Lesson Objectives

• Understand why SMART goals don't fully serve educational needs

• Learn the ALIGNED framework for creating meaningful educational goals

• Practice transforming traditional goals into ALIGNED ones

Do Now

Before we get started, try this AI prompt to analyze your current goals:

You are an experienced educational goal analyst. Review the following educational goal and analyze it through these lenses:
1. Is it truly measurable in a meaningful way?
2. Does it focus on student growth rather than just achievement?
3. Does it consider individual student contexts?
4. Can it be applied across different learning environments?

Goal to analyze: [Insert your current goal]

Provide specific suggestions for improving this goal using the ALIGNED framework:
- Achievable/Assessable
- Longitudinal
- Individualized
- Generalizable
- Non-restrictive
- Educationally-relevant
- Data-informed

Ask me clarifying questions as necessary until you are 95% certain you can provide me with expert-level guidance.

What We’re Working with Today

Today we'll revolutionize how we write educational goals. Forget everything you learned about SMART goals - they were created for corporate performance reviews, not nurturing young minds. Can you believe it? And this framework has been around since 1981. We're stepping into the future with a new framework that actually reflect the complexity and beauty of education.

I decided SMART goals need a facelift. I came up with what I believe is a stronger alternative that actually addresses the needs in education. Introducing the ALIGNED framework:

I Do, We Do, You Do

I Do: Here’s What I Created

This week was mid-winter break for me and I've been knee-deep in automation, building an AI-powered goal-writing assistant using n8n workflows. The system helps educators generate ALIGNED goals, considering each student's unique journey. It's been an exciting week off, filled with coding, testing, and refining the system to make goal-writing both more efficient and more meaningful.

Tools I used:

• n8n for workflow automation

• Custom AI agents for goal analysis and transformation

• ALIGNED framework

• Grok for quick troubleshooting (regardless of how you feel about Elon Musk, it’s hard to deny that a completely free Grok with Deep Research abilities is a great deal right now—even if he’s just making it free to spite Sam Altman lol)

We Do: Let’s Build This Together

Follow this step-by-step guide to transform your goals:

1. Start with your current goal

2. Map each component to the ALIGNED framework

3. Identify gaps, especially in longitudinal tracking and individualization

4. Expand the goal to be more generalizable across contexts

5. Add non-restrictive elements that promote inclusion

6. Connect to meaningful academic outcomes

7. Specify data collection methods

You Do: Your Mini Task for the Week

Now it's your turn! Take one of your current goals and transform it using this AI prompt:

Act as an educational goal transformation specialist. Help me transform this traditional educational goal into an ALIGNED goal. Consider:

Original goal: [Insert your goal]

For each ALIGNED component:
1. Achievable/Assessable: Define realistic measurement criteria
2. Longitudinal: Add progress monitoring elements
3. Individualized: Include student-specific adaptations
4. Generalizable: Ensure cross-context application
5. Non-restrictive: Promote inclusive access
6. Educationally-relevant: Connect to meaningful outcomes
7. Data-informed: Specify evidence collection

Provide the transformed goal and explain your reasoning for each change. Describe what you considered and why you made the decisions you made.

Think-Pair-Share

• Think of 3 goals you currently use that could benefit from the ALIGNED framework

• Pair up with a colleague to review and transform each other's goals

• Share your transformed goals with our community of educators and connect with other Edumators who are transforming their classrooms with AI and automation.

Exit Ticket

Looking for a live hands-on course on AI and Automation? Join the AI & Automation for Educators Course now! We will be hosting our course on Maven with our first cohort starting on March 3, 2025.

Do you know a parent of a student with special needs that wants to learn how to better advocate for their child? Share our newly launched SPED Code Advocacy Guide blog with them!

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