The mystery of professional goal setting

After two weeks of professional development, both formal and informal, I have a serious need to re-focus. I am going to Great Barrier Island for five weeks at the beginning of Week 4 and I need to clarify what I want to have achieved by the end of this year. When I get back to normality, Term 3 will be all but over!
Sure I have my professional development goals that we develop as part of our professional learning at my school, but I'm talking about those very personal, career focused goals that are specific to your own unique trajectory.
I talk to my students a lot about SMART goals and get them to write their own. I often demonstrate how to write these goals. But I've never truly modeled this skill by sharing my goal setting with them. That's because I don't walk the walk - I very rarely articulate my goals in a formal manner. I write to-do lists and I make progress in my professional life, but I am really starting to feel that it's all a bit helter-skelter.

There are a couple of reasons why I don't set goals in this way. The first and most obvious reason is just laziness - who can be bothered? As I said before, I get (most) stuff done anyway, so why bother? 
The second reason is a little less comfortable: who likes failure? If I articulate a goal, especially a SMART one, what happens if I don't achieve it? Time to do away with that kind of thinking, conscious or otherwise. 
The last reason I've been pondering on is one that I suspect many of us share, so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. I have a theory that not setting goals in a committed fashion is a very Kiwi thing to do. To commit to goals and 'declare' them, if you will, is to communicate the assumption that you will achieve these goals. It's a bit tall-poppy-ish. I mean, I don't want people to think I'm precocious or an upstart! (Oh wait, too late...) So it's time to do away with that kind of thinking, too. Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei - there's a reason I include this at the end of every blog post.

And this is why I used the word 'mystery' in the title of this post. Professional goal setting is a bit mysterious because (if we do formally set goals) we often write them on our own or in consultation with one mentor and we aren't in the habit of announcing these goals for all to see. It's time that we did. It's time that we shared our goals, both realistic and lofty. Think of the conversations that could be sparked, the professional development that colleagues might be prompted to engage in. Imagine if everyone at your school had a series of goals that were public and celebrated, from the beginning teacher through to your principal. Don't you want to know your principal's goals? Your head of department's? It's time to do away with the mystery!

On that note, below are the four goals that I have clarified today. I have just started using a to-do list app which will see each goal broken down into tasks and mile-stones. The process of my first and most time-consuming goal, to apply for an eFellowship, will enable me to determine my overall professional development goal, my current 'mission statement' if you will, which is what this goal setting is all about. What's important for me to remember is that I have not chiseled this in stone. I might read the application for the eFellowship and decide that next year is a better time for me to apply. I might add more goals or tweak the ones I currently have, and that's not cheating. It's ensuring that goals remain achievable and relevant.

Goals	Specific	Measurable	Achievable	Relevant	Timely
1.   By September 8th I will have applied for the 2015 eFellowship through CORE Ed in order to ‘inspire transformational educational practice through inquiry’	·   Apply for eFellowship	·   Application can be found at CORE Ed's website ·   Specific milestones created and tracked through Todoist	·   Six weeks until due date, 3 of which will be spent on GBI ·   Support will be sought from HL, GU, HS, NO, RFO, AP	·   Will encourage me to focus my professional development	·   Due 8th September
2.   Write a blog entry minimum of once a week (excluding summer break) in support of Registered Teacher Criteria	·      Weekly blog post	·      Review at end of year by looking at frequency of posts ·      Set as weekly task on Todoist	·      Posts take an average of 1 hour to create	·      Accumulating evidence for registration ·      Encourages reflection ·      Raise professional profile ·      Informs my practice	·      Due end of Term 4
3.    Spend minimum of 1 hour a week reading blog posts/articles/Twitter feed & reflect in writing submitted to blog (excluding summer break)	·      Professional reading ·      Weekly blog review	·      Review at end of year by looking at frequency of posts ·      Set as weekly task on Todoist	·      Contain time spent on professional reading so that it is focused and purposeful	·      Accumulating evidence for registration ·      Encourages reflection ·      Raise professional profile ·      Informs my practice	·      Due end of Term 4
4.    Participate in live Twitter chats	·      #edchatNZ #engchatnz	·      Storify live chats & review own participation	·      Scheduled weekly/bi-weekly at specific times ·      Unable to do while on GBI	·      Accumulating evidence for registration ·      Encourages reflection ·      Raise professional profile ·      Informs my practice	·      Scheduled weekly/bi-weekly at specific times

What are your reactions to my thoughts on goal setting? Are you having a similar experience? Or perhaps this is a strength of yours, your department or your school? If you have held back from sharing your goals, what is it that has stopped you?

Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei

Pursue excellence – should you stumble, let it be to a lofty mountain

How to teach creative writing

Ha ha! I fooled you! I know nothing, John Snow. But after hearing about the Radio New Zealand National Creative Writers Panel this idea has been cogitating in my mind.
Interviewer Wallace Chapman invited questions from the public to be put to Eleanor Catton, Robert Sullivan and Daren Kamali, and I emailed in the following:

I am a secondary school English teacher at Trident High School in Whakatane, Eastern Bay of Plenty. As a teenager I wrote a lot of fiction and attended classes at The School for Young Writers in Christchurch. I have only one friend from my teenage years who wrote as a teen and has become a professional writer. I know so many people who loved to write but lost their zest for literature and language arts, possibly as a result of their experiences of English in the classroom.

Nurturing creative writing in the secondary school setting is a challenge, especially when trying to work within the bounds of the NZ Curriculum and NCEA. I would like to ask Eleanor, Robert and Daren how they feel secondary English teachers can nurture our young writers in a constructive way that will not stifle their creativity.

I was obviously thrilled that they answered my question because my name was said on air (!!!) but I also found their thoughts to be incredibly helpful.



'The Manukau Institute of Technology has just opened its new campus which will see students learning in a fully cloud based environment.'

If you don't have time to listen to the interview (although my question is in the first 15 minutes so...) then I will gladly paraphrase what these authors have wisely suggested:


When teaching creative writing, remember that...

1. There are no rules
2. There are no right answers
3. Work should not be assessed

Let's assume we can handle numbers one and two. If you read and engage with a broad range of texts you will know that the 'rules' of the English language can be bent and broken. And if you encourage creativity in your class then you will know that (while what is deemed to be creative by one may not be by another) a dichotomy of right and wrong does not fit in the English classroom.

It is number three, Catton's suggestion, that English teachers could struggle with, and for obvious reasons, but I think it is a worthwhile suggestion. 

At this point I think it is important to bear in mind the difference between work being 'assessed' and receiving feedback. Assessment for Learning encourages the use of feedback as opposed to grading work, and there is a vast repository of research that shows providing formative grades such as B+ or Merit can hinder students' growth. Sylvia Plath knew what she was talking about when she wrote "The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt."

So here is my compromise. Not only should we continue to provide constructive feedback on students' work, we should also provide the option of having the finished work assessed. If we stop talking about students' creative writing in terms of assessments and credits, they may actually embrace the creativity more readily. Given that AS91101 is now a portfolio assessment that students work on throughout the year, I think this approach is not only beneficial for the students but for us as markers. Steering away from NAME grades at every draft will enable us to forget about the marking schedule for a while and focus on guiding students to learn and grow as creative beings. Some students may fear that a piece of work they have poured their heart and soul into will only earn an Achieved or Merit due to their ability to spell or correctly place a comma. If we allow them to 'withdraw' a particular piece from summative assessment we are protecting their very fragile self esteem, and for good reason.

And yes, I can already hear you say "what about the student who never bloody hands in anything? Surely they can't be allowed to opt out of having work assessed!" Well, I have two responses. Firstly, perhaps this new approach might encourage more submissions from our reluctant writers. And secondly, I'm the first to admit that some students just need a good kick up the bum and commonsense would dictate that kids who submit the bare minimum aren't going to have much say in what does and doesn't get summatively assessed.

I would love to hear from those of you who write creatively (whether you share it with anyone or not!). What could your secondary teachers have done to encourage your creative spark? Did they ever do anything that stifled your voice?

Here is a kitten so you don't have to look at my giant face on your Facebook feed.

Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei

Pursue excellence – should you stumble, let it be to a lofty mountain

My Flipping Blog

Robert Frost's words “I am not a teacher, but an awakener" resonate deeply with me. Before starting my teaching diploma I was not entirely convinced teaching was the best career for me. I thought I was too extroverted, not conventional enough, and I didn't think I would find it all that satisfying. It turns out the introversion and difference don't matter at all, and it's rare that don't have moments of immense satisfaction during my working day. 

The moments that satisfy me the most are the moments when I awaken my students; some literally, most metaphorically. I open minds and spark inquisition. I provoke reflection and advocate for the devil. I love to see students debate, puzzle of a concept with determination, pen an essay that articulates their unique perspective.

But there is the flip-side. The moments of boredom, discouragement, apathy. And unfortunately, these moments are all too prevalent. 

But! I am an optimist! In the classroom, anyway. Many students find me irritatingly upbeat and try to bargain with my unfaltering high expectations. And I refuse to give in. I'm the adult! I'm a professional! This is my job and I will do it well.

But... teenagers are persistent. The never-ending struggle between our high expectations and their lack of expectations can be mind-numbing. And that is why the current focus of my professional development is on my small Year 10 class. There are around 15 of them, but I usually only have 10 or so each lesson. There reading comprehension is a little low, but not terrible. Their writing skills are a concern. Their behaviour and focus is difficult to manage. But the main reason they are in such a small class is not because they are 'cabbage' or 'foundation' or naughty. It is due to their complete disengagement from their own education. They have shutdown. My job mission is to awaken them.

With the support of several highly skilled and knowledgeable colleagues, my goals are as follows:
1. By the end of the year each student in the class will care about their education.
2. By the end of the year each student in the class will have made measurable progress in their comprehension and writing skills.

Once our plan for these students has been developed, I will be able to make a goal as to how much 'measurable progress' each student ought to make in that time and how it will be measured.

These goals may be lofty, but it is our responsibility to practice what we preach and have high expectations of our own capabilities.