Educators are my favorite species. They not only work incredibly hard all hours of the day to make an impact in the lives of those they teach, they are also constantly working to improve themselves as well.
Each year I taught, I wanted to make my classroom, lessons, and engagement better. I was always trying to level-up. I still am. I made resolutions each school year and again at the start of the new year. I love those imaginary reset buttons! I shared my resolutions each year with my students and hung them on the classroom wall. Why? Because I knew my students would hold me accountable. And boy did they! I didn’t hit them all, but I hit more than I would have if I didn’t share them.
Below are 20 Resolutions I believe will help you and your school level-up and make an even greater impact.
Which of the following resolutions are you nailing? Scared of? Challenged by?
Here are 20 resolutions I believe every educator & administrator should make:
- Subscribe to an Educational Podcast: Podcasts are booming and for good reason! They are a fantastic way to learn and level-up. They are fun to listen to, too! Podcasts are the ONLY form of social media that are safe to consume while driving. You can make your commute fun and learn ways to make a difference in students’ lives. There are lots of great educational podcasts out there. I recommend my podcast, The Wired Educator Podcast where I interview amazing educators from around the world. You will love it.
- Give Better Feedback to Students: As educators and leaders, we need to closely re-evaluate every opportunity we have to connect with students. One that is surprisingly overlooked is the feedback we give on projects, presentations and assignments. We need to give more meaningful and valuable feedback. The best feedback is face-to-face communication so there are no misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and where questions can be asked. Our primary purpose with the feedback should be, “How do I want the student to feel after receiving this feedback?” Some teachers struggle with this approach. They see themselves as grade-givers rather than student-growers. Re-evaluate the feedback you give. Perhaps you are knocking it out of the park. Perhaps you need to hit reset and redesign what you hope to gain. The same is true of administrators and evaluations of teachers. Great feedback seeks: growth, understanding, and an opportunity to connect.
- Help to Build a Positive School Culture: Your words and actions contribute to the culture of your building and school district. You are a leader and influencer even if you don’t think you are. You are. Are your words and actions improving the culture of your school district? Are you waiting for someone else to fix the problems? Are you better at pointing out the problems or leading solutions? It starts with you. Don’t wait for someone else. Start.
Make Your Class Open 24 Hours a Day from Anywhere in the World: Turn your class in to a 7-Eleven. Use Google Classroom or other Learning Management Systems to help students who are absent, traveling, or need to see things for a second or third time. Kids can learn anytime from anywhere. They can even do work on snow days.- Build a New Community in Your School: Look at the students in your school. Which groups of students don’t have a place to share their talents and feel like a contributor? Find them and build that community. You don’t need to be the expert. Just identify what is missing, talk to your administrator, throw a poster on the wall, make an announcement and get going. Maybe it is a group of video gamers, lego builders, robot drivers, or a book or food club. Ask your students and help them feel a contributor to their school.
- Add a Portion of Challenge Based Learning to Your Year: Call it what you want, Project Based Learning, SOLE, Problem Based Learning or CBL, but add a little to your school year. Students need to be making and thinking and collaborating and solving. Check out startSOLE or Apple’s Challenge Based Learning: A Classroom Guide. You don’t need to change everything, just add a little. It goes a long way. You will love it, and it is the future.
- Collaborate with Your Colleagues to Build Dynamic Lessons and Units: Work with the other teachers in your building to collaborate on lesson plans to increase engagement and design interdisciplinary thematic units. It’s fun for you and the students. The most memorable lessons I ever experienced were working with my colleagues. You can even plan remotely using PlanBook.com, Apple Numbers or Google Sheets.
- Take Less Home: Living in constant overwhelm and frustration is not normal nor admirable. Everyone is busy. Teaching is fun and noble. It’s time to get efficient, take less home, and have more pride and joy being a teacher. Design a curriculum plan for your class and change just a small percentage each year rather than constantly trying to redo everything. Take less work home. Really. What are you taking home anyway? What are you trying to assess and measure?Try to do more in class with the students in the form of labs, workshops, presentations and SOLE projects and less 19th century grading of tests and quizzes.
- Rethink Homework: “But students need the practice!” Really? I’m not telling you not to give homework, but I am asking you to rethink what you are sending home. Check out the book Ditch That Homework by Alice Keeler and Matt Miller for ideas. Talk with fellow teachers and admins. Rethink homework. Please.
- Use Technology to Create! Technology does not need to be used the majority of the time. What a misconception, but when it is used, it should be used to create content, and only briefly to consume. Examine how you are using tech in your classroom. Don’t use devices as electronic babysitters having students research for the majority of a period on their own. Have multiple students work on one device. Offer your students amazing ways to create and publish what they know. Create digital textbooks, videos, presentations, animations, and more! Get going. If your students are mostly on websites clicking answers, well… you’re using it poorly.
- Start a Blog, Podcast or YouTube Channel: Take all of the great things you and your students are doing and share them with the world on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, a blog, YouTube or write a book. Everyone benefits. Start this, this year! I highly encourage you to start a blog, podcast, or YouTube Channel.
- Attend a Conference: It is always awesome to get out of your classroom and learn something new, get inspired, and apply it. I recommend returning and giving a presentation to your building and maybe even your board. If you don’t return and apply it, then maybe you should let someone else go in your place. Apply. Heck, don’t just attend one! You should Apply to Speak at a Conference: Share what you know! Don’t have anything special enough to share? Then it’s time to level-up and get after it. I’m serious.
- Nominate a Colleague: Yes, find someone in your district you admire and nominate them for some recognition. Why? Because they deserve it, and when one educator is looked upon positively, all educators are looked upon positively.
- Collaborate with a Colleague: Open the door to your classroom both figuratively and literally and find ways to collaborate with other teachers. I suggest creating an interdisciplinary thematic unit with a culminating activity with other teachers at your grade level. It’s fun, memorable, and good for students.
- Lead: Rather than complain about something you don’t like, create a solution and begin implementing it. That’s called leading. We are all educational leaders. Need help? Read my book Along Came a Leader, or one of my favorites, Start. Right. Now.
- Start a YouTube Channel for Your Classroom: Hey, it’s all about video. I found myself watching someone cook a fish dinner the other day on Facebook. I watched the whole thing. I don’t like to cook, and I hate fish. My point is… video done well can be engaging, and your class could be open to students 24/7. Do this now.
- Get Connected with Other Educators: Build Your Personal Learning Network (PLN) either online by using Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or reach out to educators in your building, district, or state. Share what you know. Learn from them. Show other educators how to do this.
- Publish Student Work: Find unique and powerful ways to share and publish the work your students do in your classroom. Give them authentic audiences and genuine purposes to create. Build a website, start a podcast, host a “fair”, publish them on a blog, YouTube, or SeeSaw. Have them create digital books as published authors using Book Creator or Apple’s Pages. Publish their work.
- Contact Every Family You Teach: Seriously, forget the email. Pick up the phone or send a postcard home to every family you teach. Find something positive to say about every student and offer them a personal challenge in your class. Let them know you care about them. When you do have to contact home for something less than positive it will be easier because you have already talked with them about something positive.
Read an Educational Book: There are so many great educational books out there that will change your career. Grab one and see what a difference it makes. Looking for suggestions? Try Tom Murray’s new book, Personal and Authentic: Designing Learning Experiences that Impact a Lifetime. It is awesome! Tom is an amazing educational speaker and you will love his book. Also check out my podcast for links to fantastic educational books mentioned by my guests.
Bonus: Are you doing something great in education? Fill out this form! Are you #Wired2Teach? Are you doing something amazing in education? I want to know. I want to recognize listeners of the podcast and share it out to the world on www.WiredEducator.com, and I may even choose to interview you on the show. Check the show notes for a link to a form so you can submit your EDUawesomeness. Here is a link to the form: https://forms.gle/ovd1cZjd7YCx1Vyg7
What did I miss? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
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Kelly Croy is an author, speaker and educator. If you’d like to learn more about Kelly, or invite him to your school or conference to speak please send him an email. • Listen to Kelly’s other podcast, The Future Focused Podcast and subscribe. • Subscribe to The Wired Educator Podcast with over 150 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Visit Kelly’s website at www.KellyCroy.com. • Looking for a dynamic speaker for your school’s opening day? • Consider Kelly Croy at www.KellyCroy.com • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader for a school book study or your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook. • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter. • Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram
Kyle Pearce is a former high school math teacher and now the K-12 Mathematics Consultant with the Greater Essex County District School Board, where he uncovers creative ways to spark curiosity and fuel sense making in mathematics. He is the co-host of the Making Math Moments That Matter Podcast [makemathmoments.com/podcast] and founder of the websites TapIntoTeenMinds.com and MathIsVisual.com.
Mat is an Apple Distinguished Educator, Class of 2013 and is also a senior lecturer in Initial Teacher Education at the University if South Wales. A physical education teacher by trade, and now works closely with future teachers and established educators.
Ken currently holds an M.A. in Education with a specialization in Educational Technology as well as New Media Design and Production. He has worked as an Educator for over 14 years and most recently taught technology at the Middle School level. As a part of his active involvement within the Educational Technology community, Ken is an Apple Distinguished Educator and a Google Certified Innovator. Ken has worked extensively at the policy level and was named to the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction’s 
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