OTT 108: 5 Teacher Goals for the New Year
Welcome to One Tired Teacher, Episode 108: 5 Teacher Goals for the New Year. Happy new year. It is 2021. It's hard to believe that we are actually in the new year. I felt like 2020 was dragging on for all of eternity. I know there are so many teachers out there that are feeling so thankful that we have ended 2020, and we are now moving into 2021. There's a lot of expectations for this year and a lot of hope. I also think there are probably a lot of big feelings around what we endured. We are ready for something new, change, something different. So I'm excited. I'm ready to talk about goals for the new year. And I'd like you to stick around and join me.
02:00
So let's talk about the new year. Let's talk about some things that I think are super important for teachers to keep in mind as, as we embark on something new.
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Let's talk about five teacher goals. These are my wish for you. I hope that you will embrace at least a few of these goals as you move into 2021.
Goal #1:
I want you to take care of yourself. I want us all to be kind to ourselves and to really take care of ourselves this year. And whether that means that we're going to exercise more, or relax more, or we're going to have fun or we're going to create memories. Think of those things, because life is really short. You just don't know how much time you're going to have in this lifetime. And we want to make sure that we're embracing it to its fullest.
15:00
If you're feeling beat up, or you're feeling underappreciated, or you're being treated poorly, I want you to think about what small things you can do to start moving away from that. One of the little things I'm going to do is I'm going to leave on time, every single day. I'm going to leave my job when I'm supposed to. And I'm going to put my full energy and focus into serving you all. So that's one thing that I'm going to do, what can you do?
So that was number one, take care of yourself, be kind to yourself, because not everybody is kind to us. So you have to be kind to yourself. It is vital.
Goal #2
Let go of the guilt. We've got to let go of the guilt. We're in this vicious guilt, shame cycle. And we shame one another. We see another teacher leave on time. And we think- What are they doing? They're not working as hard. Or we see somebody else doing a job, and we're like, oh, they don't have to work as much as I do. And we judge. And we shame. It's like this vicious cycle, and it happens because we are in a system of lack.
So when there's a scarcity, it brings out the worst in people. I feel like in education; we've been living in scarcity for so long. I can't even remember when we weren't in a scarcity. I think that's one of the reasons that we have that guilt and shame mentality. But we have to stop it.
One of the only ways to really let go of things and really make change happen is to change your habits; which is actually Goal number three.
Goal #3:
I want to go back to number two for a second because I want to talk about a habit that you can change. I want you to think about leaving work, at least 50% of the time. Or maybe you're going to start with 40% of the time. But make a change. Make it even if it's 10% of time. Maybe you only leave on time, one day a week. Just make a small change.
17:33
Another small habit change can be to take a day off every month. We all need mental health days. Or you can even take off one night a week. Work out a system with your spouse. Give yourself one night to just be still.
Goal #4
Practice gratitude. I talked about this at Thanksgiving because I think it's so important. But when we practice gratitude, it helps us to not focus so much on the negative things. Practicing gratitude can make big things seem more relative.
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Goal #5:
Feel your feelings. So I think it's important for us to feel our feelings. You don't have to just brush them under the rug. I get so irritated when people say just be positive. You know, it's really hard to be positive, especially when you have depression and anxiety, which I do. And so it's hard to just be positive. It's not like I'm walking around being depressed on purpose.
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So, it's okay to feel your feelings. We don't have to feel our feelings in the middle of our classroom. We don't have to feel our feelings right out for the whole world to see on Facebook. But we can definitely feel our feelings.
And while we're feeling our feelings, if we're practicing gratitude, then it actually helps us start to see the world in a better way. Like when you start thinking about the things that you're grateful for. I used to keep a gratitude journal and actually created one for students. And it's in my TPT store.
Gratitude Journal Digital and Print Bundle
So those are my five goals for you for the new year. And for myself. They don't have to be New Year's resolutions. We don't have to say that we failed if we didn't do them. We're going to start small with small habits. And we're going to allow that to make a huge transformation. That's just one small thing we can do.
If you are working on goal setting with your students, I do have goal setting task cards in my store on TPT, which are such a fun way to get kids up and moving. I think this is a really powerful activity to do with kids when you're trying to get them to think about the new year plus; it's fun. You can check that out if you are interested.
I hope that 2021 is just a year of hope and beauty and something magical. That is my hope for all of us for 2021. Happy New Year, and I will see you soon. Until next time, Sweet dreams and sleep tight
Links Mentioned in the Show:
Gratitude Journal Digital and Print Bundle
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