#Nerdlution Round 2

It’s time for Round 2 of #Nerdlution! Well, technically, it’s the third day of Round 2 of #Nerdlution, but I’ve been dithering about my goals.

For Round 1 of #Nerdlution, I kept it simple: read one poem a day. Most days, I read far more than one. I wanted to find more poetry that I could share with my classes–and I did find good poetry to share, though I have to admit that I have forgotten this semester that I intended to share poetry. No time like the present to remember! I wanted to grow as a reader and maybe as a writer. I wanted to enjoy poetry. And I accomplished all of those things.

For Round 2 of #Nerdlution, I have decided to:

1. Write for 10 minutes a day in my writer’s notebook. I didn’t make notebook work part of my first set of goals because I had been writing daily and didn’t think that was a goal I needed to set. And then it was time for the semester to begin. I have 4 different preps, 2 of which are entirely new classes that I’ve never taught before. And with both of the courses I’ve taught before, I radically revamped the syllabi so they might as well be new preps. I haven’t written anything in my notebook besides lists and reminders for nearly three weeks! Clearly I need a goal to get unstuck and make this a priority again. It really is important to me, and as my pre-service teachers know, my very favorite quotation is “We make time for what we value.” (Thank you, Randy Bomer, for changing my life with those words.) I started yesterday, but I’m giving myself a pass on Monday because I drafted three blog posts on Monday. I wrote a lot!

2. Complete one act of kindness each day. Like Michelle, I was inspired by Patrick’s Round 1 of #Nerdlution. One reason I’ve been dithering about my #Nerdlution goals is that I wanted to commit to the daily act of kindness, but it sounds really, really challenging to me. I know this is going to make me sound like a Scrooge, but I just don’t know if I can think of a nice thing to do every single day for 50 days! I mean, I do nice things all the time. BUT MORE NICE THINGS? I asked my husband if holding my tongue and not saying something snippy that I want to say can count as an act of kindness. Seriously, that would be really nice, right?

I am co-teaching a First-Year Inquiry course this semester on Happiness, and we have challenged students to select a “happiness habit” to commit to for 21 days. I’ve been reading quite a bit in the literature on happiness and acts of kindness come up again and again as a suggestion for increasing happiness. Personally, I feel more stressed thinking about coming up with something new and different to do to be kind to someone every day, but perhaps with practice, it will become easier. The students in my Happiness class also suggested that maybe I’m overthinking things and trying to come up with acts that are too big. They assured me that just saying hi to someone who looks lonely could count. So perhaps if I’m desperate, I will walk across campus trying to locate a sad-looking person whom I can cheer up with a vigorous greeting.

I did start Goal #2 on Monday, so I am 3 days into that challenge.

Two of my pre-service teachers are participating in Round 2 of #Nerdlution too: Kelsey and Maggie. Anybody in #yalitclass want to join up? It’s not too late!!