Goals!

Good Morning Deep Creek Family,

First off, I want to personally thank each and every one of you for making our first data day a success! I enjoyed working with each team creating action plans with intervention strategies that will effectively reach our student’s needs. Not only are we working within our teams, we are working as a school- to raise the number of students proficient in each grade level. We are all dedicated, determined, and devoted Deep Creek leaders that put forth everything needed so that all of our students grow academically, socially, and behaviorally. I thank you for all that you do, your hard work does not go unnoticed.

With that being said, it’s important that we include our students in the goal making process. Students should be aware of how to create, work towards, and meet goals. For us, and students, goals help us in all aspects of life. We should be exposing and allowing all of students the chance to work toward a goal/s. Research shows that students' learning, motivation, and self-regulation can be improved when students pursue goals that are specific, proximal, and moderately difficult, receive feedback on their goal progress, focus their attention on learning processes, and shift their focus to outcome goals as their skills develop. We all do this at one time or another. It’s important that students are held accountable and have expectation to work towards, just like we do. On both ends, it required effort, time, and perseverance. We all hear those three words too often. We can help by maximizing our resources, working together, sharing ideas, and planning collaboratively.

In our data day we formulated goals of where we wanted our students to end, they can do the same thing. We set strategies to reach those goals and will revisit them every so often to track our goal progression. They should have specific learning outcomes that they can work toward and reach too, but in small steps. We are not superheroes although sometimes we wish we were. We have to break a part our goals into small digestible chunks before reaching our end. With that being said, help them strategize ways to reach their end goal by allowing them small steps along the way. We all have to cross a hurdle one time or another. Teach them that is okay. Allow for mistakes, everything is a learning opportunity to strengthen ourselves. Our children are active participants in helping us meet our teams, and schools goal-as well as their own. It’s vital that they understand what it is we both are hoping and striving towards. I included each team's action plans so there is an awareness with everyone on campus. We are in this together-Deep Creek Cubs are ONE- One Message One Voice One Team!

Thanks, 

Kristina