Welcome to 2025! There has been something about getting older- and wiser- that spurs me to make New Year’s resolutions. After all, you can’t reach a goal if you don’t set it, right? Teaching can be very rote. It’s easy to fall into a rut. It’s easy for the day-to-day demands of teaching to squeeze out some of your deep desires. After you have taught for several years, you have a handle on classroom management, your curriculum is stable, and you may start to wonder, what else do I want professionally? It could be starting a school gallery. Or maybe it’s just trying to improve clean-up time with your classes. Whatever your goal, here are some things to think about. 

  1. Be SMART with your goals. SMART is a best practice framework for setting goals. S = Specific.  For example, “Cleaning out my storage closet” M = Measurable.  How are you going to measure your progress?  Maybe your supply closet is too crowded. Think about what you’d like to keep versus what you’d like to toss. Maybe your goal is to fill a garbage can over the week. A = Achievable.  Cleaning your supply closet is much more attainable than “Get organized.” Your goals should be split into smaller chunks. Maybe you tackle the paper storage one day and the paint area another day. R = Relevant. Will cleaning your closet help your teaching? Knowing where your materials are stored will save you time and prevent you from buying materials you already own. T = Time-bound. Set a date you want it done by, say, maybe you want it completed by the start of the second term. Set times to work on it and accomplish parts of the goal. Want to know more about SMART goals? Find more HERE.
  2. Make a list and keep track of your goals. I keep a list on my cell phone using an app called Keep. Use whatever works for you. But it’s key to write it down and revisit those goals occasionally, such as at the end of the marking period or the beginning of each month. Schedule it into your phone calendar. Revisiting your goals lets you see how you progress toward them and what needs to change. I used to aim to inventory all the books in the art program. Year after year, I checked off other goals while this one just lingered. Eventually, I decided it wasn’t important enough compared to other items, so I got honest with myself and struck it off my list. 
  3. Join a professional group and get involved. When I started teaching, my best allies were my fellow art teachers. My state’s art educator association was also there. Then, the internet happened, and websites for educators popped up. And then social media. I love my Facebook groups. You can find help for anything you are struggling with; from lesson ideas to art media questions, someone can help. Take advantage of all the digital resources and platforms that exist. 
  4. Give back. Share your work. Make time to give something back. Share a lesson that went well in a FB group or Instagram. This may be your year to start a blog. You may have made a unique class syllabus. Or a handout on how to care for brushes. Or spend five minutes scrolling through your art educator FB group to answer a question or make a comment. 
  5. Find or be a mentor. I’ve been on both sides of the mentoring relationship, and I would put it up there with the most meaningful parts of my career. One school had a formal mentor program, and I was fortunate to be paired with a great art teacher. I enjoy seeing what other art teachers do and love to see what teachers do well, and I am shameless. I take ideas that I like and make them mine. And it doesn’t have to be an art teacher, either. If you want to work on classroom management, look for teachers in any subject who are doing it effortlessly and see if they would be amenable to sharing their knowledge. 
  6. See some art! Get out to a museum or a gallery. A trip to the museum has inspired more than one of my lessons.
  7. Take a workshop or class to learn a new medium. In my state, we have to earn Professional Development points for recertification. Many workshops or classes will count towards renewing your teaching certificate. Taking a class clears some space for enjoying the creative process for yourself. It’s also a great way to bolster your skills in a needed area. I took digital media classes a long time back when digital labs started popping up in schools. That class led to more classes, which led to earning a certificate in graphic design. That opened many doors for me to grow as an artist, graphic designer, and educator. It also led to an art teaching job that I would never have been qualified for if I hadn’t made the time to take a class and learn something new.