Doing my part

I put off writing my new year’s resolution this year because I wanted to try it out for a month – see how I did. I don’t want to preach, I want to DO.

I’ve been a classroom teacher for awhile now and in every classroom community I’ve been in it is expected we clean up the classroom. At the end of the day everyone pitches in to organize their areas and clean the trash off of the floors. Inevitably I will ask a student to pick up a piece of trash and I am met with “It’s not mine”. As time goes on they learn that it doesn’t matter if it is theirs or not, we all work together to create a pleasant educational environment.

As a teacher my class is expected to take care of the room. As a parent my family is expected to take care of the home. When chores are handed out, each person doesn’t just clean their own dirty dishes, set just their own place setting at the table or put away just the dishes they used from the dishwasher.

But yet, once we set foot out of those environments, our attitudes change. “That’s not mine!” rears its ugly head – from kids and adults alike.

How much trash do you pass as you walk from your car to the store? As you walk down the sidewalk?

What keeps you from just picking it up? Do you even notice it?

This year I want to pay more attention to the world around me, to pick up the trash as I walk, to expand my world and do my part to make it a little bit better.

So my resolution for 2020 is to take better care of all the places I spend my time. Specifically I have a goal to pick up at least 3 pieces of trash every day.

I have been using the Litterati app to track my progress. For the month of January I picked up a total of 244 pieces of trash – an average of about 8 per day!

A wonderful side effect to the change in my habits is that I notice more and more people, including my students and fellow teachers, doing the same.

I know I’m not alone! What are you doing to make a difference in your community?