For me the new year always started with back to school shopping. The smell of new clothes and sight of clean notebooks signals a fresh start and a joy I just can't describe. New teachers, new friends, everything was clean and fresh and stretching out in front of me like a story waiting to be written. As I got older I also used this time to set goals for myself, to prewrite my story if you will. Whether it was my own academics or the instruction of others this felt like the perfect time to re-evaluate my life and see where I was headed. Plus it's a lot easier to plan a 9 month goal than one for 12, right?
That was why when it came time for planning a training for August, the obvious choice to me was student goal setting. Maybe it comes from my background in special ed and those wonderful IEP goals, but to me it seems like everyone who works with students should be interested in this. NC Central has developed an amazing program for first and second year students. These students get lots of individualized attention from a slew of staff including academic advisors and counselors. Even the dean can be seen meeting with students and not a day goes by that at least one doesn't stop by my office to see where he is. (The poor man is always in meetings.) However, upon reviewing my feedback forms I found people questioning the usefulness of the topic. I understand that some people (like advisors) have very prescribed roles (get them enrolled in classes), and I understand that between caseloads, paperwork, committees, and other responsibilities it can seem like there isn't enough time to get everything done. I don't have a solution for that, I wish I did-I'd make millions. What I do know is that we need to take responsibility for our students and do what we need to do to help them. I am a HUGE fan of country singer and activist Jimmy Wayne. I attended a concert of his at ECU a couple of years ago. It was a very intimate setting and he did about as much telling of his personal story as he did singing. It was a life-changing experience for me. Jimmy talked about his time in the foster care system and how growing up there wasn't a lot of help from adults. It made me rethink my relationship with my students. My goal became to meet them as people, not schedules that needed to be changed or vessels in which to dump study skills. They were human beings who needed love, compassion, a listening ear, and someone to help them set up schedules and teach study skills. From that point forward I tried to really live the "Fish!" philosophy of Being There for my students. I can't say I was always successful. Sometimes my own problems or the paperwork piling up crept in, but I hope that they knew that I loved them and wanted the best for them.
I guess what I'm saying is that goal setting doesn't necessarily fit exactly with a lot of job descriptions, but if you're working with students, shouldn't it? Shouldn't we take the time to get to know our students, to reach out them and meet them where they are? Helping them set goals is one way to do that-to discover their hopes and dreams and to be a part of the achievement. Isn't student success why we got into education in the first place?
If you're interested in finding out more here are a couple of links:
For helping students with goal setting:
http://www.collegeparents.org/members/resources/articles/helping-your-college-student-goal-setting-%E2%80%93-and-action-plans
http://www.setting-and-achieving-goals.com/
To find out more about Jimmy Wayne or Project Meet Me Halfway
http://www.jimmywayne.com/
http://projectmmh.org/
