#YourEdustory #oneword

What is your "one word" that will inspire you in your classroom or school in 2015?

In 2014 our College Captains got every student and every staff member to think about their 'one word' resolution for the year.  I chose 'chill' - I needed to find work-life balance, I needed to remember to chill out a bit, I wanted to make my classroom a place for students (and me) to chill outside of lesson times.  I achieved two out of three, and made decent progress on the middle one.

For 2015 my word is '-self' - myself, yourself, ourselves, themselves.

We ask our students to be a part of so much, to participate in sport, performing arts, clubs, activities, service, and academic endeavors, and I worry that we don't let them have time to themselves.

We are bombarded with media stories and images that make us doubt our self-worth and value if we do not meet the impossible standards set by computer software and people who don't have anything to do except spend time 'looking good'.

We take responsibility for a class not doing as well on an assessment as we thought they should have, and wonder what we did wrong - I am often guilty of this!

We take on so much to prove that we are a good teacher - Masters, extra extra-curricular activities, other study, CPD out the wazoo.

We, and our students, often forget to make time for ourselves, time to just be.

So for 2015, I am focusing on -self.

I am not going to be so harsh on myself, and I am going to do my best to help my students not be so hard on themselves.

I am going to look after myself, otherwise I am no good to anybody!  I am going to help my students realise they need to look after themselves first too.

I am going to stop taking sole responsibility for my students learning, and help them to take on that responsibility themselves.

I am going to be myself, and be happy with who that is, and encourage, cajole and beg my students to be themselves too!

I am going to ensure that my classroom is somewhere that -selves can feel comfortable.