Setting Realistic Goals?
I am looking for suggestions on how best to determine if goals are realistic?
We have to cover what seems to be enormous amount of material in a short period of time.
Hi Stewart,
Good question and one I hope each instructor spends some time thinking about.
There are two key components to setting realistic goals.
First, they must reflect the standards of the field. You have to be offering content and training consistent with the field. Business/industry gives us instructors those standards through their professional groups or state/national boards.
Second, the work must be attainable within your work. Your course needs to contain adequate content to prepare students within their career sequence but cannot be set at such a level that a student never completes the work. If this is the case, another course may need to be created or an analysis of yours be done to see how you can eleminate any non-essential content and/or activity to make your goals more reasonable.
Experience has shown me that often times course content is set by a group of curriculum specialists that don't have to teach the content. They pack too much content into the course guidelines. I would suggest you do a very careful content anaylsis and see if all of the material listed is really essential to the skill development of your students. You would be seperating need to know from nice to know.
Gary
Being an anatomist...I have so much material...and I found myself concentrating on info that I especially had interest in...then I realized that my students need to pass a national board exam...and although I can spend my time in one area...i realized that I need to concentrate only on their needs to pass the board...then they can continue their education and get the rest of the good stuff.
Hi Lynne,
Your comments about focusing on things that you really like and are of interest to you is very common for us teachers. We all have to look at the big picture and then teach to that. If you have your students passing their boards then you know you are giving the content and skills needed. Congratulations.
Gary
I have tried using real life examples of the work they would be doing to set the goals. This gives them a realistic feel for just what they will be doing after they leave my class.
Hi Gerri,
I believe in using real life examples you are showing them a path to the future. Real life examples show not only the postive side of the career field but some of the challenges as well. I had a student that wanted to be a chef and he was very talented in the field. His problem was he didn't want to work evenings or weekends. By having him talk with chefs and do some shadowing he found the real aspects of the field. He did not become a chef but did enter another field that allowed him to work the hours he wanted(daytime) and still have a very good career.
Gary
I strongly agree that we must set realistic goals depending on the course material and time relative to that course.
I have taught courses that the material is far greater than the course time allows, which is ultimately setting the students up for what I feel is failure.
Not failure in the sense of failing the course, but failure as in--once the course is complete, they won't remember most of it, because honestly all they had time for was memorization.
This to me is failure!
Hi Rochelle,
Well said. Failure has a number of different ways of being accomplished and all of them mean that the students are not where they need to be when they leave the course.
Gary
