The school year has begun for many across the nation. They are several weeks into 2013 - 2014. The rest of us are preparing to begin next week. It is still early enough in the year to set our goals for this year and move forward with a beginner's enthusiasm and purpose. We tend to set goals based on data and on the past. It constrains our creativeness. Goals most often sound like these: "We will raise the number of students who attain mastery on x assessment." "We will lower the number of times students cut classes." "We will improve morale." etc. The next steps are somewhat informed but perhaps misguided. We want to achieve our goals; often we get distracted or the goals are achieved for one year and we move on without thought of sustainability.

For example, a common concern is over the students who fail to flourish in our classrooms. We spend time asking others and ourselves "Why do students fail to reach mastery?" We create action plans based upon our informed assumptions. What follows as a goal for the year might be that "We will raise the number of students achieving a 'B' in X subject." How we do this in each of our environments will be different. Our needs and talents are different. Our resources are different. And the goal begins to feel like a heavy weight. Rick Hess' analogy of Sisyphus rolling the bolder up a hill remains true. We begin feeling weighted down.

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