Professional Goals For Teachers

Summer vacation break as Tehama County teachers hit the classrooms

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School Administrators Must Allow Teachers to Stretch | James Brauer

This summer, I dedicated the vast majority of my “free time” toward researching, writing, researching more, writing more, and researching even more so I can complete my research proposal and inevitably begin work on my dissertation.  At the core of my theoretical foundation, is the concept of motivation in school.  As a result, I have immersed myself in studying various motivational theories, including: social cognitive theory; self-efficacy theory; achievement-goal theory; self-worth theory; and self-determination theory.  The bulk of my research addresses student motivation, however, as Daniel Pink’s book, “Drive,” poignantly purports, the very same research theories apply toward adult  motivation as well.

To simplify my entire summer’s research in one proven motivational finding–things people LIKE to do and feel competent doing, .

True, there is so much more to motivational theories, but at the heart of social cognitive theory, people are going to engage in tasks that they feel motivated to complete.  This motivation is comprised from their overall context/environmental experiences, competency, relevancy, and agency (a fancy word for how much CONTROL they perceive to possess).

So, from a managerial standpoint…top-down control, bossing people around, giving directives, dominating conversations, and restricting true collaboration/partnership is AWFUL.  And yet, so many leaders and managers do nothing but the aforementioned.

Ugh, the mere thought raises my blood pressure.

So, this school year I commit myself toward finding various approaches that will yield teachers with increased autonomy and more agency (remember that fancy word for “control?”), while working within our district’s and school’s parameters to achieve our goals.  I anticipate empowering teachers to establish their own professional goals, while supporting them with the flexibility of taking responsible risks, and reflecting with them to determine the effectiveness of their outcomes.

Motivational theory, and just common sense professionalism, proves that adults want to feel respected, autonomous, accountable, and free to take risks.  Teachers need the opportunity to and try-out various teaching strategies, without fear of being overly-judged and/or scrutinized by school administrators and colleagues.

Our schools must immediately shift toward becoming more innovative, creative, and flexible.  It’s bad enough our students are already becoming disengaged, dialed-out, tuned-out, and withdrawn from the same old approaches and methods in our traditional form of education.

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