It’s September, and you know what that means — time to set teaching goals for the new school year! September is a great time for teacher goal setting; we’ve had some time to relax, yet the craziness of the school day is still at a distance.
At this year’s SMARTS Summit, we worked with teachers on setting some CANDO goals for their coming year. Have a look and see if they inspire any goals for you!
“My goal is to use 3 SMARTS strategies in the first trimester.”
This is a great goal! The teacher plans to integrate executive function strategies into his classroom. He knows that things will be a bit crazy, so he’s picked three as a manageabe number of strategies he can teach and reinforce in the first third of the year.
“I want to create customized strategy reflection sheets for challenging assignments (reading logs, tests, and projects.)”
Strategy reflection sheets are so easy to overlook, but they are absolutely essential. Doing some advanced planning will make them much easier to implement. By creating customized versions for each assignment, this teacher will be able to guide her students’ reflection and development of strategies.
“Get my school on board with executive function!”
Too often executive function strategies are confined to special education settings, which is a crime! Executive function strategies help all students succeed. We hope this teacher can show her colleagues the power of strategy instruction to empower all students!
Now it’s time to set your own goals. Let these teachers inspire you and think big!
- Michael Greschler, M.Ed., SMARTS Director