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What are your goals this school year? Have you set any yet? Well, it's about time. When we start New Year, we make New Year's resolutions. So why not make resolutions for the new school year?

I know that New Year's resolutions are usually unsuccessful. That is because most of us set unrealistic goals, don't keep track of the progress or simply forget about them. But don't be discouraged. I'll give you some tips how to stick to your goals this year.

1) Let's start with a list. You can download and print the list I've drawn:

2) People usually set too much goals, so I suggest you should apply KISS principle: Keep it short and simple. You don't have to write a bucket list. Choose, let's say, three goals. Then it would be easier to achieve all of them.

3) Make your goals SMART:

S - specific

Target a specific area for improvement, e.g. fluency, pronunciation.

M - measurable

Define an indicator of progress. How will you know when your goal is accomplished?

A - achievable

Make sure your goal is possible to achieve, given available resources. If you want to speak English fluently in a month, it's rather unrealistic.

R - relevant

Is reaching your goal relevant to you? Why do you want to reach this goal?

T - time-bound

Specify when you want to achieve your goals. It's better to do things step by step, so you can define small steps that will lead you to success and follow them. Remember to set deadlines for each step.

What do you think? Do you make new school year's resolutions? Do you keep them? Please, share your thoughts in the comments.

Good luck!

I've been using ClassDojo for a few months. My students love it, their parents love it, and I love it, too!

Just a couple of weeks ago ClassDojo started to publish a five episode video series about growing mindset. Each episode presents important lessons on how everyone can grow their intelligence.

I watched them with my students and we dicussed them.

I decided to sum up the ideas presented in the series. And I used a new tool called Slate.

I started using teacher stamps about 7 years ago. The first self-inking stamp I got was a cute ladybird with a thumb up, saying "Super!". I use it to mark homework in the primary grades. It's a kind of a reward for those who do homework. But then I had to figure out how to "punish" those who don't do homework and to convince them to finish it. That's why I got another self-inking stamp, saying "No homework. Please finish it.". It's in Polish, so the parents can understand.

My students are used to the stamps, and they are happy to get the "Super" one.

This year I needed something to motivate my 2nd-grade students to behave well during classes. I bought two new self-inking stamps. After each lesson childern's behaviour is assessed and they get either "Like" or "Dislike". In this way all of the students who behave well are rewarded, and the troublemakers are punished.

Recently I have bought online wooden stamp set, but I haven't used it yet. I'm a bit dissapointed, as the stamps are rather small. Who knows, maybe the children will like them.