New Year’s Resolutions

Maggie Schumacher contributed today's thinking. Click here for more of Maggie's thinking.

Each year I’m constantly reflecting on those things I that I would like to change or incorporate into my teaching and coaching practices. As 2015 comes to a close, even though we’re mid-school year, I’d like to take some time to reflect on five of my priorities for the year 2016.

1. Balance work and the rest of my life.

It’s so easy to let work spill over into the rest of my life. I often will find myself responding to work emails at any hour of the day, including weekends and time spent on vacation. Advances in technology haven’t made this easy for me as I have access to my email at any given moment, and I feel this sense of guilt if I go too long without responding. Additionally, there is always time spent on Sunday afternoons engaging in activities such as lesson planning and paper grading. A goal I have for this year is to shut off from my work mode for a few hours each evening during the week. On the weekend, my goal is to avoid work with the exception of any last minute weekly planning I need to take care of to be prepared for the week ahead. It’s too easy to let work overtake my life, and my goal is to limit my working at home so I’m less inclined to burn out. I think I will find much more enjoyment during my evenings and weekends as a result of this change!

2. Balance my teaching and my coaching.

During the school day, I find it difficult to balance my roles of teacher and coach. My position includes teaching for a third of my day. I teach a reading intervention class, an intervention group, and a homeroom advisory group. I am allotted one prep period related to teaching, and the remainder of my day is spent in my literacy coaching position. I find that I often will push my own teaching, planning, and grading to the side in order to let my coaching role take priority. Creating your own schedule can be both a blessing and a curse. I’m the type who likes to make sure everyone else has what they need before I turn my focus to meeting my own needs and as a result my plans get rushed and my students don’t get the thoughtful plans and immediate feedback they deserve. Another goal for this coming year is to make my own teaching a priority so that I can best support my students’ learning and growth.

3. Incorporate new teaching strategies into classroom instruction.

I often will attend conferences and come away with so many new ideas and suggestions for best practices and ways to improve student engagement. I typically share my notes out with others and pass on ideas I’ve learned about, but days or months will pass and I will find I’ve yet to incorporate some of these great ideas into my own teaching practices. My goal for this year is to try one new teaching strategy or educational tool each month. If I don’t make the effort to use new strategies in my own teaching practices, things can get repetitive and stagnant, and it’s important to try new ways to engage students in learning. There are so many fabulous ideas that I’ve yet to discover!

4. Reflect more.  

Some teaching days can be busy and chaotic. I know I’m not the only one who feels it’s a challenge some days to find a moment to make it to the bathroom, so how can we expect to find some time to reflect throughout or at the end of the day? I always say that being reflective is important, but at the same time, I don’t know that I always give this action priority.

Recently when reading The Power of Ted: The Empowerment Dynamic, I came upon the following conversation:

“I’ve come here to think. You know, just to sit and reflect.”

“That’s good to do from time to time. It’s all too easy to run through life without reflecting. Life’s lessons can be lost if you never pause.”

This really jumped out at me and was an excellent reminder that it’s important to make time to reflect on the days and the moments. I don’t need to set aside an hour to reflect, but a few minutes here or there. I could keep a journal or notebook of ideas or thoughts I have as they occur to me. I could survey my students to receive feedback on lessons periodically to hear from them how they feel things are going or if there are ways I could make learning more engaging for them. My goal is to try to do a little of both to incorporate more time for reflection this coming year.

5. Worry less.

There is a quote I’ve heard that states, “The less you worry, the less complicated life becomes.” We could easily get hung up on so many things throughout the day - big or small. My final goal for this year is to let things go. I’m going to try to not worry about things that I cannot control. Worrying will not help with any problems I may encounter; instead I will focus on putting my energy into finding solutions.

Whatever your own resolutions may be, I hope the year 2016 brings you peace and happiness!