I believe growth happens in the reflection, not just the doing. Here I share honest observations from the field — real classrooms, real students, real results — guided each year by a single word that keeps me grounded and growing.
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My #OneWord Journey:
Each year, one word guides my professional and personal growth.
My #OneWord Journey:
Each year, one word guides my professional and personal growth.
🌟 2026: Strengthen
💡 2025: Impact
✍️ 2024: Author
🌱 2023: Develop
🚀 2022: Momentum
🦋 2021: Transformation
💪 2020: Challenge
Seven Words, Seven Years:
What #OneWord Taught Me About Growth
Seven Words, Seven Years:
What #OneWord Taught Me About Growth
A reflection on intentional practice, unexpected alignment, and the power of a single word.
I didn't always believe one word could change a year. Then I tried it.
In 2019, I chose Challenge — inspired by a Twitter chat where someone dared me to write my dreams, not just my attainable goals. I typed "present at conferences and write a book" and Jay Billy responded with three words: "Just Do It." I had no idea what was coming. In 2020, a global pandemic challenged all of us in ways none of us could have imagined. I presented at ten virtual conferences, sent my book draft to publishers for the first time, and got COVID. Challenge didn't just guide my year — it gave me the mental toughness to survive it. Read my Challenge reflection →
Transformation followed naturally. In 2021, I signed my first book contract, published TRANSFORM: Techy Notes to Make Learning Sticky on my birthday, presented at 38 conferences — including two keynotes — and opened TannenbaumTech LLC. I didn't just reflect on transformation. I lived it completely. Read my Transformation reflection →
Momentum was my reminder not to become complacent. In 2022, I presented at 19 conferences, published 33 blog posts, and paid off my book costs. But momentum, I learned, requires tending to the whole person — not just the professional one. Read my Momentum reflection →
Develop arrived out of necessity. Using a Generate, Sort, Connect, Elaborate thinking routine, four buckets emerged: my business, my school community, my health, and my family. I became an ISTE Certified Educator and ASCD Emerging Leader. I broke my foot — and while recovering, lost 20 pounds. By year's end, I had lost 65 pounds and run 176 miles. Sometimes our setbacks redirect us toward exactly what matters most. Read my Develop reflection →
Author came to me on the last day of 2023, exhausted and finally resting. Everything I brainstormed pointed to stories — writing them, creating them, celebrating them. I chose Author before knowing it would mean publishing in ASCD Educational Leadership, taking the ISTE 2024 stage, and beginning the journey toward my second book with ISTE+ASCD. Read my Author reflection →
Impact asked the hardest question: is this actually making a difference? I started 2025 on the last day of 2024 — after one of the hardest fitness classes of my year — reflecting on everything Author had brought. I had lost 77 pounds, watched my son graduate college and my daughter start college, celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary in California, given my first ISTE Ignite talk on the mainstage, and won both ISTE 20 to Watch and the VATLL Impact Award. Even as my family navigated job transitions and financial uncertainty, Impact said yes — loudly — to the question I had been afraid to ask. Read my Impact reflection →
And now — Strengthen. I found this word through Gemini, after entering my 2026 goals and letting AI help me see the pattern. It resonated immediately because I'm not starting over. I'm building on what already exists — my body, my relationships, my book, my mission. This is the year I will complete my second book with ISTE+ASCD. It's also the year I started building my own classroom tools using AI-assisted coding — because the best way to teach something is to do it yourself. When you strengthen something, you make it more durable than it was before. That is exactly what this season calls for. Read my Strengthen reflection →
Have you chosen a #oneword? I'd love to hear it — find me @TannenbaumTech or drop me a note at debbie@tannenbaumtech.com.
What I'm Building in 2026
What I'm Building in 2026
Part of Strengthen is practicing what I preach. This year, I've been using AI-assisted coding to build classroom-ready tools for elementary educators. It's humbling, exciting, and exactly the kind of learning I ask educators to embrace every day.
Explore Tannenbaum Tech Vibe Coding →
Why I Started Building My Own Tools
Why I Started Building My Own Tools
What vibe coding taught me about being a learner first
What vibe coding taught me about being a learner first
I didn't plan to become a vibe coder- I planned to attend a session that focused on a topic I wanted to learn more about.
It started at Inspire Loudoun, where I first encountered the idea that educators — not just developers — could create their own tools using AI-assisted coding. Then the AI in EDU Summit pushed me further. By the time I left, I wasn't just inspired. I was all in.
My first tool was a Zones of Regulation check-in. It started with a real classroom problem: I wanted students to have a simple, visual way to identify and communicate how they were feeling before diving into learning. I knew what I needed. I just didn't know how to build it.
So I described it. In plain language. To an AI.
And it built it.
What surprised me most wasn't that it worked — it was how it worked. Without writing a single line of code, I was able to customize a learning environment in ways that genuinely met my students' needs. Colors, language, layout, interaction — all tailored to the specific learners in front of me. No template. No compromise. No waiting for someone else to build what I needed.
That's when it clicked.
This is exactly what I ask educators to do every day — describe what their students need and find the right tool to support it. I had been teaching that philosophy for years. Now I was living it from a completely different angle, as a learner who didn't know the rules, figuring it out one prompt at a time.
What the process taught me most was the importance of design thinking and iteration. Building a tool isn't a single moment of inspiration — it's a cycle of try, adjust, try again. My first version of the Zones check-in wasn't right. Neither was the second. But each iteration got closer to what my students actually needed. That process — messy, humbling, and deeply satisfying — is the same process I want every educator to experience with technology.
Pedagogy First. Technology Second. I've always believed it. Now I've built it.
Curious what I've been building? Explore Tannenbaum Tech Vibe Coding →
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