Welcome back to blooming curious and a very happy 20 25 to you.
I'm back after a few weeks off and I'm chomping at the bit to get going
and take all the Christmas decorations down and get stuck into 2025 with
renewed energy and enthusiasm.
How about you?
How are you feeling about the coming year?
Of course the new year doesn't come without new year's resolutions.
Right.
Have you made any?
I learned a long time ago, not to make any resolutions and that way I
don't feel guilty about breaking them.
But I'll tell you what does keep me on track is having small, actionable goals.
I have set goals for blooming curious and they are centered around serving
educators even more by actually not getting bogged down in all the minutae.
of running a blog and a podcast.
But rather focus on the big things.
Things like getting people to the site and getting people to listen.
And some other developments that I will share with you very soon.
So I've got my action plan written down and I have the
steps in place to get there.
If I was still permanently in the classroom, I would be
doing the exact same thing.
And I think that so often we teachers are so exhausted, that we think,
well, I'm just going to copy and paste last year's plans and be done with it.
But experience has taught me that that idea never works out very well.
The students and their learning needs are different to last year.
And quite honestly, because I get bored of doing the same thing over and over again,
I have to reevaluate and change things to keep things fresh and exciting, not just
for the students, but for myself too.
. And of course I did keep the same timeline and perhaps some of the picture books I've
used in the previous year, but there are always new and exciting books to read and
include a new ideas that I pick up along the way that I want to include as well.
And since we are at the start of a new year, I think it's very fitting
to talk about setting our goals.
And today I want to guide and help you do that.
I also have a free goal-setting tool for you that I will share
with you at the end of the episode.
So keep listening.
So apart from being really boring and not meeting the needs of new students,
why should we bother to goal set at all?
Well, let's just face one obvious fact.
The days of children sitting passively filling out worksheets,
just doesn't cut it anymore.
The rise of technology means that children are becoming bored and disengaged far
more leading to classroom management struggles and even worse, missed
opportunities for deeper learning.
And this means that recycling last year's lesson plans without some
kind of reflection, means not only missed opportunities for our students.
But missed opportunities for our own personal growth too.
Remember what Einstein said, insanity is doing something over and over again
and expecting a different result.
So if we want children to be more engaged and enjoy learning, and if we want to
cultivate curiosity and ignite a passion in our students, Then we need to innovate.
And the place to start is with a reflection of how we did last year before
we can start setting goals for this new year or new term, we need to look
back at what worked, and what didn't.
There are three questions
I want you to reflect on.
One, what lessons or strategies truly engaged your students?
Bear in mind.
That being busy with a heads down doesn't necessarily mean they're engaged.
You know that kids are engaged when they're asking questions, when
they're responding to questions, when they try taking notes, when they're
motivated, and they feel excited to learn, and when they can connect what
they're learning to everyday life.
The second one is where did you struggle,
and what can you learn from those challenges?
Where did you struggle last year?
And what can you learn from those challenges?
Because if we don't look back at what perhaps didn't go so well,
we're just going to repeat those same mistakes when we regurgitating
last year's programs, right.
And the third question that I'd like you to reflect on is how can you create
rewarding experiences for you and your students because teaching isn't just
about kids learning and having fun teaching is also about you having fun.
And here's the thing.
Reflecting
isn't just some lame time filler.
Reflection is about building a roadmap for the future.
A map, that will take you from where you are now or where you ended last
year to where you want to be with your students, where you want to be
in the end of the term or the end of the semester or the end of the year.
And one good thing about thinking about these questions and writing
them down, once you've done that.
Now you can set your goals for the new year or the new term.
Goal setting can transform your life.
And when you're talking about teaching, it can certainly
transform your teaching practice.
Guys in any walk of life, you will find that those that achieve
success, set goals for themselves.
I've seen it very recently with my very own son.
He just graduated from his degree.
But in true a type personality style,
he wasn't content to just pass his goal was to pass with a first class honors.
And on his wall, he had all these milestones and goals
written down and sticky notes.
There were like wallpaper all over the show.
He had everything on a timeline and as he achieved each goal, he would cross it off.
Having this visual roadmap in front of him every day.
Kept him working toward his target.
And you know what?
He achieved, absolutely everything he set out to do because he stuck to the roadmap.
And goal setting is not something you write down somewhere,
and then you forget about it.
If you truly want to achieve success.
You have to have your goals up on a wall where you can see them every day.
If your goal is to lose weight or exercise more, you have to have that
on your calendar, on the wall where you can see it every day and tick
off each session as you've planned.
That's the only way you'll stay consistent.
The visual reminder and the physical action of ticking things off.
Is what keeps you going?
Goal setting helps you focus your energy.
It helps you work towards meeting your goal.
Just like my son did.
Goal setting for your teaching is also going to boost student engagement
because you're going to align your goals with your students' needs.
And you're going to design lessons that capture their attention and get them
interested in deep learning, not just that shallow stuff when they're just swiping
and tapping mindlessly on a screen.
And thirdly goal setting is going to help you stay motivated because you'll have
your milestones in front of you and you're going to reflect, and you're going to tick
them off as you achieve each one of them.
And that's, what's going to keep you going.
And lastly goal setting is going to make you feel alive.
It's going to push you out of your comfort zone to try new strategies and
develop, as you grow as an educator.
I told you that I have a tool to help you achieve success.
And I've created
the teachers goal setting planner just for you.
I'm giving it to you for free and it's designed to help
you reflect on the past year.
To set goals.
And simple, actionable steps to track your progress.
And this planner is there to help you make your teaching practice more impactful,
more intentional, and more enjoyable.
Go and get it at resources dot bloomingcurious.com/goals I'll leave
a link in the show notes for you.
Print it off, or you can fill it in on your computer.
And then most importantly, Put it somewhere where you can see it every day.
You can also take your goals.
I've given you space for three goals and write them down at the top of each
week in your diary or your teacher planner, so that they are front of
mind as you plan your lessons and your learning experiences each day.
So that's it for today.
And if you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review and
click on those three little dots and then share it with one other person.
It's the only way that we can grow the show is by sharing it with
more people, and leaving a review and ultimately everyone benefits.
So again, click on the show notes to download your free goal setting planner.
Leave a review and share the show with a friend.
Thank you.
I'm so grateful to you.
And until next week, can you remember that curiosity is your superpower.
And just stay blooming, curious.