Teacher Writings

Words for 2021

37 Iowa English teachers offer words to guide us in the coming year.

January 23, 2021

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In 2020, I have often found myself shaking my head and saying, “I just don’t understand.” Assuming a posture of curiosity might help me out. Curiosity demands listening, learning, understanding before evaluating, critiquing, judging. Practically, Curious will send me to books, films, and people who broaden my perspective on this world and its inhabitants.

— Kim Van Es

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This has been a year of struggle, disappointment, doubt, and hardship. Each breath I take is evidence that I’m still here, still surviving. Right now, my goal is to continue to survive until I reach a point at which I can thrive.

— Kenna Koster

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After 2020, I think it is imperative that students learn the skill of perseverance. In fact, they are my inspiration because it seems they have persevered despite 3 months of online schooling last spring, shiffling in and out of classes all fall when having to quarantine, and going online 2 weeks before Christmas break. Yet I want them to persevere in their studies too. When something is difficult or they are not comprehending something they are studying, I don’t want them to stop, to give in, to postpone. I want them to persevere and push their thinking and continue to try despite their fear of failure. So perseverance is the word for 2021.

— Cassie Alber

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I’ve always tried to do too much. I throw a hundred irons in the fire and say “yes” when someone asks for more? Fill in as basketball coach? Sure! Data team?! Yes! PBIS co-leader?! Join this race?! Volunteer for this committee?! When I think back to what’s truly brought be peace and joy, the answers are simple: reading a satisfying book on a Sunday morning, seeing my husband’s face in the hallways at school, watching my seniors talk about diverse topics with light and understanding in their eyes, building new friendships with the old(er) men at the local diner, running in the country without having to think about traffic, getting to have more meals with my father in the last year than in the twenty before combined, sitting on my porch, talks in the car with my children while we commute, whispering jokes behind my mask or using my eyes to communicate to wise teenagers, drinking my coffee in the dark, quiet school alone each morning, and meeting new colleagues who challenge me and wake up my mind and spirit. None of these things require me to do more. They actually require me to do less. Focus on what’s breathing and growing and existing in front of my eyes. All this time, I’ve spent spinning my tires…I often wonder what I’ve missed. But, for now, I’m happy to just take it all in.

— Britt Jungck

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I am a Christian, so I find that I use this word a lot in explaining a faith in God. I have faith in the world as well, that things will indeed get better.

— Kaitlyn Pietan

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I feel like there have been so many disappointments and roadblocks this year, so I want to think assertively. When I feel like quitting or giving up, I will remind myself to persevere.

— Barb Edler

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I want to look for and find the joy in each place I’m in and each person I’m with. I hope keeping this word at the forefront of my thoughts will guide my words and actions toward cultivating joy wherever I go.

— Lauren Stephens

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I want to let go of and release resentment I have.

— Leigha Shanley

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I’ve been struggling to find balance between work and life. I want to find balance in my work, my mind, and my life to bring me a better overall well-being.

— Maureen Snook

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This year has been a whirlwind filled with new sources of stress at every turn. We are teaching in person and online, constantly surveying the room to ensure proper mask wearing, and coaching and directing under challenging and ever-changing circumstances. At the same time, every usual expectation is still there. This year as I struggle with it all, I must remind myself to breathe, to remain calm, to give what I can give, to hold myself to reasonable expectations. I owe it to my family, to my students, to my team, and to myself to maintain enough perspective that I remember not to be consumed by what is difficult and imperfect. This simple word will serve as my reminder.

— Susan Vernob

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I’ve chosen “build” the last two previous years and after 2020, it just seems appropriate and inspiring to rebuild what has been leveled and reconsider how to do so, how to create.

— Courtney Lubs

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The pandemic taught me that I appreciate stillness more than I thought. I don’t want to rush back to normal — I like weekends free of obligations and leisure time to check-in with friends. I don’t miss the pressure to do everything at school and have enjoyed letting some things go. I need to be cautious what I put back on my plate moving forward and make time for quiet.I also need to use quiet as a reminder to stop talking sometimes. Sometimes I am too snarky or say too much when I’m uncomfortable and I should just be quiet.

— Kari Straube

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I’ve always taken care of me. I’m a single mom, I put myself through grad school, etc. Right now I’m feeling like teaching is…well…kind of an island job, where it used to be a collaborative job. But survival has changed things. So I must remember my independence!

— Becky Jones-Webb

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There will be a real need for meaningful connections after this 2020 isolation.

— Darci Kellen

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When I look for things for which to be grateful, I’m a much more positive person and hopefully a better teacher.

— Cathy Anderson

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I am hopeful that 2021 brings change back to some normalcy.

— Melissa Chia

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I want all that I do to be with intention. Intentional planning. Intentional family time. Intentional eating.

— Melanie Wirtz

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I am so excited for things to hopefully be back to normal. I am waiting in anticipation for it. I am going to remind students that it will happen.

— Tracy Steger

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Good intentions are important, but demand consideration.

— Lezley Johansen

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I chose this word because as I work on my dissertation while also navigating hybrid teaching, I have been struck by my own defensiveness and resistance to discomfort. I chose “acceptance” as a challenge: to listen better, to practice humility, and to ease the pressures I too often create for myself.

— Missy Springsteen-Haupt

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We as teachers need to be resilient in determining how to help our students learn and foster empathy toward one another during this pandemic time.

— Donna Niday

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Everything I want to accomplish this year comes back to that one word: wellness. My goal by the time I’m 50 is to be the strongest woman I’ve ever been — physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. While that gives me about three years to get there, the basis does that strength will come from wellness, figuring out how to find balance, getting my house organized, and dipping into my intuition and spirituality.

— Kirstey Ewald

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I personally believe my life is craving some semblance of balance. It’s been hard to divide my time between high school teaching, my family, teaching Chinese students English, starting my own crafting business, & finding time for myself. I need to make finding a balance a priority in 2021.

— Jenn Weaver

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Focus. Focus on the task at hand. Focus on prioritizing. Focus on what I need. Focus on simplifying. As someone who probably has undiagnosed ADHD, I have determined this is my word for 2021. Distractions come all too easily and I hope to be more intentional and focused in order to reach goals I have set for myself.

— Sonya Staudt

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Because it’s all choices. I want to be intentional with how I spend my time, what I say, what I do. I want to remember that there is nothing I am forced to do. I have choices. I want to make wise ones.

— Allison Berryhill

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We are all expecting a “new normal.” After all the “new” things we encountered this year, we shouldn’t ignore how we’ve grown by simply returning to the old, but should allow that growth to make us “new” and better each day. 2021 is a “new” year. Today is always a “new” day with the opportunity to learn something “new.” After having Covid, I have a “new” perspective on my health. After having experienced pandemic teaching, I have a “new” perspective on education and my importance as a teacher. I was blessed with a “new” grand baby this year, which made 2020 fabulous, despite Covid. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

— Jen Hartwig

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It signifies a positive, new start to a year. It reminds me to keep things simple and paired down, not cluttered and chaotic.

— Suanne Willman

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Hoping to keep everything in perspective and not allow some things to take over.

— Colleen J. Flathers

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For its extraordinary precision. I hope it will inspire me to embrace such simple pleasures as the smell that accompanies a first downpour after a long dry spell.

— David Duer

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My 2020 word was “nurture”. It guided many of my choices through the last 12 months. I wanted something similar to that and “cultivate” seems to be what I need now. I am hoping to cultivate many things for my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual life, in my family and other relationships, and for my home/gardens. I pray that by the end of 2021, I will have reaped the benefits of my cultivation. Even though I have retired, I have not given up my mentoring or learning. I hope to continue to inspire others as well.

— Jayne Vondrak

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Forever, I had a quote by Jane Kenyon in the signature line of my email: “Be a good steward of your gifts.” My confidence has been shaken in recent years and I’m finding it hard to find my footing again. Self-stewardship will remind me to turn inward, to control what I can control, to have faith in myself, to be curious, courageous, and committed. I need to care for myself and nurture myself better in order to better care for and nurture others.

— Haley Moehlis

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The first definition of MOXIE is ENERGY or PEP, as in “woke up full of moxie.” I aspire to feel this, which is the opposite of the depression that lurks on the edge of my consciousness at all times. Pandemic teaching is exhausting in all ways. The second definition is COURAGE or DETERMINATION. Reinventing my teaching practice for online learning this year, teaching in a void without much student or colleague interaction, requires all the MOXIE I can possibly summon on a daily basis. The only way out is through. I’d like to enjoy the journey more. The third definition is KNOW-HOW, something I took for granted that I had in regard to teaching, and even technology, but I am finding woefully inadequate to address the situation at hand. I simply don’t know how to do this well. I am in dire need of online teaching moxie as I try to reimagine Romeo & Juliet with one day of live instruction per week and four days of video instruction, and not make it a miserable learning experience for all involved. I have never felt less KNOW-HOW than I do right now. MOXIE is a versatile and flexible word for an adverse and challenging time in my career. I need all three meanings of the word to make sense of my world right now.

— Jenny Paulsen

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I chose this word as I struggled to balance my teaching workload and family life during the fall semester. The teaching workload definitely received more time and energy. This word will guide me in the coming year as I intend to get things back in balance by not bringing work home and finding the balance necessary to be an effective educator, as well as a reliable and present partner and father. If anything, I hope to see the scale tip more toward the family life side of things.

— Carl Barnhart

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I picked “initiate” to remind myself to be an agent of change. Usually I have really awesome ideas, but I keep them pent up because I’m too afraid of the work it would require to manifest them — or too afraid of failure? Often times, starting the process of something is the hardest part for me! This world will remind me I am in charge of initiating changes I want to see.

— Rachelle Lipp

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We are not yet thru pandemic teaching. Every day is a new experience and new challenges. We get overwhelmed. Fortitude- courage in the face of adversity- is what will get us through this time. There are joys in every day, but there are many challenging times.

— Susan Ackerman

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