September: Time to Make a Resolution

I know many teachers across the nation began their new school year this month.  Educators in my district, though, have nearly a month and half of school under their belts.  Although we may bemoan the end of summer vacation, we love starting a new school year, and many of us make and implement ‘new year’s resolutions’ during August and September.  The change in seasons can also bring about the desire to begin anew or implement changes in our professional lives as well as our personal ones.

Through reflection, we begin to plan our resolutions for the coming year even before we wind up the old year.  The reflection and planning comes about when we learn new strategies or programs. A teacher or administrator might learn about a new technology tool and begin reflecting on how it could enhance the learning of a particular unit or topic during the next school year.   Other times, our resolutions are developed during an internal debrief after a lesson ‘disaster’ in the classroom or in a meeting.   As a teacher, I was anxious for a new year to begin so that I could put in place some new ideas and units.  As a district administrator, I love to hear teachers talk about what they plan to implement in the upcoming year, and I love working on new district initiatives and programs.  

I have a new year’s resolution that I began reflecting upon last year when serendipity made an appearance.  The term ‘elevator speech’ has been around awhile. It is a reference to having a brief speech about your company’s or organization’s positive attributes that you could convey to someone in the time it takes to ride an elevator between floors.  I had read an article that urged educators, especially administrators, to develop their elevator speed and then use it every chance they could.  Doing so would ensure that people and community that the schools served would stay informed.  A week or so later, I saw another reference to the idea of an elevator speech.  I asked myself, “What is my elevator speech?”  

My resolution, then, is to develop at least three elevator speeches for this current school year.  And share them as often as I can.  I will share them with you in future posts.  

Do you have an elevator speech? How many of you also have resolutions for the new school year or the new season? Share with me in the comments.  

 The idea for this post came to me from Renee Boss, an educator, writer, and friend, who wrote a resolution post as part of the National Blogging Collaborative Post of the Month.  If you are interested in blogging or learning to use blogs in the classroom, then check out the resources on their web site.