Goal Setting For The New School Year - E128

This week, we are setting our goals for the upcoming school year. We'll chat about both our professional and our personal goals, from mastery-based learning to leadership goals and maintaining a good work-life balance this year. 

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Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/128**

Professional Goals:

• Mastery-based learning - building more whole class activities
• ChemEd Conference 2023
• Conferencing with students - try roster checklists
• Data collection - what is the impact of mastery-based learning?
• Tweaks to grading practices
• New SERT role (special education)
• Other PBL projects in ESL (podcast, video, something else?)

Leadership Goals:

• Supporting implementation of de-streaming in grade 9 and new courses in grade 11
• Political landscape might cause a lot of challenges to our roles
• Avoid social media to avoid negativity
• Leading Grading for Equity and Street Data book studies with leadership team

Personal Goals:

• Try to leave the building at a reasonable time each day
• No email at night
• Complete prep at work to avoid working at home (leave work at work)
• Explore opportunities in academia (M.Ed. program, conferences, collaborations, etc)
• Continuing hobbies (violin lessons, strength training)
• Maintaining balance - being ok to say no when something doesn't align with our goals

Transcript

Rachel: 0:40

In this episode, we are talking all about our professional goals for the upcoming school year.

Katie: 0:47

Yeah, we'll share a little bit about what we're thinking in the classroom and in terms of assessment, and we'll also share a few of our personal

Rachel: 0:54

personal.

Katie: 0:54

for this year.

Rachel: 0:55

Let's get started. This week we are back and we are really excited to talk about our professional goals for the upcoming school year.

Katie: 1:13

Yes, and a bit of a disclaimer. I am no longer in school or thinking mode apparently. So this is like, I guess this is kind of the grounding episode, which makes me get my mind back into school thinking and looking forward.

Rachel: 1:31

As we're recording this episode, it is right at the beginning of August. We're about weekends, so yeah, my brain is in summer mode still as well. Although I find that when the calendar flips to August 1st, it always gets my wheels starting to spin and starting to think about what I wanna do for the upcoming school year. Now, here in Ontario, we start after Labor Day. So what's really interesting about our school year this year is the first day back is a PD day, which is. Very unusual. And so our school starts on the Wednesday after Labor Day.

Katie: 2:05

Yeah, I'm actually, I'm surprised by that. The last few years we've had one day prior to the long weekend, and then students return on the Tuesday, but, but this year they're changing it up, which in some ways I really appreciate because it extends that summer a little bit more.

Rachel: 2:20

Yeah. Now knowing things, we won't have any time to prep on that PD day or very little time to prep, so yeah.

Katie: 2:28

Agreed. So professional goals for the year. So thinking forward how do you wanna start? Like do you have specific ones? Do you have grading ones? Do you have kind of structure of classroom?

Rachel: 2:42

I think in terms of structure of classroom, maybe we start there because we did kind of go on that journey last year of mastery based learning, and honestly, that's a journey I am not willing to get off of anytime soon. I love it. So going forward, that is, Where a lot of, I guess, the improvements I wanna make into my classroom are going to happen. I want to, again, kind of continue mastery based learning, but finding those opportunities to also pull in like a lot more whole class kind of activities to balance the two out.

Katie: 3:19

Yeah. And in the science world, I, I totally get that. That makes a lot of sense.

Rachel: 3:23

I did go to some really, really interesting sessions at the chem ed conference this summer. It was amazing. Got my wheels turning and really thinking. There was one that was all about sort of like bringing in natural phenomenon around us and things that we see and using that as like your hooks in terms of your lessons and building whole units based on. A phenomenon and I thought it was really cool and I got some really neat ideas there. So I can see how integrating something like that along with this mastery base kind of theme would work really, really

Katie: 4:01

Mm-hmm. I'm looking to continue. So we still are doing our mixed level E S L courses, which is awesome. And I'm looking to kind of expand that a bit more. So I want to do more conferencing with students. To kind of help, I don't know, create more transparency in the process almost, and, and to make sure that, you know, get that student buy-in and that motivation to keep learning and keep acquiring language and skills and whatnot. So I think my, that's one of my main goals is intentionally planning, more conferencing time, and keeping my students on track.

Rachel: 4:36

I love that. I've heard suggestions before where like you keep a checklist of your roster of all your students and you make sure you are connecting with e each and every student, preferably every single week, and doing some conferencing and that. But like if you keep that rotation and just sorta keep that checklist, you can. Make sure that you're hitting every student right and and conferencing with them on a frequent basis.

Katie: 5:02

Yeah, and I think that's kind of. I think a lot of my students, we did conferencing, but because I'm removing the focus on grades, they were so stressed towards the end of the semester because they were so focused on the number at that point. Whereas we hadn't focused on the number for the whole course at all really. So I want to make sure I'm doing a little bit more just to kind of help put their mind at ease and put that focus back on language instead of a number. And so I'm trying to kind of de-stress it a little bit for them.

Rachel: 5:31

Now I am, I'm really lucky this year, so my grade elevens that I had last year, I am following them through, through their grade 12 year. And part of the reason I wanted to do this is I wanted to see what the impact of mastery-based learning has on their performance, on their IB exams. So this is their year where they're going to be writing their IB exam for chemistry. And so I'm, I'm pretty excited about that. The kids are super excited too because they know what to expect, right? And they, know how I run my classroom now. It's gotten me thinking a little bit about grading and maybe kind of changing things up a little bit from what I did last year.'cause I feel like. With what I did last year, working with that grade 11 course and just laying the foundation for the course, I think it worked really well for that course. I'm not sure how well it's gonna. Translate into the grade 12 year though, because they're gonna be a, a lot more stressed and like Uber, you know, sensitive about grades and about university acceptances and things like that. So I do have some ideas. I, I don't know if I'll go into great detail here, but I am kind of rethinking my grading a little bit.

Katie: 6:50

That's awesome. And I love that you had the opportunity to almost do some data collection, so to speak, because you can see it through that whole two year period and, and to actually see how these students have fared.

Rachel: 7:02

yeah, I'm really excited about that and I know sort of like where. Well, like we always get data after students write their IB exams, and so we know where the world averages in terms of scoring on the exam. We know where our school normally averages. Now, I can't take the last couple of years because of Covid v I d, and they did all kinds of weird stuff with their grading, but I have so much past data that. You know, even though it is a different group of students, like it's still going to give me some valuable data to see what the impact is on this particular class.

Katie: 7:37

and you can also look at them as individuals and how they've progressed from grade 9, 10, 11, 12. You know what I mean? So even if, yes, it's a different group of students, but let's take a look at that breakdown in, in skills and learning and how they've, they've done throughout their high school career in chemistry.

Rachel: 7:55

Yeah, no, it's pretty exciting. So I'm gonna be able to collect a lot of really good data.

Katie: 8:00

I love that.

Rachel: 8:00

And then I am taking on a new role this year as well, not necessarily a new role because I've done it before, but I, I only did the role for like, I don't know, it felt like a semester. And then we were off for Covid. So I have a section of special education each semester too. So I'll be, Monitoring IEPs and working with students who have, you know, specific needs in their classrooms. So yeah, I'm, I'm excited to kind of take on that new role as well and have maybe a little bit more balance in my day.

Katie: 8:34

I was about to say that we'll probably add some balance, some different stress in terms of, you know, IEPs, et cetera,

Rachel: 8:41

yeah.

Katie: 8:42

but that different connection with students.

Rachel: 8:44

It'll be a different connection. I'll be getting to, like, hopefully, I don't know who I'll be monitoring, but I'm kind of hoping I get a group of grade nines that I could then kind of monitor and follow through over their four years of high school and, and really develop some good relationships with these kids.

Katie: 9:02

Mm-hmm.

Rachel: 9:03

We will see though. I don't know what that will be like, but yes, the stress of writing IEPs and getting those done at certain times of the year, that is stressful. But then the rest of the year is just really adding that layer of support for those students.

Katie: 9:17

That's awesome.

Rachel: 9:18

Yeah. So new surface based role, it's uh, it's exciting. Good luck. Yeah. We'll see.

Katie: 9:26

Um, So I think another kind of classroom based or program based school I have this past year we did the book. The students created a book, advertised it, sold it, marketed it, all that good stuff. And so, I guess it's a goal, but also a little bit of a pressure on my back right now. Like what's next? I can't do a book every year. Like, let's be honest, we need to change things up. So one of my goals is to kind of keep working with my E S L colleagues and we're gonna meet pretty quickly into the school year and figure out what's next, what other project can our students do that kind of. It elevates their voice and puts it out there and gets the world. Hearing a little bit about more about who they are and and their learning journey and migration journey, and how we can support them.

Rachel: 10:11

Yeah. Very cool. It, I know the book was, that was a huge undertaking and it was so awesome how it turned out. So yeah. I, I keep, as soon as you mention that, I'm like podcasts.

Katie: 10:23

I know. We're thinking that. We're also wondering maybe perhaps having the students create some sort of video that shares a little bit who they are in their journey and, and using it.

Rachel: 10:35

It

Katie: 10:35

To maybe partnership with our welcome center, where we accept students and families from around the world as a bit of a welcome and, hey, you're not alone, and reach out, take a look at your school. There's people there and we share a lot

Rachel: 10:49

Yeah. So like the student voices of our school board. Oh

Katie: 10:53

so that's kind of where we're thinking. Obviously we'll kind of check with the students and see where their comfort levels are because not everybody is ready for that.

Rachel: 11:01

that,

Katie: 11:02

I. Yeah, I'm excited. There's a lot going on and I'm loving what we're doing in E S L. So a lot of my professional goals is really to hone in on that program and, and how we can really elevate student learning and skill acquisition and, and make them a more, I don't wanna say accepted, but normalize e s L as a part of every school community.

Rachel: 11:22

Yeah, and I think you're really lucky in that having, like teaching within that program, there's so many opportunities to build those sort of projects and, and really integrate some of those real life kind of experiences. It's, it's a lot harder in chemistry.

Katie: 11:38

Oh gosh, yes, yes. No, I have a very niche program and heading it up really gives me a little more opportunity to kinda take some creative licenses and, and get people on board and do some different things. So I'm very grateful for my role and, and being a part of my program.

Rachel: 11:55

Speaking of leadership, then let's talk leadership goals.'cause we are both in leadership roles. So I guess kind of starting out with my role and my school is just, I think really. Continuing to support and develop our d streaming program for our grade nine students. I think we made really good headway in our first year. And so just kind of building on that. I'm not teaching grade nine this year, so I'm, I'm a little, I don't know, I guess worried about making sure that the program continues with the steam that we started, so, You know, just, uh, continuing to meet with those teachers, support those teachers, and then also onboarding a few new teachers into our grade nine course as well.

Katie: 12:41

Yeah. And, and we're launching the grade 90 streamed curriculum in the fall. So, so my role as that, that program lead is to really, you know, my, my goal is to support them as best as possible, like advocate for them, for to get release time and to get more supports and professional development and, and more resources to kind of help ease that implementation of a new program. And, And it is quite different from what I've been reading so far. I haven't gone through the whole curriculum because for the first time in my career, I've been in complete summer mode and I've dropped everything, which is wonderful, but also scary for going back. And then we're also implementing a new course for grade 11 English. So it's uh, first Nation may see Inuit perspectives and so I think I really do have to be their advocate this year, and so in terms of that, I want to know the curriculum and be able to advocate for them and help make them feel comfortable and confident in that implementation.

Rachel: 13:38

Now, let's talk about reality for a minute, because I know I love it, like supporting, advocating, all of that stuff. I'm thinking back to last year and while I could advocate for getting release time for my teachers, it just could never happen because we did not, at the beginning of last year, did not have enough supply teachers in our board. And so if we did not, we're not able to secure coverage for our classes and then we could not have release time. So like we, we really struggled with that piece and also now thinking forward. With our political situation here, like I think. Unfortunately, we are going to have to take some sort of action to get a contract. So in Ontario, for those who are not familiar, like we have been working, this will be our second year without a contract. Like it's, it's nuts. And so I can see some work to rule action maybe happening or even strike action. Like I don't wanna say those things and I don't wanna be a negative Nancy here, but you know, I can, I can foresee that happening and then, If that happens, like there will be no meetings, there will be no release time, there will be no, none of that. So like, it, it's gonna be hard to, to support those teachers

Katie: 14:55

yeah, but I think at that point you kind of say, I. Stop. You are a single human being. You do what you can. We're talking long game. I'm not looking, nobody's looking for perfect implementation of any brand new curriculum in the first year. No, we're, and so if we have to do baby steps and, and work our way through it to the best of our ability, then we do that and we relieve that pressure. And I think maybe that will be my role. My role is to kind of say stop, take a step back. One day at a time, you do what you can and there's no pressure to be perfect because nobody's perfect. It will never be perfect.

Rachel: 15:30

I think we're just gonna face some interesting challenges this coming year.

Katie: 15:34

and part of me is really worried about that and stressed about that. And so I'm trying not to think too much about the political atmosphere and our lack of contract, because there's a lot of extras in my role that. I'll have to let go, which is very difficult. I don't know. I'm, I'm stressed, but we'll see.

Rachel: 15:52

it's the same for me. Like staff learning and doing all of that stuff like that will all go and that's something that really fills my bucket. So, yeah, I am, I'm a bit stressed about it too. I am trying to not worry about it though. Even over the summer, like I rarely go on Twitter these days, or x I guess is what it's called now.

Katie: 16:13

Okay. I have not gone on Twitter since the icon went to an X, and I'm like, Nope, can't do

Rachel: 16:19

Yeah. Yeah. Like what is that all about? We

Katie: 16:22

We need Twitter back.

Rachel: 16:23

Yeah, totally. So, yeah, because the, the couple of times I have gone onto Twitter, all I see is all the negative posts about how contract negotiations are not going well and stuff like that. So I, I immediately just shut it up, shut it down, and I'm done. I guess maybe I shouldn't follow those people, but

Katie: 16:42

No, but it's hard. It is

Rachel: 16:43

It's hard. It's really hard.

Katie: 16:45

Yeah.

Rachel: 16:45

I guess in terms of leadership too, I am pretty excited. So like I, I kind of hoping we don't. Have any kind of work to rule kind of action because at the end of the past school year, I approached one of our VPs and he ended up purchasing enough books for grading for equity and for street data, which is another book that I have not read yet, and I'm like, really, really excited to read. But enough books for our leadership team to do book studies on both of those books throughout the school year.

Katie: 17:20

And that's kind of funny because we will be doing the grading for equity book study on our podcast.

Rachel: 17:26

yeah. So I did mention that to him and I'm like, Hey, we'll have resources for our leadership team as well, which is great. But, you know, because I approached him with that, I've asked to take sort of a lead on that as well. And so I'm, I'm pretty excited to dig in. To those books with, yeah, with our leadership team. We'll see how it goes. That's awesome. Yeah.

Katie: 17:47

Personal goals. Let's talk. What do you think? What are, what is one of your main goals?

Rachel: 17:53

I did a lot last year.

Katie: 17:54

Yeah.

Rachel: 17:55

You know, coming first, coming back into the classroom. I. I may have burned myself out a little bit, to be quite honest, and I tend to do that. I tend to go overboard in terms of what I do. I was planning both the grade nine course leading that D streaming initiatives and also planning the grade 11 course as well, doing everything mastery-based learning, doing all the young grading, like I, I kind of went extreme. So I did burn out a little bit last year. Now what's nice going into this school year is I only have one prep. So like I'm already feeling a little bit calmer, but I think one of my personal goals now is to try and leave the building at a reasonable time every day, unless I have meetings or something that I absolutely have to stay for. Our school let's out at two 40. You know, towards the end of the, the school year last year, I was out by three o'clock. Like I think if I could leave by three o'clock on most days, I think that's gonna really help my overall like mental health and wellbeing.

Katie: 19:00

Yeah. and I think my, one of my main things that I did last year was the whole no email at night. I'm looking to continue that because that made a big difference on my stress and anxiety levels. So I think that has to be something I continue as hard as it is. And I have to honor that time for myself.

Rachel: 19:16

I think that's something I need to start. You know, I tried it and I tried like little bits of it, but it's really hard to disconnect from work. Yeah, which is ridiculous. Like we should be able to just leave and then just be done with work and whatever's there, you know, can wait until the next day. I think I really need to start setting my foot down a little bit more too, and just shutting off my email and shutting it off on my mobile devices and stuff like that as well, and not checking it. It's really hard though,

Katie: 19:47

So I had to start with doing, like holding something physical as I came in the door and putting it down. So I would put my work keys down in a specific area on the counter, and that was my, I'm done with email and I'm done looking at my work stuff, and I will not pick that up until I leave for work the next day. And so, After I kind of got into that, and if I felt tempted, I'd be like, no, I can't do it. And so I had it, it, it's hard. I had to kind of give myself reminders as I was getting into that kind of routine. But then I no longer needed that physical key or physical object to remind myself. So try

Rachel: 20:22

Try that, like that might Yeah. I normally just leave my keys in my bag.

Katie: 20:25

Yeah, so actually taking them out and putting them somewhere intentionally is a way of saying, I'm putting down work and I'm gonna spend time with my family.

Rachel: 20:33

Yeah, I'm, I'm really hopeful that I can get most of my prep work done while I'm at work, and that's always a struggle. cause usually I'm putting out fires or something pops up, right? Like in a, in a leadership role, something always pops up during the day and. You usually have to drop what you're doing and deal with whatever it is. But I'm kind of hopeful that with having just the one prep that I can be done with work and leave work at work.

Katie: 21:02

Yeah. and I think that's awesome. I think that's good. It, it makes a

Rachel: 21:06

difference. Mm-hmm.

Katie: 21:06

I think one of my personal goals, Well, so I, I am in school as well, right? And so for my master's program, I'm, I'm kind of really enjoying it and I'm seeing some kind of awesome feedback in some different areas that I can continue to improve. So I think I'm going to explore some of those a little more and kind of embrace this. Perhaps article writing and conference presenting and stuff like that. So I'm gonna, I don't know, I think I'm gonna try it as scary as that is'cause it's putting myself out there and it's new'cause it's academic writing versus, you know, all the other things I do. But yeah, I'm gonna try that this year and see how it goes.

Rachel: 21:43

Very cool.

Katie: 21:44

Yeah.

Rachel: 21:44

Now, would you travel for conferences? Like, is that, is that a goal?

Katie: 21:48

I don't know yet. This is, I never really, so when I went into this master's, I never really saw me having much to say that would be of value. But I know that's silly, but it's that imposter syndrome and it's that kind of, that way we went, we minimize our knowledge and our roles. But I've had some really great feedback and in an area that is not very well researched and where we really do need to research how literacy and language acquisition interact. And so there's a whole group of professors that have a group that's ongoing and they want to explore maybe, you know, connecting with them a bit more and doing some of that stuff. And so in that sense, like I might consider travel, like why not? But yeah, I don't know. I've never really thought about it. I didn't think I was capable.

Rachel: 22:31

Yeah. The reason I ask is because that, that's some of my fondest memories from when I was in grad school myself, is traveling to different conferences and being able to go and present. And even though the presentations, like I never did a full. Kind of presentation. It was always poster presentations, but those are, those are awesome.

Katie: 22:53

Yeah, and it's a way to connect with other people in the field, which I think is one of the things because I'm a part-time student, full-time teacher, and so I, I think I lack in those connections, and so I would love to kind of meet other people who are interested in that same area and, and kind of build those relationships.

Rachel: 23:11

I love that. I would also love to get into a little bit more of the academics myself. And you know, it's always been at the back of my mind and it's always something that has felt like it's been a little bit missing in my career. And I think that's just because of the research background that I come from. And it was one of the goals that I did sort of talk about in my performance appraisal last year is like I wanted to. Explore some of those avenues myself. It would be really neat to even just find someone to work with that, you know, wants someone to research something within the classroom, right? And like find that kind of a partnership. I don't know how I would go about even like starting with something like that. I know my interests have changed a lot from when I did my Master's in education too, and. You know, I'm really sort of getting into the assessment and grading stuff now, so I, I don't know, I don't know where to start, but maybe that is another sort of goal of mine for this coming year.

Katie: 24:10

Yeah, it's always fascinating. and it's interesting and you never really know where to dive in and then things come together and so I think a lot of what you do already, I, I know it will come, it'll come about, it'll happen.

Rachel: 24:20

Yeah, we'll see.

Katie: 24:21

any Other personal goals? I'm continuing my violin lessons and so something that is totally nerdy and cute and somewhat embarrassing as an adult is my daughter's actually going to accompany me for one of my fall recitals, so she'll play the piano while I play the violin.

Rachel: 24:36

oh, that's sweet.

Katie: 24:38

Yeah, so it's kind of cute. And so,'cause I'm graduating from book one of my violin and so I know but that's something that I find joy in still and I'm gonna continue on doing that.

Rachel: 24:48

Yeah, I plan on continuing my workouts strength training. Now I have hit a little bit of a snag in terms of my workouts. I'm still doing them and I'm still working out regularly, but I'm getting a lot of back pain and muscle tightness and stuff like that, so, You know, I'm having to kind of sort that out, but I refuse to give it up, so, because I am enjoying it so much and you know, hopefully I get over kind of this hurdle with whatever's going on with my back so I can get stronger.

Katie: 25:20

Backs are terrible in that way. They really are debilitating when they're hurting.

Rachel: 25:24

Yeah, it's, it's driving me nuts and it is very frustrating, but I am starting some physiotherapy this week, so hopefully that goes somewhere. Great. Yeah.

Katie: 25:34

Good luck.

Rachel: 25:35

yeah. yeah. We'll see how it goes. But yeah, just really trying to maintain balance, I think, for this upcoming school years is what I'm striving to do. So yes, I will do some extras in terms of. what I'm interested in, but I am still going in with the mindset of I will say no if it doesn't align with my goals for the year.

Katie: 25:55

Yeah, I think that's fair. I think balance, I think balance, I think should be a goal that all teachers have. And I know it's hard, but uh,

Rachel: 26:02

but

Katie: 26:03

definitely looking to kind of maintain, that and, and just'cause I think that we're better teachers when we are not totally stressed out and going a hundred

Rachel: 26:10

miles an hour

Katie: 26:11

all year long.

Rachel: 26:12

I would agree.

Katie: 26:13

I want to be better for my students, and so if that means I have some boundaries, then I have some boundaries.

Rachel: 26:19

Okay. On that note then I think that's a great place for us to wrap up our conversation today, so it will include any of the links or resources we talked about today in our show notes. You can access our show notes for this episode@edugals.com slash 1 28. That's eed gs.com/ 1 28.

Katie: 26:40

And if you like what you heard today, then feel free to share it with a colleague or a friend. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast app so that you don't miss out on any future content.

Rachel: 26:50

as always, we'd love to hear from you. So tell us your professional goals for this upcoming school year. You can do that on our flip at edu gals.com/flipgrid, or you can leave us a message on our website@edugals.com. Thanks

Katie: 27:06

and see you next week.