Happy New Year, teacher friends. As the calendar turns, a lot of us are more than ready for a fresh start, and New Year’s happens to be my absolute favorite holiday for exactly that reason.

No other holiday gives me the same high: the nervous energy, the joy, the turning of a page, the chance to reflect on what matters most for the year ahead. I may be strange, but I love starting fresh, coming to terms with the goals I left unmet, and looking at a future that’s nothing but opportunity. Like a new school year, we get to begin with something unblemished by our mistakes.

I send a New Year’s wish to my email subscribers each year, but I wanted to share it with everyone here too. Goal setting and fresh starts make me giddy, so I had no shortage of ideas for what to write. Out of everything I could share, I decided to focus on you, fellow teacher friends, because you are the most important factor in your students’ future. As you find ways to take better care of yourself, you become an even better steward of your mission as a teacher.

MY NEW YEAR’S WISH: REFLECT ON THE GOOD

My message for you is simple: reflect on the good.

Reflect on the wins you’ve had so far this school year. Think back on every moment where you caught yourself thinking:

• “This is really working.”
• “This is amazing.”
• “My students are so engaged.”
• “I’m in my teaching zone of genius.”

Confession: I am the worst at this. I’m the hardest on myself. Maybe you’re the same, and that’s exactly why this is my wish for you.

WHEN “DOING BETTER” BECOMES BURNOUT

A few years ago I learned a lesson about teacher reflection that I’d love to pass on. It finally dawned on me that I spent so much energy driven to make changes that I concentrated almost entirely on what wasn’t going well, because fixing those things would make me a better teacher.

And sometimes it did. But sometimes my relentless pursuit of doing everything better didn’t actually help me meet my goals, it just overwhelmed me with them:

I really need to conference more during writer’s workshop. I really need more games in my math block. I really need my students doing real science with experiments. I really need to read aloud more. I really need to use more technology. I really need to get that new thing going…

…on and on, until you feel like you’re doing nothing right, everything wrong, and you’re defeated and exhausted. Sound familiar?

Sometimes all the things we want to change drown out all the things we’re already doing well. (Read that again.)

I realized I’d serve myself, my students, and my own growth far better if I took time to reflect on the good and committed to keeping those things going. (I wrote more about that reflection process, and how I use it at the end of the school year, in a separate post.)

TRAIN YOUR BRAIN TO FOCUS ON WHAT’S WORKING

Here’s the best part of this strategy: we don’t have to wait for a new year to change our thinking. We can train ourselves to do it at the start of every month, every week, every day.

It might go something like this. You catch yourself thinking, “I’m so frustrated with my math instruction.” Stop. What’s going well?

• Are your students grasping things that were once hard for them?
• Have you worked in more manipulatives and hands-on activities this year?
• Have you helped students shift their mindset and persevere through hard things?

I bet your list could get long. And I bet there’s some subject or “should-do” you’re beating yourself up over right now that you could talk through the exact same way. Whatever it is, generate the list of everything that’s going well in that area. Keep doing what’s working, and I promise your mental energy and your teaching will improve.

This is the same reflect-and-set-goals process I teach my students. If you want a ready-to-go way to build it into your classroom, my Morning Meeting goal-setting unit walks students through reflecting on their wins and setting goals they can actually reach.

I want you to pause that inner critic today. Think of at least 10 things you’ve done right this year, the parts of your teaching, lessons, and routines you genuinely love, the things that get you out of bed and into your car each morning, ready to greet those smiling faces.

WANT HELP MAKING YOUR LIST? I created a teacher reflection tool to walk you through naming your wins and planning to repeat them. I originally built it for end-of-year reflection, but it’s just as powerful for a New Year’s reset. Subscribe and I’ll send the PDF straight to your inbox.