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MPS January Newsletter, 2019

January 15, 2019

SMART GOALS and Word of the Year

As I type this, It is hard to believe we are at the beginning of another year. 2018 felt like it happened in the blink of an eye. The holiday season is a favorite time for many. It is also a necessary reset for students and teachers. The break time can be beneficial for catching up on sleep, to-do’s and cleaning up after all seasonal celebrations. It can also help us examine what changes we are ready to make and what intentions we hold for the coming year.

Jon Gordon, best selling author and keynote speaker shares 20 Tips for a Positive New Year. Download the PDF here.

I am goal oriented, although the way I go about meeting my goals has evolved significantly through the years. I now work backwards in that I identify the desired outcome and then break down the process into smaller, more manageable steps to get to accomplish my goals. By making clear, consistent progress each day, targets become more attainable. This applies to educational goals as well as personal intentions.

The goals we are most likely to to meet are ones that are:

S - specific, significant, stretching

M - measurable, meaningful, motivational

A - agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented

R - realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented

T - time-based, time-bound, timely, tangible, trackable

(Haughey. (2018) Retrieved from https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/smart-goals.php 

There are a several motivational websites and videos dedicated to the subject of setting and achieving goals. Smart Goals, How to Make goals achievable (2018) offers great guidelines for making goals a reality. 

Word of the Year

A way to streamline goal setting is to choose a guiding word. Oneword365.com encourages us to give up making a long list of resolutions and instead select a guiding word. “Choose just one word. One word you can focus on every day, all year long. One word that sums up who you are and want you want to be or how you want to live.” This is my 6th cycle of choosing a guiding word. It's been very enlightening. This is a practice I share with students as well.  

Jon Gordon's One Word video is one of our favorites. 

Other resources to investigate are:

Choosing a word to define and guide your year-2018 edition. (2018). Apairandasparediy.com

https://apairandasparediy.com/2018/01/choosing-word-define-guide-year-2018-edition/

Tips for choosing your word of the year (2018). Mountain Modern Life

https://mountainmodernlife.com/word-of-the-year/

For help coming up with a word, check out http://oneword365.com/

What will your  2019 Guiding Word Be?

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January Book Selections:

Snowflake Bently by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

“The story of Wilson A Bentley, a simple Vermont farmer who developed a technique of microphotography to capture the grandeur and mystery of snowflakes.”

Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen

“A collection of poems that explores how animals survive the cold during the winter season. Provides additional facts about the animals and the seasons."

Website of the Month:

I found this handy and fun website, Howjsay when I was looking up words to read in the Quiz Bowl competition. I often use this site in the classroom, when the students and I come across unknown words.  I also use it for word pronunciations when I'm reading a novel. It’s an excellent resource for Quiz Bowl Practice!