Published: December 27, 2006

How I Keep My New Year's Resolutions

As part of a new partnership, teachermagazine.org is publishing this regular column by members of the Teacher Leaders Network , a professional community of accomplished educators dedicated to sharing ideas and expanding the influence of teachers.

As each new year approaches, many of us eagerly revive our determination to clean our slates and begin anew. We set about to making resolutions with all the best intentions—to lose those last (or maybe first) 10 pounds, to read more useful books, or call our mothers more often.

Before too long, our resolve is broken. The leftover fruitcake is calling our name, and the self-help novel staring at us from the nightstand is not really the book we want to read. And we definitely don’t need the “I told you so’s” of our mothers, so calling her is out. Once again our resolutions are down the drain, and we choose to spend another year moping and reprimanding ourselves...