Another year is past and a new year is here! I always like the beginning of a new year – completely blank pages that we can fill with our hopes and dreams. So many of us make many resolutions and goals, only to keep them for a few weeks, then return to our old habits and routines. It’s not that we don’t want to make changes, I think we all, including myself, bite off too much at once, or look at the end goal without breaking it into baby bites.

So what does it mean to approach a new year by placing our hopes and dreams into baby bites? There is a very helpful acrostic I found that shows step by step how to realistically make and keep your resolutions or goals for this year using the word SMART. My husband often says, “Don’t just work harder, work smarter!” and he’s right. Don’t just aimlessly work and work with no direction in mind. You’ll be working in circles, get frustrated, and quit before you have a chance to accomplish anything.

Here are some steps I am personally taking using the SMART acrostic with producing a podcast at school.

S  – Specific   This past year, I had the idea to produce a podcast with some of our high ability students at one of my schools. Since there is no funding for the podcast, I applied for and received a local grant. I can purchase equipment and supplies for the podcast with the grant monies. (This might seem like an overwhelming step since getting a grant sounds complicated, but I’ll cover finding and applying for grants at a later date. It’s easier than you’d think!)

M – Measurable  Once I form a team of students for the podcast, suggested by our teachers, we will write down our goals of what we want to accomplish with the podcast. The students and I will keep track of our progress weekly so we can stay on task.

A – Attainable  I will only be able to meet with the students once a week, so we will have to make sure that we make goals we can reach. It will probably take us the whole month of January to get organized, plan, and prepare for the podcast. After finding out the strengths of the students with writing, music, technology, etc.,  we can divide and conquer in assigning various tasks to the students helping to produce the podcast. Fortunately, our school has a technology specialist that comes to our school each week, and can give us some assistance since none of us has any background in podcasts. This will be a good experience for my students to find out just what it takes to make plans and ideas happen.

R – Relevant So what will we talk about in our podcast? What kind of music will we include?  Since we are an elementary school, we will focus on issues that apply to our local school and community. I can also use input from the students working on the podcast to find out what topics or music styles that interest them as well as the student body. It will be fascinating to see what direction the shows will take and how they’ll turn out. The podcasts will be aired on our school website.

T – Time Bound  I have a time limit on my grant. Everything should be completed by May, so we will have to work very hard to make the most of our time together. It will be up to me to make sure I have everything organized and focused so we will have success with our podcast. I have been doing a lot of research about podcasts and listening to several different kinds of podcasts. I  will also ask for a lot of help from our technology specialist at school as well as others who already produce podcasts. I am sure that the students will rise to the occasion to make the podcast successful. When tackling a project with students, I always learn more from them than they learn from me!

So…I have my work cut out for me. I look forward to learning a new skill and hope to be SMART in taking the steps to making the podcast happen!

So, gather your dreams, plans and goals for the New Year.  Don’t be afraid to try new things, but put them into baby bites.  It will be much easier to reach your goals successfully. Good luck!

“What we find is that if you have a goal that is very, very far out, and you approach it in little steps, you start to get there faster. Your mind opens up to the possibilities.”
-Mae Jemison