Resolutions

Okay, here we are more than a week into the New Year.  What is/was your New Year’s Resolution(s)?  According to Newsweek (which has discontinued its print version much to my chagrin as a loyal subscriber for over 30 years), the top ten New year’s Resolutions are:  losing weight, reducing debt, making more time for yourself, saving for a financial emergency (unlike the mindset of Congress), reducing personal spending (again, see Congress as a poor example), exercising more, eating better, spending more time with your family, reducing stress, and having more fun.  Do any of these match your list?  Statistically, 89% of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions.  However, only 46% are successful at achieving their resolutions six months later.  Less than half of all those making resolutions in the chill of a winter night still are holding true as we move into summer.  Why is that?  Lack of focus on what you’re trying to reach, failure to write the goal down and keep it visible, and not monitoring your progress along the way. (sounds a little like Marzano’s learning goals, huh?) Of course, there is this little matter call willpower.  I hope you are still chasing your resolutions.  Beat the odds.

As we begin the final five months of the school year, there are some big events down the road.  One of those, of course, is the state testing that begins in early March.  Our push to reach our school goal became more visible this week with daily announcements, trivia questions, signage outside of every classroom, and many more planned events.  Now is the time to make and keep resolutions relative to our school goal.  Really, that time was in August, but this time period fits the theme much better…call it writer’s privilege.  Making a resolution is about making a firm decision to do or not do something.  It is about sharpness and clarity.  Reaching our goal will take willpower on the part of everyone in the building.  We will need to focus on what we are trying to reach every single day.  We will need to write the goal down.  Evidence of this is outside of every classroom.  In your classroom, post your short and long-term goals.  Refer to them daily in your lessons.  Monitor progress toward them on a regular basis with informal and formative assessments.  Use that data to adjust your instruction.  Have your kids chart their progress regularly. Let your team know what the goal is.  Let each kids know that they play a vital part in reaching the goal.  Make them understand that anything less than their best effort on a daily basis is unacceptable.  Set the example for your kids.  Show them that hard work does pay off.  We just missed our goal last year.  I, for one, resolve to reach it this year.  How about you?