Elizabeth's Word for 2017

Word Reveal:  For 2017, Elizabeth has chosen the word “Persist” (along with all the derivatives such as persevere, persistence, persisting, etc).  This is a word that has long been a favorite of hers as an elementary school resource teacher.  One of her job requirements is to teach “Critical and Creative Thinking Skills” to all the students in the school through whole class lessons each quarter of the school year.  Each year, she starts out with a lesson on persisting. She has done this for more than a dozen years.  It is a mindset that she truly believes needs to be nurtured and encouraged for all children. 

Many of the students in the school know persist as her “favorite word” and will say it to her when they see her in the hallways.  As she teaches about persistence she often uses a book such as The Little Engine that Could, Pearl’s New Skates, Salt in His Shoes, or The Most Magnificent Thing.  Sometimes she uses videos like this commercial for a bank in Thailand or one of the many motivational videos about the failures and persistence of Michael Jordan or another athlete with whom the students are familiar. 

However, she hasn’t always practiced what she preaches and so this is the year to consciously think about persisting in all aspects of her life.  Whether it is sticking with a diet plan, maintaining a positive attitude about a career which increasingly is about students filling in trivia questions on standardized tests, or finishing up all those sewing UFOs, persistence seems to be something she would do well to focus on.  So, up on the wall the word will go so that it is right there above the computer and she can remember to persist, to re-evaluate what she is working on and learn from the failures too.

Elizabeth has used the software built into her Babylock Destiny to create this image of the word “Persist” with the crosshatched stitching underneath.  One of her goals for the year is to persist in learning how to use all the powerful features on this lovely sewing/embroidery machine.

Have you selected an inspirational word for the New Year?