One Word

The night before we return back to school from Christmas break, I’m sitting here on my couch thinking about a lot of things. I keep seeing people post their resolutions for this year. The thing about resolutions is that we all know they seem to kind of fade away after a little bit. We all start out with great intentions to do these amazing things and change our lives, but somewhere down the road it fades away. For me, it’s incredibly frustrating to have this happen over and over. I think one of the issues with it is that we set these lofty goals that seem like a great idea, but it takes a drastic life change to achieve them. Now, I’m not saying resolutions are pointless or unattainable. A person may not drastically change his/her life, but there is some good to make resolutions and reflecting on yourself each year.

One of the things I kept seeing on Twitter was the hashtag #OneWord. I decided to look into to see what it was all about. What I took away from it was that you set one word that is going to drive you. One word that you’re going to reach. This idea is from Jon Gordon. I didn’t go too deep into, but from what I saw I thought it was a great idea. I decided was going to choose my one word and that word was going to be the driving force behind me this year. I just wanted to take the chance to kind of explain my word and why I chose it. I’m going to my word on my mirror that way everyday I start out by seeing my one word.

My #OneWord for 2017 is: Grow

Grow. I started out by looking up the definition of grow, and the first one pertains to physically growing and maturing. Well, that’s not exactly the grow I’m looking for. I dug a little deeper and found two that I liked. You know, I’m not that great with ELA stuff, so the example sentences below helped tremendously. ;)

Grow -  to arise from as a natural development from an original happening, circumstance, or source.

-  to increase gradually in size, amount, etc.; become greater or larger; expand.

I think we all know the type of grow I’m talking about. It’s not physical growth, but it’s more emotional growth. There are many different aspects of my life that I want to grow in. One of the areas I want to GROW in is as a teacher. One of the most important aspects of my life is my job. You all know that I’m a teacher. I’m smack dab right in the middle of my second year of teaching. My goal is to continue to grow and become a better a teacher. I don’t know everything there is to know about teaching 4th grade math. Do I think I do a decent job at? Yeah. I would want my own child in my class, but I know that there is so much room for improvement. I don’t want to fall victim to complacency and think I know everything. I don’t. As a teacher we should never stop trying to learn new things, and I want to learn new things. I learn new things everyday at work. I want to continue that, and the word GROW is vastly important to me as a teacher. I want to listen and take in advice from other teachers, but I also share knowledge and experiences that I have with other teachers. I believe that I have some great knowledge that is worthy of sharing with teachers that are just starting out. That’s a big step for me, but I want to grow in that way of being a teacher.

Another area I want to GROW is my relationships. Each day I encounter hundreds of people. It just happens that a majority of those people are children. My students are one aspect of relationships I want to grow. We have already finished half of the school year in what seems like a blink of an eye. I know there are kiddos that I haven’t reached or that I haven’t really developed that relationship with this year. I want make that a focus for the second half of the year. I want to reach those kids that I might have missed, but I also want to continue to develop the relationships that I do have with kids. That doesn’t just mean current 4th graders. I love seeing my old kids from last year. I want to continue to grow with them. There are younger kids that I see all the time that know who I am, but I don’t them. I want to take the opportunity to learn their name and something about them. It’s my favorite part of the job, and I want to develop the relationships with my students as much as I can before they’re gone!

A big aspect of relationships is my family. I’m very fortunate to have such an incredible family that is supportive and amazing. We all get along, and that is a rare thing. We all have our health and we’re all off doing amazing things. I love my family, and I love the relationships that I have built with each member. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t grow with them. I’m lucky to live 5 minutes from my parents. To some people, that may be terrible and not far enough, but I can see my parents anytime I want to. That’s a blessing that not everyone can say, and I love spending time with them. So, when I just come over on Saturday morning just because, I cherish it because I get to spend time with them & talk with them. I’m also very lucky to have a brother and sister. I think most of you know that I love my sister, and I would do anything for her. She’s awesome, and my best friend. What gets lost in the shuffle, is that I feel the same way about my brother. The relationship I have with my sister is different from the relationship I have with my brother. I love my brother. My brother is a complete and total badass, and I have been his number one fan forever. My favorite thing to do was to watch him in high school do his thing, and I was so proud of him. He has grown up to be a great man, and I like to them I played a little part in that. Unfortunately, I don’t get to see him as often as my sister. That’s partially my fault. I haven’t made the best effort to attend his out of town games (car issues), but that’s no excuse. I want to grow in both my relationships with my brother and sister. I love them both very much.

Lastly, I want to grow in my personal relationships. I’m a huge homebody, and the idea of sitting on my couch alone doesn’t deter me in anyway. I like have some alone time, but it has hindered my personal relationships. I want GROW in my relationships with my friends. I don’t see them that often, but a lot of that falls on me. I want to be more active and be willing to go out more places with them because I’m missing out on a lot of things. I would love to have a girlfriend. Someone that I can just talk to all day and never get sick of it. Someone just to do life with. Problem is it’s hard to meet someone while sitting on the couch. So, I also want to just GROW as a person. I don’t want to spend my life alone. I want to get out there and meet people, and that involves me taking risks.

I have no idea what is in store for me in 2017. What I do know is that I’m going to focus one word: Grow. I want it to drive me in everything that I do. I want to become a better teacher, son, brother, & friend. I’m almost 25 years, but I know that I have a whole lot of room to still grow in every aspect of my life.

What’s your one word going to be?