"As a man thinks, so is he..."
So what kind of a teacher do I want to be this year? What are my personal goals, my guiding principles, the mental targets I want automatically steer towards?
I have eight:
I choose to find it easy to greet staff members and students by name.
I choose to invent schedules, curriculum, and routines to support Special Education.
I choose to successfully utilize my aide to assist the learning of students.
I choose to find it easy to get ready for IEPs ahead of time.
I choose to feel as if parents and staff like me and appreciate what I do.
I choose to cleverly incorporate memory improvement lessons into my curriculum.
I choose to have fun doing my own memory improvement projects.
I choose to find satisfying ways to balance work and home.
It's hard to hit a target if you don't know what you're aiming for. But if you consistently remind yourself who you are, then you become that image.
I have some pretty good ideas of who I am and who I want to become.
Have your created your own mental map for personal success? Can you bring that map into focus?
If you can't picture the target... chances are...
If you can picture the tartet... chance are...
What are your chances?
I think a mental map for success is a good idea. Your goals for this year are admirable and achievable. I wish you much success :)
ReplyDeleteI'm on the hunt for a desirable target. I think some serious brainstorming is in order. Maybe I'll use the blog as a place to throw out a couple of ideas. Like writing, life is a process of thinking, drafting, editing and finessing. Thanks Don for giving me a push to take a shot at defining some goals :)
@September: Thanks for the good wishes (and comments). If you are on the hunt... I'm sure the answers/goals will percolate. And I smell what you're steppin' in: "Like writing, life is a process of thinking, drafting, editing and finessing." Well said. One goal for you... Take at least one nap a week. ;-)(Something every mother needs.) Surely I jest... or do I?
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a "mental map." I've never heard it called that before. Great minds must think alike, though; I set personal teaching goals and classroom goals each year. I put my personal goals on a gold slip of paper and attach them to my computer screens at home and at school... They keep me grounded especially when I find myself juggling so many things that go with the job. I read your goals/affirmations and like them a lot. And, yet again, ours are not so different. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
@Miss_H~: "Mental map" is just my way of labeling what others have described. Most of us know about and have used maps, especially to help us get from here to there. I think that's what makes the term helpful: we understand maps. I'm not surprised that we aren't so different. It's reaffirming to read that other reflective people have reached similar conclusions. There is reassurance in the similarities, and there is food for thought in the differences. (Glad you like the goals/affirmations/choices. I do too! ;-) )
ReplyDelete