Probably the hardest part of this was consistency. I had to really remind myself to take a photo each day. It made me take a moment and really focus on something. Pretty much every day my routine and route to work are the same (anyone else thinking about the movie The Truman Show). Being able to stop and pick out one moment each day that brought joy or reminded me of a happy time was a nice addition to my otherwise ordinary day.
I decided to share a variety of things. Sometimes I was inspired by something I saw, like the clouds. Other times I was inspired by a thought and captured a picture to represent it like the book fair. And yet other times, I wanted to share a part of me and what I enjoy like the flea markets.
From a personal level I liked it for the reasons previously mentioned. I also think it makes a good therapy tool. Because of the nature of this task, I tried to keep it mostly positive. However, if I were to do it as an ongoing basis personally, I can see including things that are challenging or bring up bad feelings. It would make for a wonderful reflective therapeutic task.
Interestingly enough, one of my friends did a similar challenge (she had no idea I was doing this) based on favorite books. She challenged different people each day to take on the task of posting a favorite book each day for 7 days. After each post, nominate someone else to do the same.
Both of these experiences made me think of how I would use this in the classroom. I am sure students forget what they have learned from week to week. Or memories of the STEM project on bridges has been replaced by the memory of the Science Fair. How interesting it would be if they were required to keep an online journal in which they took a photo of one thing they learned or were proud of? They could then write a quick sentence about why it was meaningful. This would make a wonderful memory book in which they could not only reflect on their year, but pull up as a reminder of something they learned, or even see how they have grown in a year.
If you have done a challenge like this with your students I would love to hear about it. Drop me a comment.
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