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My One Word for 2026: Alive

Posted in Change, Health, Technology, tagged , , on January 2, 2026| 4 Comments »

This marks the 11th year of my One Word tradition. Eleven years. When I started this practice back in 2016, I was 42 years old and hungry. Literally, that was my word. Hungry. I wanted to compete, to stay curious, to keep pushing. And here I am, a decade later, still hungry but now asking different questions about what that means.

Before I get to 2026, let me say this about 2025 and “Thrive.” It delivered. In a year where it would have been easy to retreat into cynicism or exhaustion, I chose to flourish instead. I wrote more than I have in years, and it never felt like a chore. I ran every single day. I spent my summer coaching basketball with young athletes who remind me why I do this work. I leaned into AI not as a threat but as an invitation to rethink learning. I found great satisfaction in work and with those I work with.   Thrive was about sustaining momentum and finding joy in that momentum. It worked.

So what comes next?

This word is not about doing more. It is about feeling more, without losing momentum.

My word for 2026 is Alive.

Why Alive?

I turn 53 this year. Regular readers know I feel my age more than ever (I keep bringing it up), and I mean that in both the best and most humbling ways. There are strands of grey in my hair that were not there five years ago. My recovery from long runs takes longer than it used to. I notice things now that I never noticed before: the way my knees feel on cold mornings, the reading glasses I now keep in three different places, the names that take an extra second (or sometimes minute) to retrieve.

And yet.

I am not checking out. My body may be changing, but my commitment to showing up has not. My run streak will cross 2,000 days in 2026. I will keep coaching. I will keep writing. I will keep appearing in classrooms and  conference rooms with intention and energy, even when generating that energy requires more deliberate effort than it used to.

A friend of mine, Anthony, texted me recently. He is not in education; he is a successful entrepreneur. His message was simple: “Call me.” He does that sometimes. When I did, he started right in. “You know what makes us different? No matter what happens today, we show up tomorrow and attack the day. We don’t get stuck in what happened. We just keep moving forward.”

That is what Alive means to me. Not ignoring the hard stuff. Not pretending the grey hair and the sore knees do not exist. But choosing, every single day, to show up and engage anyway.

Alive is my answer to a world that feels increasingly numb. In a time filled with cynics and critics, with doom-scrolling and disengagement, I am choosing to stay fully present. To feel things. To remain curious when it would be easier to become jaded. To stay optimistic when pessimism seems more sophisticated.

Being alive means more than existing. It means showing up with your whole self, not some protected, half version. It means being willing to be changed by what you encounter.

Building on a Decade of Words

When I look back at my words over the past decade, I see a story. Each word was right for its moment, and together they form something larger than any single year.

The early years were about drive: Hungry (2016), Hope (2017), Relevance (2018), Delight (2019).

The middle years were about resilience: Hustle (2020), Optimism (2021), Focus (2022), Coached (2023).

The recent years have been about integration: Accelerate (2024), Thrive (2025).

And now, 2026: Alive.

Alive feels like a synthesis of all of it. You cannot be truly alive without hunger and hope. You cannot be alive without relevance and delight. You cannot be alive without focus and the willingness to be coached. Being alive requires both acceleration and the wisdom to know what thriving actually looks like.

Alive in a Changing World

We are living through one of the most significant shifts in how humans learn and work. AI is not coming; it is here. And I want to be fully alive to what that means, not as a passive observer but as an active participant shaping how we integrate these tools in our schools.

But here is what I keep coming back to:

The more powerful the technology becomes, the more important the human elements are.

Connection. Curiosity. Creativity. Compassion. These are not things AI can replicate. They are the things that make us alive.

In 2026, I want to be alive to both realities. I want to keep exploring what AI can do for learning while never losing sight of what only humans can do for each other. I want to be in classrooms watching teachers and students navigate this new landscape together. I want to ask good questions and resist easy answers. I want to model what it looks like to embrace change without abandoning what matters most.

Alive in Body and Relationship

For me, being alive has always been connected to physical movement. My run streak is not about athletic achievement. It is about presence. Every morning when I lace up my shoes and step outside, I am choosing to be alive to that day. Rain or shine, tired or energized, home or traveling. The streak is a daily declaration: I am here. I am engaged.

In 2026, I will keep running. I will keep coaching basketball. I will keep prioritizing the habits that have carried me this far: 10,000 steps, daily movement, attention to what I put in my body (OK – this last one needs to be better).

But being alive is also about the people around me. My family. My colleagues. The educators I work alongside. Relationships require the same consistency as run streaks. You show up. You do the work. You stay curious about the people next to you, even when you think you know them completely.

Alive and Hopeful

I know the world can feel heavy right now. There is no shortage of reasons to disengage, to protect yourself, to lower your expectations. Cynicism is easy. Hope is harder.

But I keep choosing hope. Not naive hope that ignores reality, but stubborn hope that insists on possibility anyway. Hope that believes education can be better. Hope that trusts young people to rise to challenges we cannot yet imagine. Hope that sees AI as a tool for human flourishing rather than replacement.

Being alive means staying open to wonder. It means maintaining the curiosity that has driven my career and my writing. It means refusing to let age or experience calcify into certainty. The older I get, the more I realize how much I do not know. And that feels like a gift, not a limitation.

All In

So yes, I may be greyer. I may be slower in some ways. But I am all in on 2026.

All in on learning.
All in on family.
All in on health.
All in on this beautiful, complicated, rapidly changing world.

Alive is not a passive state. It is a choice, made daily, sometimes hourly. It is the choice to engage rather than withdraw. To feel rather than numb. To hope rather than despair. To keep saying yes.

That is the Culture of Yes I have been writing about for 16 years now. And it turns out, it has always been about being fully, stubbornly, joyfully alive.

What word will guide your 2026?

And want a second opinion on picking a word,  here is what Daniel Pink said this week about the power of the one word process.  

Previous One Word Posts:

2016: Hungry

2017: Hope

2018: Relevance

2019: Delight

2020: Hustle

2021: Optimism

2022: Focus

2023: Coached

2024: Accelerate

2025: Thrive

The image at the top of this post was generated through AI.  Various AI tools were used as feedback helpers (for our students this post would be a Yellow assignment – see link to explanation chart) as I edited and refined my thinking.

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My One Word for 2024 – Accelerate

Posted in Change, SD45, tagged , , on January 9, 2024| 3 Comments »

I heard the phrase, “superintendent as accelerator”, a few months ago and it really stuck with me.  It is a dynamic and forward-looking theme that is about motivating to lead with a sense of urgency, embracing innovation, and driving positive change throughout all my work.  Just what I am looking for in 2024.  It is my year to accelerate.  

This is the 9th year of my “One Word” Tradition. You can see the full list at the end of this post with all the links.  Before I get into 2024, let me talk about 2023 – and my word “coached”.  I know we often just put the best version out on the internet of what we want people to see, but honestly, I didn’t do well meeting the goals captured by my 2023 word for the year.  Coached was built around a commitment to being coached.  I joined a professional network, where I participated in regular coaching calls, set goals, read (a lot), listened to motivational talks from a variety of industries and generally tried to embrace being professionally coached.  And it started well.  But I just didn’t follow through all year in a committed way.  I think I need the accountability of a personal coach rather than just being part of a group, and I needed to be more clear about what specifically I wanted to be “coached” on.  So, it wasn’t what I might have hoped – but still some good learning.

And onto 2024.  And accelerate.  I think all the energy around generative AI has definitely contributed to my choice of words for this year.  I also like the implied urgency that comes with the word. 

To describe it in more detail, I like accelerate for this year because:

It is about pace – It is not just waiting around for innovation and improvement within the school district. It signals a proactive approach to achieving goals.  I think about our work around numeracy and transitions in our district and how we want to accelerate them in 2024.

It is about pushing boundaries – Back to the generative AI topic among others, accelerating is about embracing innovative strategies to enhance the learning experience for our students and the professional development of staff.

It is about adaptability – In our rapidly changing landscape of education, “accelerate” underscores the importance of adaptability and flexibility. It encourages us to respond swiftly to emerging challenges and opportunities.

It is about technology – Accelerate aligns with the adoption of innovative technologies and teaching practices. It encourages us to explore cutting-edge approaches that can modernize the educational experience for both students and staff.

It is about focus – We have a clear strategic plan, and a framework to enhance student learning that are guiding documents for our work.  Accelerating is about setting ambitious but achievable targets and mobilizing resources effectively to meet those objectives.

It is about student learning – The ultimate goal of acceleration is improved student success. As the world changes quickly around us, we  focus on initiatives that accelerate learning experiences, ensuring that students are achieving their full potential.

I am excited about using accelerate as a theme for my work in the year ahead.

What is your word for 2024?

And here are my previous words linked to the posts:

2016 – Hungry

2017 – Hope

2018 – Relevance

2019 – Delight

2020 – Hustle

2021 – Optimism

2022 – Focus

2023- Coached

All the best for the year ahead!

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My One Word for 2022 – FOCUS

Posted in Change, SD45, tagged , , on January 6, 2022| 5 Comments »

There is a lot of uncertainty as we look to the year ahead.  It feels very easy to get distracted, chasing down rabbit holes, and losing direction.  As always, there is always “stuff” to keep you busy.  My life has been full of “stuff” this week as we get ready for a delayed start to school.  An idea that has always stuck with me is – if you say you are about everything, you are really about nothing.   And sometimes, I need some help.  It is easier to run from one thing to another and not go to deep on anything.  It is harder to have sustained goals that take a while to accomplish.  But these tend to be the most fulfilling. So, this year is about Focus.  

This is the 7th year of my “One Word” Tradition. In 2016, I wrote about Hungry and then in 2017, my first post of the year was dedicated to Hope. I feel both words were ones that were good ones for the times they were written. In 2018, I wrote about what I described as my desperate need in my work for Relevance, and then in 2019, it was Delight – a new twist on the power and importance of joy. Then in 2020, my word was Hustle, which was actually a good fit for what was needed as COVID upended our lives.  And this past year, my word was Optimism.  And as I re-read my post from this time last year, so much of what I hoped for came true – from vaccinations that opened up life for many, my completion of my doctorate, the return of sports, and some amazing experiences in classrooms.

One challenge for me is that my word is focus, but I am not yet sure what I want to focus on.  I have a list of “to-do’s” but it feels more like a check sheet than a few goals that I want to sustain throughout the year.   I am trying to avoid much of what Cal Newport from Georgetown University calls shallow work, work that is non-cognitively intensive tasks that are low-value and easy to replicate, like responding to emails, scanning websites, and using social media.   

While I am not yet sure what exactly I will focus on, I commit to adopting habits that make focus easier.   Any internet search comes up with similar lists, and includes many I do, but all ones that are worth committing to or recommitting to at the beginning of the year.  So here are some things that I want to do in 2022 to be focused on focus:

  • get daily exercise
  • minimize multitasking
  • spend long chunks of sustained work time off my phone and internet
  • practice mindfulness
  • have a clear to-do list with short-term and long-term goals
  • prioritize tasks

I want 2022 to be about doing some big things, both personally and professionally.  I know I want to write more, do more schooling, and do more public speaking.  I want our school district to be bold around learning opportunities for students. I want to be a better athlete and basketball coach, and I want to push and challenge myself and those around me.  

All of this will be about focus.  As I write this, I am excited about the year ahead.

What word is guiding your 2022?

 

 

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My One Word (2021)

Posted in Change, tagged , , , on January 1, 2021| 6 Comments »

2021 is going to be better than 2020.  I do read all the “good riddance” to 2020 posts, and it is true there was a lot of crappy things.  The horrible toll of COVID on lives and livelihoods combined with a series of other events that seemed to lead to one downer after another.  There were also glimmers of the future.  Like many, I wrote posts about school, and sports, and life in general could emerge from the pandemic not with a return to the way things used to be, but to something new – where the lessons of the last year were applied permanently changing behaviours that never would have changed if not for the pandemic.  I actually considered a word like “pumped” for 2021, but I scaled it back a bit.  I still feel building energy for the year ahead.  

So, that leads into my word for this year – Optimism

This is the 6th year of my “One Word” Tradition. In 2016 I wrote about Hungry and then in 2017 my first post of the year was dedicated to Hope. I feel both words were ones that were good ones for the times they were written. In 2018 I wrote about what I described as my desperate need in my work for Relevance, and then in 2019 it was Delight – a new twist on the power and importance of joy.  Last year my word was Hustle.  Despite 2020 being very different than what any of us would have predicted, hustle really fit well.  It was a year where I worked more days than any year in my life, doing different work than I ever imagined and spent the year creating on the go.  

Optimism is central to so many educators I know.  It really helps define our work.  When asked about how many chances a child has, the answer is almost always – at least one more.  We believe that our efforts can positively change the trajectory of young lives, and that all our students are capable of changing, improving and growing.   To quote Colleen Wilcox, “Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.”

OK, but why particularly this year?

I will start professionally.  We have learned a lot during the pandemic about different ways to deliver education.  It all hasn’t worked perfectly.  And yet, particularly at secondary, new models have seen a lot of positive feedback, and in many cases, created better connections between teachers and students, and greater ownership of students of their learning.  As we likely have more flexibility next fall in how we deliver our programs, we have the opportunity to take the positive learnings from this past year and apply them and hopefully not need to be as rigid with cohorts and other health and safety rules that continue to be in place now.  This is truly the once-in-a-career moment for us as educators to think differently about schooling and not just revert back to the way it used to be, but to take the experimentation of this year and develop new models for the future.  

And personally, this should be the year I finish my doctorate.  I have moved to the candidate stage and I am writing and hopefully soon fully launch into the research.  I have written before HERE about my project, and I am so interested in better understanding the role of the superintendent, and how it is done similarly and differently across the province.  The work will hopefully be a launching pad for conversations around the superintendency.  And maybe, finally, my kids will be able to explain to people what their dad does for a job.

And of course there is COVID.  We are likely in for some dark days still ahead across the globe.  But here comes the vaccine.  I am hopeful my 80-year-old mom is just a couple months away from vaccination and maybe by summer all of us will have this layer of protection.  Seeing the end, even if it not yet clearly defined, bring hope and optimism.

2021 is going to be a really good year.  I am excited about traveling, coaching basketball, going to conferences, watching school events in-person and helping transition child #2 to university.   I am also ready to change and not just go back to 2019.  I love that I walk more, go to fewer unnecessary meetings, and even get a bit more sleep than I did before the pandemic.  

I chose to be in the optimism business – and I have got a really good feeling about the year ahead.

So, what is your word?

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My One Word (2020)

Posted in Change, tagged , on January 8, 2020| 5 Comments »

The best and worst of being in the world of education is that you are never done.  Teaching in the classroom I felt only as competent as the success of my most recent lesson, as a principal each issue felt like a new referendum of my abilities, and in the district office, I often have said the job does not give me the chance to celebrate, we are always onto what is next.  And all of this is part of what makes education wonderful.

So, that leads into my word for this year – hustle.

This is the 5th year of my “One Word” Tradition.  In 2016 I wrote about Hungry and then in 2017 my first post of the year was dedicated to Hope.  I feel both words were ones that were good ones for the times they were written.  In 2018 I wrote about what I described as my desperate need in my work for Relevance, and then last year it was Delight – a new twist on the power and importance of joy.

So why hustle? I like the word because it is not about ability.  Anyone can hustle.  It is one of those traits that is often hard to describe, but easy to see and recognize.  When I think of people who hustle, I can quickly think of 3 or 4 people in my life who live it everyday.

I am reminded of the quote that is often mis-attributed to Abraham Lincoln, “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”  As different as everyday is in the work of education, a little hustle goes a long way.  And I can find it is always easy to find reasons to be complacent.  Sure someone can say our students are doing great, the system is strong, and we can just do next year like last year and we will be fine.  Or you can hustle.  I often use this blog to test areas from robotics, to e-sports, to physical literacy and flex time.  We always have to be hustling – trying to figure out if there is a better way to do the work we do, and to keep looking at what might be the next few things we should be doing.

In our schools I think our students appreciate the hustle and it is positive modeling for them.  A little hustle goes a long way.  Most of my favourite students have been those who hustled.  What is also nice about the word is while it fits really nicely with my professional work, is also easily applies to those other top life priorities that we are all always trying to keep going.  The hustle creates energy and brings joy.  Last year was great, but I don’t want to do it all over again the same.

So here is to you a year of always hustling at work, with my own school studies, in my volunteer life and everywhere else. And hopefully being a good model for those hustling around me.

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My One Word (2017)

Posted in Change, Professional Development, tagged , , on January 10, 2017| 12 Comments »

hope

Last January I embraced the word hungry.

I like to think I lived that word in 2016 at the crossroads of competing and curiosity. Without a doubt, my relentless competitiveness was always only just below the surface (and even sometimes above the surface).

So what about 2017?

There is a lot of negative energy coming out of 2016. Like many I am left shaking my head. Throughout my life I have always thought that progress was always a forward moving event – so progress for human rights around the world, for example, was something that was always improving. And those who looked to limit rights or push against those rights – whether they are based on gender, race or sexual orientation were on the wrong side of history.  So, coming out of a year that produced a lot of fear and disappointment I look to a word that will guide me and speak to possibility.

While not my favourite of the Star Wars series, like many, I saw Rogue One, over the recent holiday break. And the final word spoken by Carrie Fisher takes on a greater meaning after her death. Her word that concluded the film – hope.

Those of us in education are in the hope business.  Education is about possibility, it is about creating opportunity and it is all about hope.  Education is about the hope of parents that their children will become good citizens, the hope of students that they can work to be better versions of themselves and the hope of all the adults in schools that we can find better ways of connecting with the students we work with every day.  The more I think about hope, the more closely I link it to the creativity and curiosity we are so wanting to better instill in our students and our system.

And on more concrete terms – let’s have hope that the politics that lead up to and then follow the upcoming provincial election build hope and opportunities for public education.  Our hope for a better world is tightly linked to a strong education system locally and globally.

And then returning back to Star Wars, let’s hope that Episode 8 that comes out in December is everything good we got from Episode 7 but even more.

To quote Leia from The Force Awakens, “Hope is not lost today… it is found.”

What word is guiding you for 2017?

 

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My One Word

Posted in Change, SD45, tagged , , , , , on January 2, 2016| 11 Comments »

one-word_feature

My education colleagues understand that in our business Labour Day is New Year’s Eve.  With the school year starting the Tuesday after Labour Day (New Year’s Day in our world), it is at this point in the year that we do most of our goal setting and resolution making.

That said, I am getting into the spirit of the season for this post.

For my first post of 2016 I am taking on a New Year’s theme and embracing the one word challenge.  What is that one word that best defines your hopes and goals for the coming year?  What word links your professional pursuits to your personal ones?  What one word sums up your focus and direction for the year ahead?

My one word is hungry!

I was searching for a word that was at the intersection of competing and curiosity and landed on hungry.  I also owe my colleague Diane Nelson some credit for the word choice.  One of the books I have enjoyed over the holidays is one she recently gave me – Hungry – Fuelling Your Best  Game by Ryan Walter.

Walter, a former NHLer and Stanley Cup Champion makes the case for being hungry, and staying hungry.  He writes:

Throughout my lifetime I have asked myself to help me stay hungry:  Why not?  Why not play on a winning team?  Why not develop an amazing culture?  Why not create an incredible family?  Why not push to play your Best Game?  Why not live hungry?

I landed on hungry having first considered competing and curiosity.

A recent influence for me is a TEDx Video I highlighted in my last post – Allison McNeil’s Collaboration . . . It Start’s With Competition.  I think we mistakenly believe that in education, with a decreased emphasis on ranking and sorting, somehow we want to compete less.  I want to compete more.  I am teased for my sometimes overly competitive nature, but if anything I want to compete harder this coming year.  I also don’t want us to shy away from building a sense of compete  with the young people we work alongside.

When I think about curiosity I am reminded of my conversations with my friend Dr. Stuart Shanker.  I have written about Stuart’s work and his influence on our schools numerous times including this one recently on the shifts he has influenced in our system.   But it is the conversations we have that I always find so striking.  He lives a life constantly curious.  He is always asking questions when we talk.  Whether it is about video games, sleep patterns or junior hockey – he is relentless in asking me what I think, linking it to what he has heard before and asking even more questions.  I know he does not just do it with me, but with everyone he speaks with.  I often think, how come someone so smart is asking me all this stuff?  Stuart lives a curious life, an ongoing curiosity I want to live more in my life.

So from Allison and competing and Stuart and curiosity I land on hungry.

Walter describes those who are hungry with words like fun, excited, focused, proactive, energized, on top, communicative, challenger of the status quo, listener, informed, open, synergistic, courageous, tribal,winner and motivated. That is a pretty impressive list.

Here is to a year of being hungry.

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