Page 140 - Rižnar, Igor, and Klemen Kavčič (ed.). 2017. Connecting Higher Education Institutions with Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 140
Tatjana Koropec
And – this is the most important part – write down your goals, be-
cause writing down one’s goals creates a roadmap to their success. As
Revell and Norman (1997, 57) point out: ‘Once you know what it is you
want, you can begin to imagine what it would be like, to rehearse it in
your mind and to think about what steps you need to take. Then you
can begin to move towards it. You have, in fact, already begun to move
towards it.’
Sample Activity: Timeline
• Aim: telling a story (in the future tense, in the past tense), writ-
ing/telling an autobiographical story.
• Skills: speaking, writing.
• Time: 60–90 minutes.
Timeline is a similar exercise. The idea for this exercise comes from
the Possible Selves Theory (Markus and Nurius 1986), which empha-
sises the impact a student’s self-definition has on school behaviour.
The special contribution of the Possible Selves Theory is its focus on
the motivational power of students’ views of themselves in the future.
Students’ views of the person that they hope to become, fear they will
become, and expect to become can be powerful motivators for present
school behaviour. In parlance of Markus and Nurius (1986, 954):
Possible selves are the ideal selves that we would very much like
to become. They are also the selves that we could become and are
afraid of becoming. The possible selves that are hoped for might in-
clude the successful self, the creative self, the rich self, the thin self,
or the loved and admired self, while the dreaded possible selves
could be the alone self, the depressed self, the incompetent self,
the alcoholic self, the unemployed self, or the bag lady self.
With students, we often discuss the different possibilities suggested
by Markus and Nurius in the above quotation and the students come
up with many exciting scenarios. I ask them to think about their future
job, their dream job, or simply to imagine themselves a few years into
the future. I sometimes suggest going ten years into the future and ask
them to imagine the place where they are working, their office, the in-
terior design, co-workers, the tasks they need to complete. Then they
imagine a foreign business partner visiting the company, and they have
to speak to him/her in English! Imagine the conversation. How is your
ideal self acting in that situation?
138
And – this is the most important part – write down your goals, be-
cause writing down one’s goals creates a roadmap to their success. As
Revell and Norman (1997, 57) point out: ‘Once you know what it is you
want, you can begin to imagine what it would be like, to rehearse it in
your mind and to think about what steps you need to take. Then you
can begin to move towards it. You have, in fact, already begun to move
towards it.’
Sample Activity: Timeline
• Aim: telling a story (in the future tense, in the past tense), writ-
ing/telling an autobiographical story.
• Skills: speaking, writing.
• Time: 60–90 minutes.
Timeline is a similar exercise. The idea for this exercise comes from
the Possible Selves Theory (Markus and Nurius 1986), which empha-
sises the impact a student’s self-definition has on school behaviour.
The special contribution of the Possible Selves Theory is its focus on
the motivational power of students’ views of themselves in the future.
Students’ views of the person that they hope to become, fear they will
become, and expect to become can be powerful motivators for present
school behaviour. In parlance of Markus and Nurius (1986, 954):
Possible selves are the ideal selves that we would very much like
to become. They are also the selves that we could become and are
afraid of becoming. The possible selves that are hoped for might in-
clude the successful self, the creative self, the rich self, the thin self,
or the loved and admired self, while the dreaded possible selves
could be the alone self, the depressed self, the incompetent self,
the alcoholic self, the unemployed self, or the bag lady self.
With students, we often discuss the different possibilities suggested
by Markus and Nurius in the above quotation and the students come
up with many exciting scenarios. I ask them to think about their future
job, their dream job, or simply to imagine themselves a few years into
the future. I sometimes suggest going ten years into the future and ask
them to imagine the place where they are working, their office, the in-
terior design, co-workers, the tasks they need to complete. Then they
imagine a foreign business partner visiting the company, and they have
to speak to him/her in English! Imagine the conversation. How is your
ideal self acting in that situation?
138
