Last week I shared my anti-resolutions for 2019. And even though I skipped making classroom resolutions, I still chose a word of the year. In fact, last year was the first time I’d ever chosen a word to guide my year. So I wanted to share my reflections on the 2019 word of the year and share this year’s word.
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Reflecting
In 2019, my word of the year was “gratitude.” In education, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Teaching involves extra duties, grading papers, and making a thousand decisions a minute. All of those activities can be overwhelming, which can lead to feelings of frustration and burn out.
However, by keeping gratitude at the front of my mind, I was able to spend more time focused on the positive and less time stressing over everything else. Here are some ways that “gratitude” helped guide my 2019.
- In February, the darkest of months in education, I was able to stay sane.
- Thinking abut gratitude helped me frame and understand the kind of teacher I want to be: a grateful teacher. This may not be “cool,” but it’s who I want to be for myself and my students.
- Focusing on “gratitude” also impacted my actions. I was better able to model gratitude with students. Also, I was more frequently expressing gratitude to my colleagues.
Choosing A New Word of the Year
While I already have classroom goals, I felt like “gratitude helped me re-focus and renew. So when I chose a word for this year, I wanted another word that would re-energize me both inside and beyond the classroom. When brainstorming this word, I only had two criteria:
- Simplicity
- Positivity
In a world that’s crowed and complicated and tending toward entropy, choosing a word of the year should simplify rather than complicate things. Similarly, a word of the year should provide a positive touchpoint.
For these reasons, I chose the word sustainable. Teaching asks a lot of teachers. And one of the hardest parts of teaching is finding a way to balance the personal and the professional. Here are some ways I’m looking to create a sustainable life:
- By making grading a sustainable practice
- By finding a way to incorporate some healthy routines in my personal life
- And by working to use Moore English as a platform for helping other teachers find sustainable solutions for their classrooms
Your Word. Your Year.
With 2020 underway, how do you want to spend the year? Thinking about the tenets of simplicity and positivity, what word will encapsulate your vision for the new year? Let us know in the comments!
