SCHOOL NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS:

REDEDICATE OR REDIRECT YOURSELF

By Lucie Lewis, Co-facilitator Central Team

As we celebrate the beginning of this New Year, there is a lot of buzz about making New Year’s resolutions. There are conversations everywhere about starting that diet, joining the gym, exercising more, stopping bad habits like smoking, or starting that new career. Each one of these simple pledges starts with one big step, which is captured by the word resolution. According to Webster, resolutions are very deliberate decisions.

“Resolution – A formal expression of opinion or intention made.”

“Intention – An act or instance of determining

mentally upon some action or result.”

“Resolve – To fix or settle on by deliberate choice

or will.”¹

What does that have to do with school? As you return to school, you are about half way through the year. How are you doing? Step Up Springfield teaches the use of self-assessment through a Self-Directed Improvement System (SDIS) to direct your choices and actions. If you were to grade yourself on a few important things, would you pass? Here’s your test:

1. Do you take a willing, open heart that is ready to learn new things to school every day?

2. Are you working at your best all day, even when it is not your best day?

3. Are you tackling each assignment with an effective effort?

4. Are you asking for and accepting help when you need it?

5. Are you conducting yourself in ways that are respectful, considerate and appropriate?

6. Have you set excellence as your minimum standard for everything that you do?

Did you notice that there were no subject questions on your test -- no spelling words or math problems? There is a very important reason for that. Your success in school has more to do with your attitude and approach to learning than anything else.

Grade time – how did you do? No matter how you answer that question, the good news is that there are still six months of school left. If you feel as if you are giving your all and are satisfied with how school is going this year, then it is time to rededicate yourself to sustain your effort for the next six months and to end the year well. But, if your answers to these questions tell you that you could have a better attitude toward school that would let you perform better academically, then the good news is that there are six more months left in the year. It is time for you to redirect yourself and RESOLVE to create a better outcome. To resolve to make a change is the one big step that every New Year’s resolution needs for it to be more than empty words that we give up on before February even begins. How you finish this year is up to you.

The mission of Step Up Springfield is to help you become the best you can be and to be ready for life. Remember, we can stand behind you but you must stand up for yourself first. For more information on learning to believe in yourself contact Step Up Springfield at (413) 693-0228.

¹ Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language