As with most folks, when the New Year strikes I reach down deep, look into my heart and make commitments to the twelve months ahead that I hope won’t implode by Martin Luther King Day.

p: thomasstache via photopin cc

This year is no different. And being that we are now in Annum Comminus Summa (that’s Latin for Year of Common Core, btw…or so says Google Translate), here’s a list of a few things I hope to gain mastery over before the clock strikes twelve ending the twelve months which will comprise the year 2014.

1. I resolve to deepen and expand my ability to deliver non-fiction content to learners of all stripes. Of course this will mean I am going to need to check my sources, do a ton of research, carefully select grade appropriate texts and try to harmonize them with both cross-disciplinary aims as well as within intertextual, multi-media, appropriately scaffolded and differentiated units. But it’s still early in the year so my faith is strong that I will be up to the challenge. (At least more up to it than I am when it comes to eliminating my egregious need to soothe myself during trying times with chocolate.)

2. I resolve to remain steadfastly committed to literature. Fiction still matters a GREAT deal. Classic books, YA fiction, stories of all types, and even though I can already foresee ill-informed checklist checkers sweating me for not chronically pimping non-fiction, as research shows (and as my teacher’s heart/mind knows), the benefits of reading fiction for young minds is irrefutable and irreplaceable.

3. I resolve to help develop strong, competent writers. Yes, Common Core is placing an unprecedented premium on writing, but as a thoughtful educator I have always felt that our schools have needed to place much more oomph on a student’s ability to write well (and much less oomph on a kid’s ability to choose A, B, C, or D in order to get credit for knowing things).
   
   By MLK Day my diet might already be shot (but that’s not due to willpower; biology has cursed me with a scientifically provable chemical infatuation with chocolate) and might already be on life support (I did walk to the fridge for the chocolate brownies, after all, as opposed to simply asking someone else to go get it for me, but the caloric expenditure probably didn’t balance out the caloric intake) yet doubling down on building better writers in 2014 is one that I believe has a lot of gas in the tank.

Okay, so I have three goodies. However, it’s time for the million dollar New Year question: Do I dare expand the list? To add more things builds more pressure on me. After all, I can swear off chocolate and vow to exercise, but if I take on meditation, philanthropy, learning Chinese and joining a crochet club (y’all do know how hard the crochet circuit parties, right?) then I am setting myself up for trouble.

Yet, when I look at the Common Core I know I also really need to deepen and expand my skills in areas such as:

• Amplifying Text Complexity for Low Achieving Readers
• The World of Essential Questions
• Building Authentic Student Engagement
• Closing the Close Reading Gap
• Providing Bulletproof Textual Evidence
• Elevating Visual Literacy
• Speaking and Listening (ten times over)
• Refining Argumentation and Rhetoric

Gulp…it’s a lot to tackle. And that’s not even all of it by any stretch. But yes I do. I will go for it.

Why? Because while I know obscene amounts of chocolate are bad for me I also know owning a wide variety of skillsets in the world of literacy instruction is good for me.

Thank goodness Annum Comminus Summa is also going to be the year of Annum Lorem Ipsum Auxilium, the year of intense professional development.

Alan Lawrence Sitomer is a California Teacher of the Year award winner and the founder of The Writer’s Success Academy. In addition to having been an inner-city high school English teacher and former professor in the Graduate School Of Education at Loyola Marymount University, Mr. Sitomer is a nationally renowned keynote speaker who specializes in engaging underperforming students. To date, Mr. Sitomer has authored 16 books with works ranging from hard-hitting YA novels like HOMEBOYZ, THE HOOPSTER and HIP-HOP HIGH SCHOOL to humorous and warm children’s picture books such as DADDIES DO IT DIFFERENT. Alan has two new books hitting the shelves in spring 2014: CAGED WARRIOR, a gritty tale about the underground world of teen mixed martial arts fighting, and DADDY AND THE ZIGZAGGING BEDTIME STORY, the next in his series of beloved children's picture books.