September is back to school time for UK students and teachers (I used to work in a school, so this was me too). I now work for a blended-learning university, so we still adhere to September intakes and academia, but not quite in the same way. Alas, I enjoy back to school season. Always have. I loved getting stationary and a new school bag.
It’s a mood!
But aesthetics aside, how is your learning journey going this year? Are you actually learning anything? Did you set yourself a personal curriculum and did you keep to the assignments and deadlines? Did you say you would learn XYZ in the new year and now we’re 9 months in and you’re no closer to starting this task? Did you set yourself a reading challenge and vow to expand your reading comfort zone, but then fell back into the same authors and TikTok books?
Don’t worry if so, you’re not alone!
Let’s reflect on our learning this back to school season and get back on track…
On Personal Curriculums
At one point, everyone on my social media was talking about Personal Curriculums. It was a trendy buzzword with good intentions but I bet a lot of us (myself included) are guilty of jumping on the hype without taking much action.
I wrote a few blog posts which include the idea of personal curriculums:
Personal Curriculum: Educational Podcasts and Audiobooks for Learning on the Go! – S. R. Crawford
Personal Curriculum: How to Be an Informed Citizen – S. R. Crawford
On Allyship + Book Recommendations for Empathy: Personal Curriculum series – S. R. Crawford
My personal curriculum failure
- I didn’t finish Toni Morrison’s essay collection Mouth Full of Blood
- I haven’t read more black author’s memoirs than the two I read last year
- I’ve read fiction by black authors so tick
- No African Lit
- No Audre Lorde or Bell Hooks
- As you can see from the poor planning, no film analysis of a strict kind but I have been reviewing and analysing every film I watch, so a sort of tick there!
- I’ve got an agent list that I created last year and I’ve added to it in parts this year
- I’ve been redrafting my novel that I hope to be my traditional publishing debut
- I’ve entered the Merky Books Prize again this year with a new idea in the hopes of mentorship and publishing support
Reflection on personal curriculums
I think you have to be someone dedicated to academia to do this. Or at least someone who has the free time to ensure a curriculum can be followed. I have other interests, hobbies, and projects. I tried to overlap my personal curriculum with these things, so that’s why I did achieve them in part, but not entirely.
I also think you need the curriculum in front of you. Tangible; physical; actionable. You need it in your calendar, printed out, a stack of books to remind you, or something like that. I went as far as a Notion page (screenshot above) but this was easy to never look at again once I got the dopamine hit of creating it.
New Year’s goals
Another thing we often do is set ourselves lofty goals in the new year or on a birthday (especially if it’s a big milestone one). I’ll be vulnerable here and share what I listed for some of my 2026 goals…
While it is perfectly normal to set goals when you’re excited and have a blank slate, it’s also important to be intentional about our approach to learning or doing new things. It’s all well and good to say you’ll run a 10km race, but you actually have to sign up for one and train for it. Fun to say you’ll stitch your own quilt, but have you look into how that’s even done?
I’m not saying all this to point out how dumb or incompetent I am! Or that I, like a lot of people, have big dreams that will never be fulfilled. The point of this post is to remind you of what you said you wanted to do and learn and change this year.
September is a great time to pivot. To go “back to school” and start again. Enter the beginner’s mindset. Clear the goals if that’s what’s needed, with a new perspective on what actually serves you. What is doable. What still excites you. What would be an ideal challenge right now.
Critical Media Journal
This is the one thing I have kept up all year! A critical media journal is a concept created by This Story Ain’t Over. It’s basically engaging with the things you read and watch by analysing them more closely. My only issue with keeping up with this is keeping up with this! I watch or read so much that catching up has been difficult. I’m about 5 behind on my book review journal and my critical media journal. I actually filled one notebook already and started another one.
Vocabulary
When I’ve come across new and fun words, I’ve been noting them down. This is such a small thing but ensures I’m learning and paying attention. I strongly recommend you have a note where you log new words you come across.
Diverse Reading
Lastly, my learning and lifelong reading goal is to diversify my reading. To not fall into the trap of reading the same books constantly seen online or the basic straight, white, able-bodied, neurotypical authors and characters. I’m not hating on those people, of course, just noting that they are sadly the default norm. However, the world isn’t just one type of person! We are a beautifully diverse world with so many kinds of people and stories to tell.
Publishing fails to appreciate this still to this day. However, things are slowly changing. So, with more diverse books being published, we need to read them!
How am I doing with my challenges in Story Graph?
Anti Brain Rot Challenge | The StoryGraph
Read Around the World | The StoryGraph
September-December Reading Diverse Challenge – S. R. Crawford
September reflect & refresh
There’s 4 months left of the year. This is plenty to get something done. One last project or taking up a new skill. And I want us to keep it SMALL! Don’t overload our lists, personal curriculums, or goal sheets like before and ultimately end up overwhelmed and confused.
Just pick 1-3
Got it? Good. Now, decide HOW you will get this done. I think we often just write out ideal goals or projects but not how or when we will do them. The only way to take action is to know how to take action.
What this could look like:
- Enter a 10km race for November 20th -> Start running every week at least 5km, with twice a month doing a 10km -> Carb-load if you feel you’ll need the body fuel for this distance
- Plan your reading ahead at the start of the month, so you are more intentional about what kind of books you are reading
- Schedule time in your calendar to do your new hobby -> Have it in your physical and phone calendar -> Set reminders -> Keep the timeslot as if it’s an appointment
Also think about why! Why do you want to do it? If the why isn’t intrinsic (internally motivated), it’s less likely to get done.
Take out your journal or notebook and brain dump on what you’ve learned this year.
- Have you progressed the way you’d like to?
- What could you change?
- What goals did you originally set and do you now wish to change them?
- What can you do to make learning new things more natural and habitual?
Good luck and happy learning!
Sincerely,
S. xx
S. R. Crawford 