My word came to me at the end of the summer. It's JOURNEY. I chose JOURNEY because I am experiencing a lot of journeys this year and so is my family. I moved to Columbia Intermediate to two grade levels and began a journey there. I am in the midst of writing a book about teaching with a former colleague that could possibly be published, and it has been and will continue to be a journey. My parents made the journey to Florida where they bought a house and will permanently move when they sell their house in KY. My youngest daughter, Katie, will graduate from high school and so we won't have any more kids at home. Lots of journeys! The great thing about a journey is that even though it could be full of obstacles, the person on the journey is transformed for the better. Sometimes journeys also turn out differently than how they started. I'm open to that, too. When I discovered Aaron Becker's picture book Journey, it quickly became my favorite picture book of 2013, and I used it to develop a literacy contract around the theme topic JOURNEY for 5th graders.
When I introduced the concept to all the classes, most students chose one pretty quickly. They discussed them at their tables, wrote about them, and decorated cards with them with why they chose their words and one thing they're going to do to focus on them on the back of the card. They turned out great! Here are some examples. I'll be making a bulletin board out of them so students can see what their words are all year.
Parents, what would your words be? We'd love to hear them and read about why you picked them. Just leave a comment below. Thanks!
