Goal Setting

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“Great leaders don’t set out to be a leader…they set out to make a difference. It’s never about the role – always about the goal” – Lisa Haisha

This speaks to so many educators in the classroom today. We all want to make a difference. Ask any teacher why they became a teacher and somewhere in their answer will be something about wanting to make a difference. In order to make a difference, we need to be able to set goals. Each year we have to set goals; for our students, our school, and for ourselves.

In years past, we had to set SMART goals:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time Bound

This year we were introduced to a new type of goal. (Maybe not new to all, but new to some) PEERS goals:

Powerful

Easy

Emotionally compelling

Reachable

Student-focused

We then had to define each word in the PEERS goal and decide if the goals we are setting for ourselves and our students fall into these categories.

Powerful goals will have a socially significant impact on students. Will this goal have a real impact on students? Teachers may want to make a list of goals to begin with and see if they are indeed powerful. 

Some of the words can be defined in different ways. At our table, we were discussing the term, easy. Some people define it as a goal that is easy to achieve, but the definition from Jim Knight (the creator of these goals) is that the goal is simple, not unnecessarily complex. It was a light bulb moment for me! Sometimes writing goals can be so wordy and long. Let’s make it easier for ourselves and our students to understand so those goals can be reachable. 

Having an emotionally compelling goal was new to me. I guess we have all made goals and it was always in the back of our minds to have a goal that matters to teachers and students, but to have it at the forefront of our thoughts when creating goals takes a little bit of a paradigm shift for some teachers.

A reachable goal builds hope! When setting these goals, teachers need to have strategies in mind that can assist in achieving these goals.

Of course, we want all goals to be student-focused. This means that teachers need to be providing feedback to the students. The goals should always be focused on what the students need. 

These PEERS goals will have a broad impact on our students. The beginning of the school year is typically when goals are set. We should ensure that they are Powerful, Easy, Emotionally compelling, Reachable, and Student-focused. I am looking forward to shifting my focus to PEERS goals. This year, at my school, we need to create a schoolwide goal, a class goal, and a professional goal. I am still working through and setting my goals right now. I just need to remind myself that if I want to make a difference I need to keep the goals in mind. What types of goals are you setting this year?

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Sarah Kirchoff

Sarah Kirchoff is an instructional coach in Mesa Public Schools. She has over 20 years of experience in early childhood education. She began her teaching career way back in August 1999, when everyone was worried about Y2K. She did not even have computers in her classroom at that time! Since then, she has taught first grade for four years, preschool for three years, second grade for two years and kindergarten for twelve years. She has worked for three different school districts during her teaching career. During this time, she has been able to identify which grade she found to be the most enjoyable. Her greatest teaching passion is for kindergarten. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Arizona State University and a master’s degree in Elementary Education from Northern Arizona University. She was teacher of the year at her school in the 2019-2020 school year. She became a National Board Certified Teacher as an Early Childhood Generalist in December of 2020. She currently serves on numerous committees at her school including school site council, the instructional leadership team, and the culture and climate team. She is a mentor teacher at her school and has mentored numerous interns and student teaching candidates. When she is not busy with school commitments, she spends time with her family. She has a husband who is also a teacher, and four children. Two of which are students at NAU and two that are in high school. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, reading books and spending time with family, friends and her two dogs. Children need a teacher that is always advocating for them, socially, emotionally, and academically. Sarah wants every student she encounters to realize their potential and she is willing to help in any way she can. The impact early childhood educators have on students reaches far beyond their younger years. Sarah wants to leave a positive impact on her students so they can continue to have wonderful educational experiences beyond her classroom and school.