As part of the quality and pedagogy initiative introduced by Toronto Children's Services,
you were asked to complete a self-self-assessment.
Now that you have done so, it's time to reflect on your successes and your areas for improvement.
What do you want to achieve?
Is the outcome of the self-assessment what you thought it would be
or did you find out something new about your practice?
SMART goals are meant to guide you towards self-improvement in a way that keeps you motivated.
But what are SMART goals?
SMART is an acronym that you can use to guide your goal setting.
To make sure your goals are clear and reachable, each one should be:
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time Bound.
Before we get into the meaning behind SMART,
let's imagine that a goal we would like to work on involves labelling children's emotions.
We are going to use this as an example to develop a SMART goal.
Your goal should be clear and specific.
This will help to keep you focused on your efforts and feel truly motivated to achieve them.
Ask yourself: What do I want to accomplish?
Why is this goal important?
Which resources or limits are involved?
For example, I would like to encourage children to acknowledge their own emotions
and that of others in an intentional way so that it happens naturally in my practice.
Having measureable goals will not only keep you motivated but it will also
help you track your progress and stay focused.
A measureable goal can speak to questions such as:
How much?
How many?
How will I know when I have accomplished it?
For example, every day I will acknowledge
at least one child's emotion.
I will fill out a tracking sheet each day to keep me motivated.
The goal should be challenging but still reasonable to achieve.
It can be helpful to outline what steps you need to take to achieve your goals.
Ask yourself: How can I accomplish this goal?
What steps will I take?
What resources or supports do I need?
Are there any constraints that could impede my success?
Is it realistic?
For example, I will be mindful of the importance of labelling children's emotions.
I will ask my colleagues to support me through this if they see a missed opportunity.
The goals need to matter to you and to your journey towards quality improvement.
Ask yourself: What is the intention of this goal?
Does it align with my program's values and visions?
Why is this a priority focus?
For example, labelling children's emotions will encourage them to better understand them.
This will support children in feeling valued in my program.
This makes my goal relevant.
Every goal needs a target date to work towards.
This helps to apply focus and motivation to reach successful outcomes.
Check- in times and accountability helps to assess realistic timeframes, and maintain purpose and enthusiasm.
A time-bound goal will usually answer these questions:
When?
What can I do three months from now?
What can I do three weeks from now?
What can I do today?
Think about whether you will have a date to check in with your goal and see how you are progressing.
For example, in three months I will be able to naturally and intentionally
acknowledge children's emotions in a meaningful way.
Let's put all of our examples together to create our goal.
Our SMART goal is now Specific,
Measureable,
Achievable,
Relevant,
and Time Bound.
Here it is: By September 15, I will intentionally label all children's emotions
and encourage them to recognize the emotions of others.
Now it's your turn!
It can be difficult to come up with SMART goals
but we hope that this video has given you some inspiration and motivation
to develop goals that meet your program's needs.
Once you have developed your goals, we will work with you to help you achieve them.
We are here to support you on your quality improvement journey
and look forward to working with you.
If you have any questions, reach out to your Children's Services Quality and Pedagogy collaborative team.
You can also e-mail qualityassurance@toronto.ca