I’m all about setting an attainable goal for myself each year that’ll help me be a better leader. This year, my goal is to improve staff morale by recognizing teacher and support staff achievements—whether it’s a shout out in the Monday Memo or a quick note in their mailbox. I read a quote that really resonated with me: “A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected”. What’s your goal for the new school year? I go back to work on Monday, so I’m getting mentally prepared.
Yep, too bad my district doesn't see that. My goal is to survive and get to May and be closer to being vested.
I wish my current principal would have these goals. I'm sorry to say but this past year we got a principal who is condescending, demeaning, not a good leader, not receptive to suggestions or change, and doesn't know what he's doing, doesn't know what we're doing (independent study teachers) and is afraid of making any decisions. He treats women much worse than men. None of us feel appreciated. His boss got fired for his mistakes (and she was a great leader and very well liked, because she appreciated us), we have 1 teacher quit (without even a job lined up) and 2 teachers asked to be reassigned to a different school. Actually for 1 position 4 teachers asked. (we're a small school with not that many teachers, so this is a big turnover. I think we're still looking to fill 2 positions. So my goal this year is to focus on my job, enjoy my students and stay away from him as much as possible, which were the same goals last year lol. I do stand up for myself when I feel talked down to or mistreated and I did that last year, I just can't help myself, so we bumped heads along the way, but I don't care. Having said that I will be very happy to go back to work, and now knowing the situation I won't be confused or feeling stupid when he talks down to me (he's a narcissist so he's very manipulative). I think the most important trait of a leader is to lead his people, and that can only be done by appreciating them, earning their respect because the leader is competent and decisive. But appreciation, true, genuine appreciation goes a long way, people will do anything for you.
My goal is to successfully transition into first grade after several years working with 2-5. I’m excited for the change, but the little ones make me a tad nervous.
I am going to be transitioning to a new position. My goal is to stay positive since I know the transition will be tough & to improve my classroom management skills. I also want to create more fun + engaging lessons for the kids. I also want to have a more organized classroom. I am going to be spending some $ this year on quality storage containers with lids, etc. so my classroom can be more organized. I used a ton of stuff from the dollar tree to organize this year and I realized I needed less things to organize, but better quality.
My goal is to make sure I'm only doing MY job and not doing everyone else's jobs. People tend to not do what they're supposed to do and it trickles down to me. Well, no more. Sorry, Charlie! Do you job!! I have enough to do.
Some of you all on here I wish I could meet for a drink one day! I swear I used to wonder if this went on at other people's schools!
Same here. I'm back to work Monday, too. Just based on the emails I've gotten while away, there's so much to be done. I think my biggest goal since this will be my first year as VP I really just want to try and have a successful year for our students and staff.
I aim to really strengthen my reading instruction. I am going to enjoy not being a first-year anymore. Granted, a second year is not much, but I will like loosing the label.
I think you started a thread like this last year, YTG. I checked out my old goals and they were: "Aug 6, 2018 - 1. I'm mentoring a student teacher this year. My first goal is to do a great job of introducing him/her to the profession. 2. Help my school's math department develop and reach meaningful goals. We haven't set annual departmental goals before, but I'm hoping we do so this year. I am department chair so most of the responsibility for whether this happens or not is mine. 3. My student's SBAC scores were reasonable this year, but students who came to me at Level 1 tended to leave at Level 1. I want to reduce that number by at least 25%. (I don't have my class lists yet, so I'm not sure what those numbers are.) I want to improve my interventions for my students who are seriously struggling in math." About two days after I wrote this our Principal was promoted away from our site, and that was the start of a very difficult year. I struggled with #1 as there were a lot of distractions, though I do think my student teacher will be a successful teacher. #2: The department stayed strong despite the drama, and we did meet and do some peer observations. Only a few people set their own goals, though we spent some PD time on that process. #3: My Level 1 numbers went down by about 10% rather than 25%. I ended up so unhappy that I have transferred to a high school math position. My goals for this year: 1. I have 4 sections of Geometry and only 1 of Algebra 1. I want to make sure that I do a good job of teaching that single Algebra 1 section. 2. I am teaching 2 sections of EL Geometry, so I really want to do a good job of making the concepts clear to students who are English Learners. 3. Love my job again. (This is probably the most important one.)
I'm going into a new position as a permanent general education teacher. I have 6/7/8 ELA in a VERY rough school, but one that has a second year principal really trying to make things better. My goal is to give myself grace as I create 3 different classes from scratch. Rome wasn't built in a day. (A year?!) I'm super excited even though the change will be so much more work.
Yesterday, during my prep time, I went to track down some dimwit who never responded to my email from Friday. Long story short, this person was supposed to do something and fwd the information to another person to create an important student document that NEEDS to be in the classroom at all times (summer school started July 9th so you can see why this is a problem). Why do *I* have to track people down to do their jobs???? I got a call from the middle man that this problem has been going on for months. UMMMM...why?????
My goals are to be successful in differentiating in my EL cluster classes, and to integrate more strategies to support student academic and scientific discussions.
Yea, it used to be 4 years but that was ages ago. Oh well, I'm knocking on the door. As far age 60, well, I'll probably work until I can start SS (62), but at least I know when I leave my current employer I'll have a pension coming once I hit 60. Have to find the silver lining in things as I work in a complete hellhole, so I'm done once vested!
Survival - and I’m not being negative. We have a new principal, a new superintendent, and a new schedule, so adjusting to all of the changes will be important.
Nothing shameful about survival! Last year my official approved goal was survival (I had changed schools)
A lot of work to do this coming year to help my school. We haven't met growth in five (looks like it'll be six when scores are all back) years. Not good. It's a great school, but we've got to get back on track. We're also identified as struggling in some key areas beyond that, so more work to do. As a veteran teacher, department chair, member of the SIT, and now a member of our district's new curriculum council, I take this very seriously. We also have a new superintendent, and he's really shaking things up quite a bit. This has a lot of people worried (and retiring, LOL), but I think it needs to happen. Unfortunately, it's happening with less teachers and money. My department lost a position this past year (and our school lost two more core positions), so we now only have 3 teachers teaching all four Englishes (on-level and honors). Class sizes will be much larger. I teach one of the two subjects used to determine our school's growth (and I'm the only one who teaches it), so I feel tremendous pressure. Basically, if my classes don't meet growth, the entire school suffers for it. All that said, I'll do what I can, but I'm not losing sleep or sanity over damn test scores. I'm also really focused on reinvigorating our school's Beta Club. Going to try to go to the state convention for the first time ever this year, and do some other great things. It's going to be a good year!
My goal this year is teamwork. I'm pretty easy going in pretty much all aspects of my life but when it comes to teaching for some reason I like to do everything my way. This wasn't much of an issue the last few years because I was the only teacher in my classroom and I was the only teacher teaching the classes I was teaching. (Yay no PLC meetings) However this year things got shaken up and I will have one inclusion class with a teacher in the room with me and that change led me to teaching the same class as two other teachers. This will be all new to me because I haven't had an inclusion class in 6 years and that didn't go well (parapro who tried to tell me how to do things...) but I'm at a completely different school than I was then. I like the inclusion teacher on a personal level. They always seemed friendly when I see them in the hallway but this will be a huge difference for me this year. I'm trying to go into everything with an open mind but as school gets closer I can tell I'm more nervous about all this than I thought I would be when I was told about this at the end of last school year.
My goal is to find some balance but I'm starting to think I'm just not wired for balance. I would like to get up at 6 and do 1/2 an hour of anything for myself (yoga, a quick run, physio exercises) with the goal of being at school for 7:30. I would like to do something other than lie on the couch and think about school obsessively when I get home and I would like to have a regular bedtime routine where I was in bed with a book by 9 pm so I can be asleep by 10.
I'm working on the same thing this year. I've tried it in years past, but I usually let my anxiety about work take over. I've found that it's helpful to set reminders on my phone, use the "screen time" settings on my phone (an iPhone), and write out my morning and evening schedule, down to the minute, to help me meet my target times of starting my morning workout/yoga and getting in bed on time.
I’m stressing myself out over new technology since we are abandoning Google Classroom. I’ve decided that my goal is to remain positive and reach out to more parents with positive messages.
My goals-Increase positive parent communication (good notes home and phone calls), get better at asking for help rather than burning myself out.
I have a lot of goals. I'm moving from first grade self contained (with no state testing) to fifth grade ELA/SS with state testing. I've heard the group I'll have is a rough one. My goals include implementing classroom management with my partner teacher so students have the same expectations in both classrooms, building relationships with my students, and honestly having a better strategy for myself to manage my stress. I'm feeling overwhelmed already and nervous to take on this challenge, but I'm also excited for the change. I was pretty unorganized last year so that's definitely something I need to change.
YTG, good question. I am remaining out of admin for another year - my choice. This year, my goal is to keep my own joy, and keep everyone from losing their joy. As teachers, we always arrive with our own goals, only to find them upended by the admin's new goals. We are a private school in an accreditation year. (If you don't know what that entails, it reads way more work for every teacher and some extra stress). I have spent an inordinate amount of time on the accreditation team over the summer. It is a joy killer sometimes. So, my goal is really a Bible verse. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. I Peter 2:17 For me, this means that I will endeavor to treat everyone I encounter with love and respect, including whiners, and those who complain without merit. I will do my best to live by the principles of the Bible with regard to kindness and generosity and helpfulness and giving of self, and I will do my best to respect my administration members without regard to the opinion of others.
The best goal I finally came up with was .... STAY IN MY OWN LANE! Basically, I focussed on ME and MY kids and MY classroom. I tend to get social and chatty. Then say YES and get involved and overwhelmed. Not saying that I was snobby or didn't help when others asked, but I certainly stayed in my lane and it helped sooooo much. Another goal...I was always the first person to arrive in the morning so I loaded the copy machine with paper. I felt it was a random act of kindness.
That's another goal I have. To be one of the first people in the building in the morning! The copy machines are usually pretty full anyway so I wouldn't have to always do that but at least I won't have to wait in line to use the copier. We had 2 but now we're down to 1 and who knows when it will be working on any particular day LOL
Last year was probably the toughest of my career; student apathy, defiance and confrontation wore me out physically and emotionally. This sums up my goal for the upcoming year:
I'm moving to a new city (well, back to an old city which I'm very excited about), a new school, and a new position. I've taught self-contained special education the last 3 years, and this year I'll be teaching grade 2-3 science and K-3 enrichment, both of which are new to the building this year and which I'm basically planning from scratch. Fun but sometimes overwhelming! I started out teaching life as a middle school science teacher and loved science but not the age group so I think it's good to be a fun fit. Goals for the school year: 1) Buy a house. Preferably soon! 2) Try not to worry too much about getting through all the material I think I *should* get through. Make an honest assessment of what's realistic to get through in the time I have my students. (3 times a week for 35 minutes) Take some time at the end of every week to really reflect on what worked well, what should be changed, what can be lost completely. In the past, I've sometimes been very good at that and sometimes not so much. 3) Get and stay organized. I had the luxury the last few years of having an awesome TA whose natural organization balanced out my natural disorganization. I don't have her this year, and I'm in charge of pretty much all the science stuff - equipment, kits, curriculum stuff, etc. So I want to try and stay on top of that. My goal is to leave the room/space organized every Friday.
