December always feels like a good time to look back on the year, reflect on successes and challenges, and consider what you want to carry with you and leave behind as you end the new year. My word of 2022 was CONNECTION and I feel like that brought me exactly what I needed this year – the permission and reminder to reach out to friends and family, near and far, to spend time together; the opportunity to meet new friends; and the hours spent in airports while waiting for connecting flights (which I did all over the world this year!). This year I traveled to:

• Memphis, Tennessee
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Seattle, Washington
• Manasquan, New Jersey
• Maui, Hawaii
• Frankfurt, Germany
• Namibia, Africa

Each year I like to look back at what I hit publish on and what resonated with readers in this little spot on the internet. Looking through my blog statistics are fun for me at this time of year.

My most read blog posts from this year (aside from my monthly reading blogs):

• A Gratitude Circle
• Earth Day 2022
• Coaching for Equity – This was a series I wrote as I read and reflected on Elena Aguilar’s book back in 2020 and the entire series was well read throughout 2022!

The month in which I published the most posts:

• January – I always start off strong!
• April

The top countries where my blog readers live (outside of the US):

• Phillipines
• Canada
• India
• United Kingdom
• Australia
• China
• South Africa

New terms people searched that helped them arrive at my blog this year:

• Elena Aguilar – this is such a compliment since she is one of my EDU-HEROES! I love everything Elena writes and have blogged about all of her books A LOT, so I’m not surprised that my blog comes up when people search for her.

Before I started looking back at my stats for the year, I felt like I didn’t really write many blog posts at all this year, except for my monthly reading updates. Compared to previous years that is true, but I still wrote 28 posts and over 28,000 words in 2022 and that is no small feat. I was asked to turn a few of my blog posts into articles for the AASA magazine, and because of all of my reading I was also asked to submit book reviews for the magazine. I still enjoying sharing myself on this blog and will continue to do so. Looking ahead to 2023 I have some ideas for additional posts that capture some of the instructional leadership work that I have finally been able to return to, now that COVID is not the primary topic on every agenda! And as I wrap up a year of CONNECTIONS I am looking forward to finding my new word… stay tuned!