As my friend Josh Stumpenhorst and I were noticing today, most of the end-of-the-year posts this week involve some kind of list. I am guilty of doing something similar on my Edutopia blog, but I felt it would be redundant to do a list here, too.
It’s fairly easy to do an end-of-the-year countdown or list. Aside from seeking out the items to place on the list, not much thought needs to go into these lists. Web analytics makes this even easier (most viewed, most emailed…)
When I think back on 2011, I think of more than blog posts and tweets. I think about how my own learning, outlook and role has changed over the year. I have stepped back from Twitter, and my blog posts have been sparser and sparser (though this I’m not always happy about). I have been focusing more of my time on my teaching, on the support I give my teachers and on my own relationships and, well, life. What it boils down to is a renewed focus on happiness and fulfillment. Most of my colleagues struggle with the idea of balancing career and home life. I’m not saying that I have figured it out, but I have given it more of my attention and my time to some things with the understanding that others will lose some of my attention.
This graphic, which has been going around Facebook today, came at just the right moment. It spells out how I have attempted to end 2011 and how I plan to welcome in 2012 better than I could have myself.
Image: http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/pdfs/happycircle-ggsc.pdf
I wish you all happiness in whatever form it may come!