Turning the page.

I don’t get too excited about New Year’s. In fact, I find it pretty depressing. I have never really gotten into the whole “new year’s resolutions” thing, either (see rant below). I think we miss the mark on the idea of turning the page so that we can have a place to apply our learning.

If you are painting or drawing in a sketchbook, you turn the page to have more opportunity to practice: to apply the skills you are improving. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. But you keep turning the page with intentionality – with purpose. This is a better example of personal growth: the continual practice and evolution of skills, rather than a once a year promise that you know will not stick.

Yesterday, I bought a new calendar and turned the page to a new month and a new year. It’s not a clean slate and I won’t be a “new me” in this new year. I am me and I am learning and growing. Each day is a day where I can be more intentional about living my values, where I can be purposeful in pushing my growing edge, and where I can choose to turn the page in order to apply new skills.

As we turn the page on the sketchbook of our lives to a new day in a new year, I wish you peace, patience, and gratitude as you follow your path.

*Rant about new year’s resolutions and education

I have been in education for thirty years and I have taught at every level from K-12. Every January, teachers in every grade level give students a writing prompt to write about their new year’s resolution. These writing pieces are often displayed on the walls of the school until the next writing piece, which will probably be about having a dream like Martin Luther King, Jr.

Just ask yourself, how is this making our students better writers? It’s not.

What is the purpose of the writing? Is it to make students better writers? If so, then let’s have a real talk about teaching writing in a systematic and explicit way. Is it to capture new year’s resolutions? If so, why not write it on a post-it note and keep teaching? And is this really a writing prompt that every kid needs to write about every January? Aren’t there more important things to write about? What about climate change? What about letting them write about their own metaphor for a new year? What about letting them write a blog post about whatever is of interest to them?

If we are going to live our lives with purpose and with intentionality, then we need to bring that purpose and intentionality into planning for our classroom experiences. Our kids are craving an opportunity to engage in meaningful and thoughtful ways. They want to be heard and valued and they want their words, their thoughts, and their time to make a difference. So should we.