The Imagine Project is about expressing emotion and processing difficult life circumstances through expressive writing—ultimately it’s about imagining the possibilities in your life. What if you set your goals/intentions in the Imagineformat for the next school year?
There’s tons of research about the power of goal setting. Jeff Bossfrom Forbesmagazine writes that setting goals:
1) drives your focus toward actionable behavior,
2) guides your focus in a certain direction,
3) helps sustain momentum,
4) aligns your focus,
5) and promotes self-mastery.
Intentions are clear and positive goals regarding what you want to have and experience in life. If you have a distinct end in mind, your thoughts, actions, attitude, and choices will move in that direction. If you don’t have a distinct end in mind, you will stumble and wander without direction. Research has proven that defined intentions and goals reap greater success in many areas of life, including education.
So why not write your Imagine goals/intentions for the coming year? What a powerful way to positively influence the coming school year. It’s easy. Here are a few simple examples from teachers:
Imagine…students coming to school resting, fed, and ready to learn.
Imagine…seeing my students faces as they become excited about learning a new lesson.
Imagine…finding the perfect lessons to keep kids engaged.
Imagine…all of my students understanding the lessons I teach with ease and effortlessness.
Imagine…kids being kind and compassionate to one another each and every day.
Imagine…feeling appreciated by parents and administration.
Imagine…taking care of myself, staying rested, eating right, and exercising.
Sylvia Yager, middle school science teacher
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Imagine…a year of 25 students that are happy, kind and compassionate
Imagine…staff working together to ensure all students are safe, successful and love coming to school.
Imagine… a class of kindergarten students that have not experienced stress or trauma and have experienced nothing but genuine love and happiness.
Imagine…meeting the social/emotional needs of all students.
Imagine…giving all students the confidence that they can accomplish any dream they have.
Imagine…the next 9 months of less sleep, extra work hours and over spending, but knowing it is all worth it because all of your students are happy, loving school and learning more than you ever imagined.
Imagine…the smiles you will see when your students “get it!”
Imagine…starting everyday with hugs and smiles and ending everyday with hugs and smiles!
Amy Ford, Kindergarten teacher
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Imagine each child feeling safe and loved.
Imagine every teacher feeling honored to do the daily work they do!
Imagine public education offering such a wide variety of tools, resources, structures, strategies, help, support, programs and staff that each and every child learns and grows from right where they start!
Imagine…students being excited to write!!
Sam Alexander, 3-5thgrade teacher
Writing your Imagine stories about your coming year is simple (you can find the Adult Journal download here). You may find yourself becoming emotional at times, thinking about some negative past experiences, or even a few beautiful moments that showed you why you do the amazing work you do. Overall, it will be helpful to express yourself—your challenges, your hopes and dreams—and push this year to be the best year yet. Guiding your thoughts and energy on a positive path is always helpful.
Teaching is such an extremely important profession in our world. I hope you recognize the incredible impact you are making in the world—one child at a time. Each and every one of us is so very grateful. Imagine the impact you can make!!
Bring The Imagine Project to your classroom, school, and district! Find our more and download the journals for free at www.theimagineproject.org.
Thank you!
Dianne
The Imagine Project, Inc., a nonprofit organization that helps kids, teens, and adults overcome challenging life circumstances through expressive writing. Dianne is a thought leader in the area of stress and trauma in children. Her simple, yet profound 7-step writing tool, now used by schools across the US, gives kids and teens the opportunity to rewrite a challenging personal story and Imagine new possibilities in its place.
