Like many professions, each year teachers create professional goals that they would like to accomplish for the year. Establishing these goals is meant to spur the development of a set of professional skills. Periodically throughout the year, teachers meet with supervisors to discuss progress on the goals and to collaboratively problem-solve any items that are hindering accomplishing of the goals.
Last year at my final 'goal progress' meeting, I met with other teachers to discuss our goals and talk about ideas for goals for the present school year. I had the BEST idea for a goal...it was the kind of idea that makes you so excited to get started on accomplishing it! What a way to love your job.
Here is what I wrote:
"Goal : To develop a thematic tradition in the middle
school science classroom of “Celebrating Science” and to begin bringing that
theme outward into the community.
Steps I will take to achieve that goal:
- To develop lessons,
materials or events in science class that celebrate science. For example: to create special thematic
lab experiments and classroom decorations for Halloween; to organize
events that celebrate the astronomical phenomena of the changing of the
seasons, lunar or solar eclipses, milestones in science—like Newton’s
birthday, or to further develop events like last year’s Periodic Table of the Cupcakes or the Cell Cake Project.
- To build community
awareness and anticipation of the events with the school newsletters, parent
“awareness” email blasts and other media.
- To guide middle school
students to create ways of sharing the actual happening of the event with
younger students in the school. For
example, by visiting the classes and sharing the Periodic Table Cupcakes
with them after explaining what the project was all about and answering
questions from the younger students."
This entire goal can translate from teacher-ese into English as: "Spend your energy on how to have fun in science class!"
So this year, as I plan Halloween Science in the lab (Halloween falls on our extended-period lab day this year--Hooray!) I can have fun planning it...get really 'into it' and elaborate on it, develop it into something that excites even me! All the while, I know I am working on accomplishing a professional goal that I set for myself which adds to my feeling of satisfaction about it.
I absolutely love my job! (aka Best Science Teacher Annual Goal...Ever!)
