short-term success.

Making sure short-term goals are set and met keeps the change process moving. Business literature talks about the importance of a “big win” within the first 60 days, and I’ve found the same holds true in schools. If teachers don’t see the “something new” making a positive difference by the end of the first term, momentum is likely to run out.

So, how will you measure success within the first two months? It doesn’t have to be a standardized test score. It could be a writing sample, an audio recording of students reading, or students’ visual representations of their mathematical thinking. The short-term goal needs to tie directly to the initiative itself and its long-term goals. If your goal is focused on PLC’s, an October faculty meeting could be dedicated to sharing products of their constructive work. Or, if your focus is on vocabulary word walls, you could do a classroom tour during the meeting, seeing how these walls have been put into practice across the grade levels.

However short-term successes are defined, find a way to celebrate them publicly. Success breeds success and it will keep the positive energy going!


This week, you might want to take a look at:

Getting the classroom ready? Save room for the children! Ideas for bulletin board borders by and for children:



Share this blog post about modeling to improve students’ writing:



Promote learning of academic vocabulary across academic areas by “catching words:”

Teaching chess builds students’ cognitive skills:



Understanding the games kids play to avoid failure:



That’s it for this week. Happy July!

No comments:

Post a Comment