So I took a moment to look up what exactly “elusive” was defined as. “Difficult to find, catch, or achieve.” I don’t know if I would call them goals if I did not have the intention of achieving them, so I will share a little about my long-term goals that I look forward to achieve:
1. To learn to speak and understand Chinese in the next 5 years: Working with an ELL population at my school, 80% being Chinese, I have come up with this goal recently. I want to be able to speak and communicate with my students to give them a sense of connection within the walls of my classroom. I noticed immigrant students usually struggle with the major differences of classroom etiquette and how to deal with the different teaching and learning styles of America. It would be more comforting for these students if they felt that there was a connection between their teacher and themselves. Currently, I have been asking my students to teach me small snippets of phrases here and there and is used mostly for humor since my inventory of phrases are “This is a zero,” “You are too loud,” and “I don’t like this.” I hope to expand on more constructive sentences and be able to have a short conversation in the near future!
2. To become a teaching mentor: I know teaching is my passion and I want to always teach, but not necessarily high school children all my life. I want to continue to teach and impact how learning occurs in the everyday classroom. I would like to believe that I am an innovative instructor who uses creativity and various ways to make my student active participants in their learning experience. However, I want to raise our futures to become innovative teachers also, allowing for classroom education to become more exciting in the eyes of the students. I don’t know how much I will be able to accomplish while I am teaching my own classes to be qualified as a mentor, but I hope to strive for the best and then teach the best to be even better 🙂
3. To teach in impoverished countries during summers: As you know I have a heart for the children across seas that have been a victim of human slavery. I would love to participate in aiding and training teachers across seas to be more readily equipped to raise the future leaders of THEIR country. America is privileged in so many things including their resources to educate children, it would be amazing to continue to spread the wealth to the less fortunate areas of our world. With knowledge comes power, right?
Diane,
What great goals! There is no reason for them to be elusive. You strike me as the type that, if you want it enough, will achieve these goals. Maybe not by next year, but eventually~
Also, I couldn’t agree more that it is futile to set a goal if you don’t believe that you can achieve it! That’s called a pipe dream! 🙂
DIane, what great goals these are! As you might have seen in my post, I think that goals become elusive for people when they are to abstract. I really love how these goals are specific and measurable. For instance, you say that you would like to learn Chinese in the next five years, and pinpoint that you want to begin with useful classroom phrases. By following this path, I am sure that little by little you will grow your vocabulary and fluency with this new and challenging language! I also love how this goal is meaningful to you since it has a clear utility in your day-to-day teaching experience. When we connect to our goals in this way, we are more likely to persevere to achieve them. You are passionate and compassionate; I am sure that these characteristics will make you successful in achieving whatever it is you set your mind to.