6 Word Resolutions

by Susan Hitt

Every January, as I settle into the New Year, I enjoy reflecting on my personal and professional goals from the previous year and determining goals for the new year. While many like to make their resolution on December 31st or January 1st, I myself like to take my time. Like with shopping, I tend to browse and try on different options, determining what I think best suits my life now and what I think I would most benefit from in the future.  

Now, I know don’t know about you, but my social media outlets have been flooded with everyone’s One Word Resolution for 2018. I can’t check Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter without coming across these beautiful graphic designs with one word in a fancy bold script.  While I love the idea of Still, or Focus, or Breathe, or Patience, I, personally, need more words. I’m chatty, aka loquacious, aka verbose, and clearly one word to capture what I want out of 2018 just isn’t enough for me. So I’ve never chosen one word. BUT I’ve always wanted to capture my goals in the same beautiful way I see the one-word resolutions shared on the Internet.

A few days ago, I was drinking coffee and perusing Twitter and happened upon this resolution tweet from my friend Tom Mullaney:  “Not Too Late, There’s Still Time.”

Check out @TomEMullaney on Twitter

Immediately, my reaction was one of excitement! YES! Finally, a resolution format I can get on board with. Not one word, but six. Be still my chatty, happy heart. You see, I’ve always been a huge fan of six-word memoirs. In fact, I often used the six-word memoir format as an icebreaker activity when I was in the classroom. There’s no better way to get to know your students on day one of class than by having them pen a six-word memoir.  

So I decided to make my 2018 professional goal and turn it into a six-word resolution. And as a bonus, I used google slides to make a pretty image. As Tom points out in his tweet, Canva is an easy-to-use graphic design program, but I’ve fallen head over heels for using Google Slides to make my graphic images! So without further ado, here’s my 2018 Six-Word Resolution:

Lifelong Learner: Reading, Learning, Creating, Sharing 

This goal is twofold for me. First, I’m starting graduate school this semester for Instructional Technology. Returning to the role of a student for the first time in 12 years will be a big change for me, but a change for which I’m very much excited about! This path towards my master's will be filled with reading and learning new material, but I anticipate being able to share what I’m learning with other educators with whom I work. In addition to what I’ll be studying in graduate school, my job, in general, is comprised of constantly learning new material and then sharing it out with other English teachers. I’m constantly reading everything from educational blog posts, magazine and journal articles, or books. I thrive on seeking out the new and noteworthy and finding ways to creatively share that information with my colleagues.

Now that I’ve shared my 2018 goal with you, I would love to hear what your resolution is for  2018. Whether it’s one word, six, or twenty! I am a firm believer in sharing our goals and resolutions so we can be each other’s cheerleaders as we spend the next 12 months to turn our goal into an accomplishment. I'd love for you to add your own resolution to the Padlet below!

Also, did you really think I would leave you without some resources?! Check out this excellent site for Six-Word Memoirs. Each month they post a prompt for participants to respond to using, you guessed it, six words! These would make great journal prompts!

Are you a fan of Hyperdocs? I am! Here’s a great hyperdoc lesson you can use with your students (bonus: it even has tutorials on how to use Canva!)

And finally, I invite you to watch this short video comprised of high school students’ Six-Word Memoirs. Maybe you’ll be inspired to try it with your students: