Lakeside's Online PD
March 1, 2020
75 Ways to Be a Better Teacher Tomorrow: With Less Stress & Quick Success
written by: Annettee Breaux and Todd Whitaker
55. Help Students to Set Personal Goals
What to Do
People who have goals, both short- and long-term ones, accomplish more than people who wander aimlessly. That’s beyond obvious. Yet very few teachers ever take the time to help students establish goals—goals for the class and goals for their future. Today, you will simply be finding out what your students’dreams are. Dreams precede goals. You have to dream it before you can set goals to achieve it.
How and Why to Do It
Just to clarify, a dream is different than a wish. For example, “I wish my parents would let me do anything I want to and never punish me,” is just that—a wish. Hopefully, it will never come true. But having a dream such as, “I’d like to become a veterinarian one day,” is achievable. If you know that a student has that particular dream, you can encourage her and help her to start taking steps toward achieving small goals that can lead to realizing her dream—even if that student is a first-grader! She can begin reading about what veterinarians do, she can learn all about animals, she can visit a veterinarian and ask questions, etc. What’s important is that you, as the teacher, do the following:
- Ask students to share their dreams with you. From there, you can help them to set goals.
- Have each student write two goals: What I hope to accomplish in this class and what I hope to do with my life one day. Keep a copy and have them make a second copy for themselves.
- Occasionally, ask them about their goals and their plans to achieve those goals. Offer to help them in any way you can. But remember that sometimes the best help you can offer is to let them know you believe in them.
If you’re concerned about finding time to do this, you can tie it into something you are already teaching. The key is to get them to write these goals. And since you will keep a copy, you can refer to them anytime you feel a student needs a little extra encouragement or dose of motivation. Students who dream big and work toward goals are more focused, inspired, and hopeful. A classroom of goal-oriented, focused, motivated students? Yes, please!
56. Display a Teacher’s Creed
What to Do
One of the most effective things any teacher can do is to make a few promises to the students and then post those promises on the wall of the classroom. We’ll share a sample Teacher’s Creed. Feel free to use ours, or feel free to create your own.
How and Why to Do It
Here is an example of a Teacher’s Creed—promises made and proudly displayed for all to see:
My Promises to You, My Students
I promise to be nice and smile often.
I promise to care about each of you.
I promise to be patient and understanding.
I promise to help you when you are struggling.
I promise to be fair and consistent.
I promise to be trustworthy.
I promise never to scream at you.
I promise to get to know you.
I promise to make learning interesting and meaningful.
I promise that I will not embarrass you in front of your peers.
I promise to challenge you to be your very best.
I promise to do all I can to help you succeed.
And I promise that, no matter what, I will never give up on you.
Rest assured that students will hold you to your promises. And also rest assured that if you stick to the simple promises of your creed, you will be the teacher that every student wants and deserves!
* This is adapted from Breaux andWhitaker, Seven Simple Secrets, p 111.
57. Make It Easy to Ask for Help
What to Do
This may be one of the simplest tips in the book. It merely involves giving students aone-sentence statement and allowing themto fill in the blank. Here’s the statement:
“I think I could use some help with________________. ”
How and Why to Do It
As we mentioned in Tip 54, oftentimes, students are reluctant to come to you and ask for help, even though you’ve made it clear that you’re available to them if they need your help. They may be strugglingwith something and would love to receiveyour help, guidance, or advice. But thethought of approaching an adult may be abit daunting. Other students have notrouble at all asking for help. This activityis not designed for those students, but itincludes them nonetheless.
Take a few minutes at the end of class one day and say something like the following:
My main job is to help each of you to become your best self. None of us is perfect, and we all have things we need help with. Maybe you need help in class with a particular skill. Maybe you need help with a friendship that's not going well. Maybe you have trouble sitting still in class and you need some suggestions for what to do with your extra energy. It can be anything,school-related or not. Take a minute to think about one thing you feel you need help with the most, and write it in the blank. I’ll collect these, read each one, and then I’ll do my best to help you.
Then either hand them a slip of paper withthe sentence “I think I could use some helpwith _____________________,” or simplyhave them write the sentence on their ownpaper, fill in the blank, and hand it to youon their way out of class.
But what if a few students just leave theirsblank because they don’t feel they needhelp with anything? That’s fine. You’remerely trying to provide anyone whoneeds your assistance with an opportunityto ask for it in a non-intimidating way.