New Commitments

Happy 2011!

It's great that we've been blessed to see the beginning of another year! This is the time we normally set resolutions for the new year on things we'd like to do better or different. For educators, resolutions mean something else. We've already made a commitment to students at the beginning of the school year and we won't abandon them. What this time offers us is a break/opportunity to disengage [for a moment] so we can re-engage and come back stronger.

This break offers a gift of reflection - an opportunity to examine our practices and philosophies to determine if we need to make changes for student learning. We place so much emphasis on resolutions because it's a big deal to commit and then to change - and seeing long term changes makes a bigger impression. What would that change look like for you?

• Committing to making regular contact to parents with the purpose of impacting a difference in student behavior and habits
• Committing to changing a classroom practice that's been routine for you but may not be in best interest for students
• Committing to using a 2.0 tool that would be a stretch for you to learn/integrate but would really show kids the changing/shrinking world they live in
• Committing to connecting to other educators and engaging in best practices dialogue

We wake up and put new efforts in place reach kids. This is a great time to look objectively at what we do and think and commit to doing better for the students!