Wow, I love that we just got back from a break and next week we’re already back off again!! This is perhaps, other than summer, the best time of year…and…full of the most learning for our students! I know, I know, they aren’t sitting in your classrooms but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still learning. I don’t think I have to tell any of you where I am going with this but I will any way 🙂 Life lessons, travel, getting out into the world and experiencing all sorts of awesomeness!!
Our students have some of the coolest lives possible; the stories I heard from their winter breaks alone are incredible. Sixth graders bungee jumping, scuba diving in exotic locations, traveling to new countries, and even the kids who stayed in Shanghai have great stories of the fun they had. I know a lot of us are great about documenting and reflecting on our experiences, whether in a blog, on Facebook, or an old-fashioned journal. However, what about our students? What do they do to record these life-lessons, these experiences that will shape their lives? I’m asking you today to simply encourage your students to record their awesome experiences. When we return from break on February 10th we have a Dragon Time dedicated to e-Portfolios but as you know there won’t be much to do during that time…so, please have your kids create a new tab/page/link/section of their portfolio for journaling and recording their experiences. They don’t have to travel to far away places to journal their lives, nor do they have to talk about what happened just recently but they should have a place to document their lives and what better place than on their ePortfolio?!? Please help your students begin to record these experiences, after all they are waaaay more valuable than just two cents 🙂
Also, check out this page “Living Life to the Fullest” it has 30 ways to do just that and #1 is “Act Like a Kid!!”
Pushing Forward 
How true, I think of all the places I have been around the world and how can I think about them is because my wonder ful of 35 years has been a NUT about taking pictures and making a photo album for all 35 years. I told her she was NUTS for doing this, but looking at those albums( our documenting of our travels, albeit maybe just a picnic in the next city) has abled me to recall all the wonderful things I (we) have done.