Solid Concrete

Do you want to be better at something. I do. I want to be better at my job, I want to be a better parent, I want to be a better servant, I want to be a better friend to you, and the list goes on. We need to be able to MEASURE our progress, to know that things are improving. You can't accomplish an abstract goal, because you'll never be sure if you're finished or not. I relate this back to when I was taking a class on how to vary the assessment tools of my students. For instance, tests, quizzes, homework, classwork, projects, participation, labs, etc. were all very important because they tools I could use to evaluate the learning of my students and I could do it in so many different ways then everyone could be successful. If you were a lousy test taker then just participate and do a good lab and such and you could make up for your short-comings on the tests. Too bad there aren't many teachers that care enough to put the effort into varying their assessments of students. I could go on forever on that topic but the point of this blog is to set your goals so that you can accomplish them. Make them concrete. See yourself cross the finish line. See your profit margin increase. Don't just wish or pray to a cosmic Santa Claus! It is old research (1996) but Lindeman and Verkasalo reported that perceptions that life is meaningful, and therefore worthwhile, increase 16 percent with concrete thinking. I am going to give it a whirl :)