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| From http://raikenprofit.com/how-to-achieve-a-goal-7-steps/ |
As the summer comes to an end, I find myself in a reflective state. I'm heading into a new grade level as the team leader, and to say that I'm excited is an understatement. I have an incredible amount of ideas swirling in my mind, and now is the time to settle and decide what's the best course of action for my future students. Needless to say, this chapter came at an excellent point in my life because I'm creating an action plan for the year.
Chapter 4: Creating an Action Plan
"Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is the deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with the plan. " -Tom Landry
"I'm going to be like your own private makeover host in this chapter, offering you practical strategies and methods to help you and your students turn the goal you've articulated into real, visible progress." -Jennifer Serravallo
"I'm going to be like your own private makeover host in this chapter, offering you practical strategies and methods to help you and your students turn the goal you've articulated into real, visible progress." -Jennifer Serravallo
Serravallo just made a serious promise on the first page of this chapter by implying she can turn student goals into "real, visible progress". Having worked with student data for years, I found this claim hard to chew. The veteran teacher in me is thinking, "OK, let's see what I can get from this that I haven't already tried." While the learner in me is thinking,"I need to reevaluate my approach and see my errors because I know I've seen and tried a lot, but I know I have room to grow."
It's clear that the what and how steps of reaching a goal are critical, but I really like the specific questions Serravallo offers up to us on page 118 and the reminder of SMART:
1. How will I plan for repeated practice in terms of both strategies and instructional formats? 2. How will the teaching look over time-- who will be involved (i.e. intervention specialists, parents, service providers, etc.) and how long will it take?
3. How will I know when the goal has been met?
S-- specific
M-- measurable
A-- attainable
R-- realistic
T-- timely
She summarizes this information saying that the student should already have a specific and attainable goal, but now is the time to make it time-based, realistic, and measurable.
The next sections of the chapter are broken up as follows:
I. Planning for Practice Over Time-
II. Practice Over Time-
This is the part of the book that I'm sure I'll reference the most as the year progresses because I'll need it to actually make the plan. The veteran teacher in me thought, "Well, I've done this, but not in this format. I need to rethink my approaches." The learner in me said, "Thank goodness I can look at my formats and methods and reconsider the structures I have in place for my classes!"
As a group, we all enjoyed the Instructional Formats and Methods and Planning for Multiple Students and Across a Week sections. The resources and insight she offers on the structures and how to plan for them are the ideas we've all had before about instruction, but now, they are in writing, verbalized well. After I collect my data from my incoming students, I'll be sure to reflect upon the needs of the class and these structures so that I can be sure I set up a plan that's reasonable and sets not only the student up for success but me as well. This is also excellent information to bring to my team PLC as we start to track students' goals. The action plan is usually where we start to stand in the fork of the road and think, "Ok, I got the goal... now, how do I get there?"
This chapter is truly the icing on the cake for this book. There are simply too many good tidbits to share, and we all agreed that this would be where a bulk of our planning or preparation would be pulled from. It was even more exciting to know that we'll have Jennifer Serravallo's Reading Strategies book to help in the process too.
Speaking of her NEW book, I got mine last week! I was SO excited to come home and see it on at my doorstep. After looking over the book and talking with the group, we thought doing an edmodo group would be a better approach with this book since the book is literally strategies to try in the classroom. We decided that after we collect our data, set goals, and create an action plan that we'd share what we used and/or post our thoughts of each strategy. If you'd like to join the group, go here and click subscribe.
Thank you for being patient on this post! With the summer coming to an end, my family time is precious, and I put this off a day to roll around on the floor, make silly faces, and swim with my son yesterday.
It's clear that the what and how steps of reaching a goal are critical, but I really like the specific questions Serravallo offers up to us on page 118 and the reminder of SMART:
1. How will I plan for repeated practice in terms of both strategies and instructional formats? 2. How will the teaching look over time-- who will be involved (i.e. intervention specialists, parents, service providers, etc.) and how long will it take?
3. How will I know when the goal has been met?
S-- specific
M-- measurable
A-- attainable
R-- realistic
T-- timely
She summarizes this information saying that the student should already have a specific and attainable goal, but now is the time to make it time-based, realistic, and measurable.
The next sections of the chapter are broken up as follows:
I. Planning for Practice Over Time-
- Skills and Strategies
- Clarify goals, skills, and strategies
- Find the strategies needed through your own reflection and professional resources
- Instructional Formats and Methods
- High, Moderate, and Low Degrees of Support (Figure 4.2)
- Before and During Coached Practice over an amount of time (Figure 4.3 and 4.4)
- Choosing a structure that offers the most amount of support initially and then easing into structures that require the least amount of support gradually over time (conferring, small group strategy lessons, book clubs and partnerships, conferring during talk, writing clubs and partnerships, close reading)
II. Practice Over Time-
- Involving Others
- communication sheet with a goal at the top of the page and places to add strategies and tools and ongoing note taking (Figure 4.6 and 4.7)
- Planning for Multiple Students and Across a Week
- Week-at-a-Glance Sheet and Class-at-a-Glance Sheet (Figure 4.8 and 4.9)
This is the part of the book that I'm sure I'll reference the most as the year progresses because I'll need it to actually make the plan. The veteran teacher in me thought, "Well, I've done this, but not in this format. I need to rethink my approaches." The learner in me said, "Thank goodness I can look at my formats and methods and reconsider the structures I have in place for my classes!"
As a group, we all enjoyed the Instructional Formats and Methods and Planning for Multiple Students and Across a Week sections. The resources and insight she offers on the structures and how to plan for them are the ideas we've all had before about instruction, but now, they are in writing, verbalized well. After I collect my data from my incoming students, I'll be sure to reflect upon the needs of the class and these structures so that I can be sure I set up a plan that's reasonable and sets not only the student up for success but me as well. This is also excellent information to bring to my team PLC as we start to track students' goals. The action plan is usually where we start to stand in the fork of the road and think, "Ok, I got the goal... now, how do I get there?"
This chapter is truly the icing on the cake for this book. There are simply too many good tidbits to share, and we all agreed that this would be where a bulk of our planning or preparation would be pulled from. It was even more exciting to know that we'll have Jennifer Serravallo's Reading Strategies book to help in the process too.
Speaking of her NEW book, I got mine last week! I was SO excited to come home and see it on at my doorstep. After looking over the book and talking with the group, we thought doing an edmodo group would be a better approach with this book since the book is literally strategies to try in the classroom. We decided that after we collect our data, set goals, and create an action plan that we'd share what we used and/or post our thoughts of each strategy. If you'd like to join the group, go here and click subscribe.
Thank you for being patient on this post! With the summer coming to an end, my family time is precious, and I put this off a day to roll around on the floor, make silly faces, and swim with my son yesterday.
See you on edmodo and this blog my fellow #teachernerds for the rest of this month and September! I'll announce October's book after school starts.
Happy Back to School!!!!
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