For those of you in the EduTwitter world, if you were online anytime over winter break, you probably saw a few of the people that you follow posting their One Word for 2018. For those of you who aren’t on Twitter, or may have missed the trend, this is kind of like a New Year’s Resolution in a one word format. On New Year’s Day I had some free time (I mean… All that we were doing was watching bowl games), and I started scrolling through posts with the hashtag (you can still find them here: #OneWord2018). There were so many great ideas. I decided to spend some time thinking about what my one word would be.

I started jotting down ideas over the course of the afternoon in my notes app. As I added ideas, I would remove things that were similar, or take away the ones that didn’t seem as strong to me. Even with that effort, I wasn’t able to cut down to just one. Today I’m going to share with you my top 4 – that’s the best I could do. As the people who I spend my time with, I hope you will help hold me accountable to these words and the idea behind them. If you notice that I’m not sticking to one of them (or more), call me out! I need your help!

• Present – For 2 years I have had an index card pinned to the wall next to my desk that says Be Present! This serves as a reminder to me of what my true purpose is. The role of assistant principal can pull me in a lot of different directions, but many of the things I have to do can be done outside of normal school hours. But my opportunity to connect with kids, to see the amazing teaching that happens in our classroom, and to witness the learning that takes place can only happen during the school day. This year I’m re-upping my goal to be present with students and teachers during the school day.
• Relentless – I have to admit this, I’m stealing this one from one of my recent Twitter follows – Hamish Brewer – who calls himself the relentless principal. He uses the word constantly as his reminder of his goals for the future success of his students. That’s a philosophy that I can get behind! This year I vow to be relentless in the quest for what’s best for every one of our students. To me, that’s one big goal!
• Growth – This is a reminder to myself that I don’t know it all. I still have things to learn, and people to learn from. This year I am challenging myself to continue to seek opportunities to learn and grow. This summer I will be attending ISTE for the first time, and I’m pumped about that. It’s also my goal to work on getting rid of some of the books in my to read pile (not by tossing them, but by reading and learning from them). Hopefully this year can continue to be one of growth for me!
• Uncomfortable – This year is my sixth as an assistant principal. I have gotten to the point that I feel pretty comfortable in the tasks I need to complete in this role. With that level of comfort, it’s time to push myself to try some new things. I have heard the phrase cognitive dissonance to describe that point where we are stepping out of our comfort zone. Being a little bit uncomfortable is where learning and growth take place. I’m trying to step outside of my comfort zone a little more this year!

So, there they are, my #FourWords2018. Hold me to them. If you see me doing something that doesn’t square with one of my words, help hold me accountable. And now, I’m going to challenge you – take some time to think about your word for this year. Don’t worry, I won’t judge you if you can’t come up with just one. Share your word in the comment section below.

Also, as I was looking at the #OneWord2018 hashtag on Twitter this week, I noticed a few teachers sharing ways that they had incorporated this as a classroom activity with their students.  I know that some of you have already begun some goal setting activities with your classroom, but a one word activity could be pretty cool. One teacher even shared the HyperDoc he created for a OneWord activity that he’s doing in his class. Check it out, maybe you could use what he created, or adapt it to meet the needs of your students.