So, as an interesting exercise, all of the New Tech faculty at the school participated in a very short book study. Apparently, they used to do this more often, and I’m grateful that this little book only took me about an hour to read. I don’t have time to read chapters of a large book on a weekly basis and report back with my findings.
Anyway, the book was “One Word That Will Change Your Life”, an intriguing book that essentially has you do some reflecting and pick just one word that will be kind of like your theme for the year. This word can be something you keep posted around so you can remember it and keep it in mind as you go about your life.
It’s a pretty neat and effective concept. The requirements for this word were very loose. It could represent some sort of goal or it could even be a simple idea to keep in mind. The word could be a verb, a noun, an adjective, or whatever you wanted. I decided immediately that my word should definitely be a verb, because my word should be something that can be reflected in not only my state of being, but also in what I do.
It was actually pretty tough to pick just one word, though. My heart immediately gravitated toward “justice” as my one word, though upon reflection, it didn’t really seem to fit my life and career the way I wanted. Justice is awesome, and my love of Japanese superhero shows reminds me of that, but it’s a tough idea to apply to what I need and what I should keep in mind as I struggle through the year. The book actually suggests that you look up and pray to God, and I guess he’s supposed to make your word magically come to you. (LOL)
I then thought about “express” as my one word. I’m kind of an introvert, and that fact would make one think that teaching was a horrible career choice for me. That may be true. I don’t know, but what I do know is that I need to express myself more often. I’ve gotten better at expressing my opinion and speaking up with things need to be said. It’s still something I need to work on, so that was a strong contender for a while.
“Dare” was the next word that threatened to oust “express”. I want to embolden myself, to dare to be different, to dare to speak out, to dare to challenge myself and my students. It even reminded me of that Gorillaz song, but it still seemed off. I looked deep into myself and tried to pick out something that encompassed all of these ideas. I needed something broad and yet active, something that could take multiple meanings, depending on context. My mind honed in on one word that Kamen Rider uses all the time. “Henshin!”
Transform! Perfect. It encompasses what I want from myself and from my students, and I can even add in my previous ideas for my one word. I aim to grow, evolve, and adapt as I struggle through my first year of teaching, to become a beacon of justice that isn’t afraid to express himself and that dares to challenge himself and his students to the rigors of mathematics education. Not only must I transform in order to become the teacher that I want to be, but I must strive to transform my students’ hearts and minds as well.
At our after-school meeting last week, we had to report back and talk about our words. We then got to make some sort of artsy representation of that word to hang up somewhere as a reminder. I wanted mine to be cool-looking, but I’m not really an artist. I got really focused and obsessed with it that night, and I ended up using GeoGebra to make it for some reason. (Our curriculum coordinator commented on how it’s funny that you can tell what everybody teaches by how they approached making this representation of their respective word.)
I wanted to make it truly representative of myself. I added in the kanji characters for henshin, as well as the symbols for Kamen Rider Black and Black RX, since they’re my favorite Riders. I didn’t care that it would make me look nerdy or possibly bring my weeaboo hobbies to light. Up to this point, I’ve been very cautious about revealing my power level to my colleagues and students, but part of this transformation process requires me to dare to be myself.
Anyway, here it is. It’s not a work of art, by any means, but I can safely say that it’s 100% me, so I’m proud of it.
I highly suggest doing this One Word process. It’s great for reflecting and setting a theme for the year. It’s broader and stronger than a resolution and can’t as easily be given up or broken.