Our new principal wants us to come up with goals to accomplish in the next year. He hasn’t provided much guidance yet, so I don’t know what to do. How can I do this meaningfully?   —J., Delaware

The end of the school year is a good time to reflect. This often leads to developing professional goals to improve your teaching and student learning. You probably have some in mind.

Working toward these goals can be an effective part of an individualized professional development plan. Unfortunately, goal setting is often an empty formality in my experience. I would definitely talk with your principal about his expectations.

I had a principal who required us to submit several goals each year. I suspect it was something he felt he had to do (or was told to do), but he did not provide any suggestions or examples on the number, format, or purpose. And he did not follow up on them during the year. Our professional development was not based on the goals, and they were not mentioned during any post-observation conferences. Because of this, I didn’t take the goal setting process seriously, treating it as a yearly task to check off the list. I certainly worked at becoming a better teacher, but those efforts were not formally related to the goals I submitted.

The process was different at another agency I worked for. Everyone, including the executive director, used the agency’s mission statement to formulate two to three SMART goals (the format is described below). We fine-tuned them with our supervisors and created an action plan to address them. At the mid-term and end of the year we discussed our progress and how the process was adding to our professional growth. It was a powerful form of professional development and a positive experience in reflection and self-evaluation.

Looking back, I realized my school district goals, as they were written, were not useful because they were extremely broad and lacked much purpose. The SMART acronym describes a more focused format:

• Specific: The goal is clearly stated with what you want to do, why it is important, and how it will be accomplished.
• Measurable: The goal describes the evidence you’ll use to determine your progress.
• Achievable: The goal is doable and realistic, given the resources that are available to you.
• Relevant: The goal relates to student learning and performance.
• Timely: The goal has target dates for achievement.

For example, “I want students to participate in class discussions” is a worthy but broad goal. It can be tweaked into a SMART goal:

• Specific: I will improve student learning by promoting active participation, using three strategies: calling on students randomly, using wait time, and incorporating turn-and-talk discussions.
• Measurable: I will use class observations (tally sheet of participants) as well as formative and summative assessment results.
• Achievable: The strategies require no additional resources or materials. I will read more on these strategies in professional publications.
• Relevant: The goal addresses student learning through equitable participation.
• Timely: The trial is one semester.

Here are some generic goal areas that could evolve into SMART goals:

Instructional Goals

• Incorporate inquiry into more lessons.
• Use strategies and assessments that focus on higher-level learning.
• Incorporate science notebooks.
• Implement new technology for ____.
• Prepare better substitute plans.
• Use a variety of formative assessments.
• Design lessons/units aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Interpersonal Goals

• Improve teacher-parent relationships, focusing on positive communications.
• Build better relationships with colleagues and other staff.
• Get to know students better.

Organizational Goals

• Establish routines for accessing and returning lab materials.
• Establish and maintain a classroom management plan, including expectations, routines, and rules.
• Improve documentation for various classroom situations.
• Keep up with inventories and other paperwork.
• Keep a record of lessons and units and put together notebooks or electronic files for each unit.

NSTA has a wealth of professional resources to help you meet your goals: online discussion forums and email lists, journals, books, conferences, the NGSS@NSTA Hub, free web seminars, and content-based courses.

Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eclectic-echoes/6681499071/