This past summer the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament was hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Forty eight countries from around the world competed in the once every four years event widely considered to be the most watched sporting event in the world. The championship game between Spain and Argentina was estimated to have over 1.5 billion viewers!
It has always amazed me to see the passion football (soccer) fans around the world have for “the beautiful game.” And when a goal is scored the celebrations can be legendary. You may have heard the announcer screaming “Gooooaaalll!!!!!”
So as I thought about a topic for this post, the topic of goals is on my mind. Not just soccer goals. But goals in general.
Summer is a time when kids are in camp, families are enjoying time together, and teachers are charging their batteries, knowing that in a few short weeks the school year will begin.
Teachers are not only preparing their lessons. They are setting goals for each unit (what do I want my students to know, to be able to do, and to feel by the end of this unit?). And they are outlining goals and benchmarks for the year (this is where my students should be by the end of the year). They may also be setting personal growth goals for themselves (ex. Using AI, Differentiating instruction…).
But what about setting individual goals for each student? Granted, the teachers haven’t met their students yet, and don’t know them well enough to set individual goals. But if we’re going to give each student a report card and have a parent-teacher conference in a few months, shouldn’t there be a goal that we are working towards? It’s one thing to be able to compare students to their peers in order to measure their progress. But success shouldn’t only be measured in comparison to others. It should be seen in relation to how far the individual has come and how hard they have worked.
If parents and teachers met a few weeks into the school year to set SMART goals for each child, and then focus on that growth plan in future meetings, you could then measure their personal growth. At the end of the year not every student will have hit the same benchmarks. Some might be a little behind or ahead of the standard. But every student should be able to see growth and progress.
This is true for staff and for organizations as well. We may have certain standards and values that are consistent for all. But it is important to set annual goals for growth. This is what it means to always have a growth mindset.
At JES, we set individual goals each year for each employee, as well as annual goals for the year. Last year, for example, we had a big focus on AI, training both school leaders and our staff on how to think about and integrate these tools. And this fall we will be expanding this initiative to students with our “AI and Middot Hackathon” contest. We are launching a series of educator lunch n’ learns in Day Schools and a cohort of Congregational School educators who want to take their teaching to the next level. We have built a Community Job Board into our website where schools can post open positions and educators can find them. And we will be conducting a Community Needs Assessment in order to analyze trends in our educational community and identify the areas where JES can be most supportive going forward.
Like all goals, we will measure progress and try different strategies to meet our objectives. And no matter what happens, we will be able to look back at the end and see how far we have come.
As we look back on this school year next spring, may we each see the progress we have made towards our goals and celebrate together.
