Common facilitation challenges and solutions: Challenges Solutions Participants may have difficulty identifying a goal. It is likely that more than one member of the group will have an example goal that would work for this activity. Prompt individuals with the following types of goals if necessary. Some examples of personal goals are getting a master’s degree, running a marathon, buying a house or car, overcoming a fear, or learning a new skill. Participants may not feel comfortable sharing personal goals because they know they may be asked to share their experiences with the whole group. Reassure participants that groups do not need to share if they do not want to. If an individual has a personal example that they do not want to share with other people in their group, that is fine. The group just needs to be able to discuss an example from one participant. Unless done as a quick activity, participants may wonder, “What is the point of this activity?” Facilitator must manage time well so the activity does not drag on and must be explicit about the activity’s purpose and connection. Guiding questions: Identify a challenging goal one team member has accomplished and is willing to discuss. Did that person set the goal or did someone (doctor, partner, friend) set the goal for that person? How did that make a difference? What plans did that person make to accomplish the goal? What obstacles surfaced? What was the outcome or result? Connecting Wrap-Up/Debrief (2 minutes) Explain: “Did you notice how the energy in the room rose as you all began thinking about and talking about a goal you accomplished that you were proud of? I’m willing to put money on the fact that most of you remembered a goal that was not easy, one that took real effort, right? One for which you had to do specific things and periodically check your progress. Not a goal where your success depended just on luck, right? One where it was really clear whether you’d achieved it or not and one that you had a “say” in choosing, right? This last point is really important: Each of us does better when we play a major role in setting our own goals—or at least the action steps we’re going to take to achieve them. “Please let the memory of these last few minutes—the memory of this goal—be a touchstone for all of us collectively as you move ahead with goal setting in the new educator evaluation system.”
Explain: “Just as a comprehensive self-assessment leads directly into the identification of targeted, relevant student learning and professional practice goals, the goals themselves become the foundation for your Educator Plan. We are now going to take it forward by developing an Educator Plan that details the action steps needed to accomplish each goal and identifies measureable benchmarks to gauge progress.” Slide 17 Explain: “Developing the Educator Plan is a much simpler process when the goals are clear. In fact, the Educator Plan should comprised key action steps and benchmarks to determine progress toward the goals. “Adding key action steps and benchmarks to a S.M.A.R.T. goal in order to track and measure progress is what we mean by making a goal S.M.A.R.T.er. Key action steps should be tightly linked to realistic attainment of the goal, and benchmarks should be identified to track progress (process benchmarks) and results (outcome benchmarks).” Slide 18 Explain: “These action steps, needed supports, and benchmarks can be documented on the Educator Plan Form located within Part II: School-Level Planning and Implementation Guide, or a similar organizing tool. Slide 19 Explain: “As an example, let’s take the principal’s professional practice goal from our earlier activity. Here it is, fully developed into a S.M.A.R.T. goal: ‘I will manage my time more effectively in order to increase the frequency and impact of classroom observations by learning how to do 10-minute observations with feedback, and by the start of the second semester, conducting eight visits per week, on average, that an increasing percentage of teachers report are useful.’ “Given this goal, what actions will the principal need to take in order to achieve that goal? Take a few minutes to read this principal’s proposed plan to support her professional practice goal. There is a reproduction of this slide in your packet in Handout 3.” Give participants a minute or so to read through the example. Slide 20