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Sustaining the Journey Archive
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March 15, 2010
First Party Goals
The goal is a critical step in the pace, because it creates a vision for a positive future and
engages the prefrontal cortex, a source of control and understanding and reflectivity, moving
the brain from a reflexive state.
It is important that goals are carefully crafted by the coach to support self-directedness rather
than other-directedness. Many issues are framed by the problem resolver as caused by others:
- My principal is asking us to collaborate, but never gives us time to do so.
- The parents don't seem to care about whether their children come to school or not.
- My students don't want to learn math.
We have no control over others, only ourselves. If we are to assist others in being self-directed,
we must offer goals that affirm their capacity to make a difference in their own lives. We must
eliminate goals that suggest we can change others. Notice the difference between the two goals
below:
What you want is to have him stop behaving that way.
OR
What you want is to be a strong classroom manager.
One is in the teacher's control and one is not. One is a first party goal and the other is about
a third party, over whom there is no control.
First party goals are a big challenge in pacing, because so many issues are perceived about
others. We only have control of our own resourcefulness. As you listen to problems this week,
listen for third party problems. Practice internally and explicitly offering first party goals
with verbs of "be," "have," and "feel."
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