My 2023 Word for the Year was “Priorities.”
Teaching is a profession that can be exhausting and overwhelming. There is always, ALWAYS more that you could do. And it’s “for the children,” of course, so there’s always pressure to do more. Between that and the fact that the world is full of interesting ideas and activities, I’ve always found it difficult to avoid overextending myself.
Over the first few months of the year, I developed a list of core values, as well as my priorities statement (in the photo above). Using these helped me to sort through all of the responsibilities and activities that pull at me and soak up my time to identify which ones are most important to me.
The truth is, there’s just not enough time to do everything that I care about.
So, for me, prioritizing meant figuring out what I definitely should commit to, and what I needed to say no to. And there’s some flexibility there, too. When things are going smoothly, I can do a little more than I had originally anticipated. So I have some if-possible activities, like sending cards to family and friends, that I try to get to once in awhile but are nice to do more frequently if I can. Sometimes I even return library books when they’re first due instead of renewing them!
On the other hand, sometimes things go extra NOT smoothly. Prioritizing effectively gives me more confidence in either pushing myself to accomplish a task, or apologizing and letting go of it so that I can focus on what really matters to me.
With the help of my core values and my focus on prioritization, I let go of some cherished activities, like my summer job at the amusement park and my monthly play discussion group at a local theater. Because of this, I was able to get more involved with my union, learning more about its processes at the state and national level, and advocating for local progress. I was in my very first opera over the summer, and I had a role in a stage play that even involved a swordfight! Additionally, I began classes toward my ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) endorsement for my teaching certificate.
Not everything worked out the way I wanted it to. When I wrote a proposal for a workshop at a conference, and it was accepted, I was really excited about presenting for the first time. Unfortunately, my school did not give me permission to go present, let alone offer to provide time off or compensation for travel, lodging, or other expenses. But because I’m clear about my priorities, I know that’s something that I still want to do. The theme for next year’s conference should be posted within the next few months. Even though I didn’t get to present this time, the experience of crafting a proposal that was accepted makes me confident that I can do it again.
And I definitely missed some of the things that I let go of. That knowledge helps me remember that I need to re-visit my priorities and reflect on them, because as time goes on, they change. The courses for my ESOL endorsement will finish up at the beginning of March, and I went to the play-reading group at the theater this month. Next month’s play is Waiting for Godot, and I hope to be able to attend again!
The process of regularly thinking about what really matters to me over an extended period of time was an incredibly helpful experience. I hope to be able to use that as a foundation that I can build on. That’s why I chose “sustainable” as my Word for the Year in 2024.
Teaching Reflection 