We’ve talked about my love of television before. Grey’s Anatomy inspired this post. And this post is about lessons I learned from my quarantine binge watch. In the same manner, today’s post is inspired by Bones. The episode “The Lady on the List” finds the characters making professional and personal bucket lists. That got me thinking about my professional bucket list and how teachers can use bucket lists in the classroom!
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Bucket Lists for Student Writing
Writing a bucket list at the beginning of the year can be a great way to build classroom community and get to know students. A bucket list can also be a fun way to encourage students to set goals and intentions for the new year. Here are some other back-to-school writing ideas:
- One Pagers
- Personal Coat of Arms
- First Impressions Book Review
- Letter Writing (read the blog post here)
- 5 Ideas for Writing at the Beginning of the Year
Similarly, bucket lists can be a good way to bring closure to the end of the school year! Writing a bucket list can help students set intentions for the summer and can help students reflect on the previous year. I, for one, wish I’d had this idea earlier so I could use this as a way to wrap up distance learning. For seniors, a bucket list can also help them prepare for the future.
Bucket Lists for Professional Development
Bucket lists can also provide a frame for professional development. Individual teachers can use a bucket list to establish long-term professional goals and aspirations. In this way, a bucket list becomes a way to establish intentions and brainstorm future plans. Writing down these goals is an important part of accountability.
In addition, it’s important for teachers to share their goals with one another. The best professional development comes from collaboration. And bucket lists can facilitate this conversation too! Producing a bucket list can help curriculum or content teams, departments, or buildings estabish a shared vision.
My Bucket List
In an effort to put my money where my mouth is, I want to share the top 3 entries in professional bucket list.
- Firstly, to continue working toward anti-racist education. I don’t intend to be glib or cute by including this on my bucket list, but a bucket list is something that marks what we want to happen in our lifetimes. And advocating for anti-racist education is the work of a lifetime.
- Secondly, to continue working toward establishing and maintaining a school-life balance. This relates to my word of the year, which is “sustainable.” The pandemic has made finding this balance even more difficult, which is why this is an important part of my bucket list. I wrote more about this process in this post about finding peace of mind when the world is in pieces.
- Finally, I want to spend more time filling the buckets of other teachers. To do this, I will spend more time expressing my gratitude to fellow teachers and support staff.
Overall, bucket lists are a fun, fresh way to engage students in the classroom and to encourage professional development with teachers. My bucket list writing prompts can be found here. Let me know how Moore English can continue supporting you and filling your bucket!
