Re(vision) It. : Thinking About the Future (Part 2)

Last week, I decided that I was going to find a way for my students to find their future. I didn't administer an aptitude test, I didn't talk about careers, I didn't talk about the difference between a vocation and an avocation (which is worthy of a post of its own and, often, the entire focus of my ELA Grade 9 program). No, I had my students watch a TED Talk.

In this case, Matt Cutts' short gem of a talk: Try Something New for 30 Days. Afterwards, we talked about how it could be possible to enrich one's life and the lives of those around us by doing something simple for 30 days. I shared with my students my own life goals big and small as examples. And we talked about our IPP goals (all of my students have learning disabilities). We talked about how it is often difficult to maintain a goal over a long period of time. And, most importantly, we talked about how the goal has to have some sort of personal relevancy. I also made the caveat that their goal could not be a school goal, but could be a learning goal. I didn't want this goal to be something they are supposed to be doing already. And I have absolutely no intention of ever marking this activity.

For the remainder of class and most of the next day's as well, we formulated our goals. Since I have learned over the years that you can't just assume that students know how to make a goal, let alone, know how to pursue one, I taught students the basics in terms of how to build goals using the SMART method.

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I like SMART goals. This methodology helps students create manageable goals that mean something to them. Even though the SMART goal method might seem self-explanitory to adults and students alike, I found that I had to spend a lot of time going through each concept before my students really understood exactly how a SMART goal works.

Initially, my students found it difficult to make goals that were very focused. And, while it was wonderful to see students come up with big goals, I do want them to actually accomplish something in the next 30 days. So, we worked on narrowing our focus until they had a goal that was not only focused, relevent, time-bound but attainable. I want these 30-Day Challenges to become part of the fabric of our daily life. If they are not something a student can do in their freetime, they won't happen. Students also felt that it was enough to just "do" their goal, but I knew from prior experience, that if I didn't build in some sort of goal management they will not have the success they will need to want to continue.

So, how do I build in goal management?

It's not that hard. I take literally two minutes a day in class and I personaly ask them how their goals are progressing. I hold them accountable. All of their parents know and, every day, their goal is part of their daily agenda. But, I don't hound them and, most importantly, I understand when a student tells me, often very sheepishly or hesitantly, that they won't have time to work on their goal because of a myriad of really good reasons. We deal with it. In fact, I have also had students realize that they can't accomplish their goal at this time and so we sit down together and quickly tweak or, if necessary, change it so it is attainable. My students also really appreciate the countdown that I have posted on my whiteboard. And, because I'm so enthusiastic about these goals and because I believe in celebrating our achievments, we are going to have a goal party on May 6 in every class. Nothing huge, but some treats and time to share our successes.

Also, and we really spent a long time on this aspect of a SMART goal, we discussed what measurement is. Many students thought that their goal was measurable if they completed it, but I don't think that measuring their goal only once is good enough. So, what is good measurement? Establishing base data. Many students have physical fitness or specific goals related to the sports they participate in. I asked them to track on the first day their current ability, endurance rate or skill level and then keep track of their daily progress. For students who had goals that were not sports based, I asked them to record their feelings about their goals or build a check-list. Who doesn't love to check things off! Then, lightbulb! We realized that tracking our progress daily would be really easy if we used the cameras in our phones. Everyone is taking pictures or video footage so at the end of this challenge, all of my students basically have visual documentation of the progress of their goal. So easy, yet so effective.

So. Is this an easy activity? Did any of my students come up with something earth-shattering? No! They are 12-14year olds! I had to really work hard to help my students create their goals and some are not exactly earth-shattering in their scope. But, for many of my students this activity was one of the first time they had ever been asked to think about a goal for something they were actually interested in. And, since this activity is going to be part of my classes this year and I fully intend to keep it up next year, I think that we are building a culture of optimism and and efficacy one goal at a time.

In my last post, I wrote a great deal about the future. I know in my heart that students need to be the future makers and I don't think they can be futurists if they don't know (or have permission) to think big. I also know, and Winston Churchill sums it up perfectly that "it is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see." I think that both my students and I know that we need to look ahead. We all know that, but I think that my job is to give my students the courage, the skills, and the opportunity to look further than they can see.

And, speaking of the future, I think that next month, when it come time to begin our next round of 30-Day Challenges, we are going to start with a little bit of inspiration and view Bran Ferren's awe-inspiring talk To Create for the Ages, Let's Combine Art and Engineering. Of course, we'll probably end up spending a class just talking about the ideas in this talk, but that's okay. Also, I'm going to ask my students to read the following blog posts from TED:

Helen Walters' What will blow our minds in the next 30 years?

and

Blaise Aguera y Arcas"s The Future is Coming. 6 Ways it will Change Everything

Together, with my student's energy and my determination that they not "miss the future", I think that we can embrace, enhance, enliven and enthuse their hopes and dreams.

I can't wait.