Monday, November 23, 2009

Aiming In The Right Direction

Enjoying last week's beautiful Fall weather, my husband and I took a walk and had a long, winded discussion about goals. He's from the business world and believes that goals have to be measurable and obtainable. (I thought I was walking with my school's administrators at the time.) Of course I disagreed with every word out of his mouth. After a while we did come to a sort of agreement and that was that I don't want goals.

I've thought a lot about what we said and while I don't want goals, I am happy with AIMS. According to the Miriam Webster Dictionary, having an aim means I am directing a course, aspiring towards something, or even directed towards a specific goal.

Aiming is something I do and can keep on doing. It is not measurable like a goal but I don't think what I do daily can be measured by a number.

I'm still not going to give myself goals but I am shooting for the stars.

4 comments:

Ricochet said...

I love how you take the uncomfortables in my head and turn them into words so I see WHY I've been uncomfortable. You can't measure effectiveness as a teacher because it isn't measurable. My biggest success last week was teaching a student that someone believed in him. How do you measure that?

So administrators and others confuse tests as something that measures the effectiveness and all that measures is how well some students take tests. At the low end, I don't think it measures what they know or have learned.

Good job, PO, and thanks again!!

Liberty Rose said...

You are right! You found the words to express the frustration so many of us are experiencing. Teachers have aims all day, every day. Not everything in life, not everything in schools, has to be measured. How do you measure a teacher's full effect on students? How can you scientifically measure all the nuances integral to learning, loving, healing?
There is some science in the art of teaching. And some of that can be measured. But not all of it can or should be measured in scientific terms.
Thank you again for helping us all articulate what is so wrong with this goals movement.

Ricochet said...

Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.
W. Clement Stone

mathman42 said...

You have AIMS.
Always
Involved
Means
Something