I was challenged by my #edumatch friend, Margaret Sisler to write a reflective post for New Year’s and thought, wow, no pressure!  Then I came across this wonderful sketchnote by Sylvia Duckworth and figured this would be a great way to organize my thoughts.

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2 Things I do well and will continue to do

2015 has been a great year for me in my professional learning journey.  I have connected with so many educators and have developed a very strong professional learning network (PLN), with many educators around the world; many of whom I have never met face to face.  I will continue to look for ways to foster connections with other like-minded and passionate educators in 2016.

I will also continue to practice leadership qualities that I think are important: empathy, humility, passion, servitude, co-learning, as well as continue to challenge established norms and not accept, “because we’ve always done that” as a reason to not change or innovate.  I don’t know that I do all of this well now necessarily, but I will certainly strive to continue to try and develop these skills in 2016.

Something I want to STOP doing

Feeling guilty!  I am a good Catholic that way!  I often feel like I’m not doing enough or that I need to be or act a certain way in order to fulfill everyone’s needs.  I need to be able to say “no” sometimes and not feel badly.  I need to accept my imperfections and not feel the need to do things because I feel I should.

1 Person you want to improve your relationship with

Myself. I saw this poster and loved it:

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If I take care of myself, then relationships with my family and friends, who mean the world to me, will definitely follow suit.

6 Things I will do this year to step out of my comfort zone

  1. I will take courses that challenge me
  2. I will apply for opportunities and put myself out there even if I don’t think I’ll be accepted
  3. I will try on a new professional role
  4. I will practice silence: listen more and talk less
  5. I will try 1 new thing a week (and if it happens to be once a month, I won’t feel guilty about that).
  6. I will engage in more conversations with strangers

Tag.

You’re it!  

Why not write a reflective post for 2015 or a New Year’s Resolution post?  Would love to read it!