About me (and my bucket list)

The  TeachThough 30 day challenge blog post prompt for today was harder than it seemed.

September 10- Share 5 random facts about yourself, 4 things from your bucket list, 3 things you hope for this year as an educator, 2 things that made you laugh or cry as an educator, 1 think you wish more people knew about you.

At first I didn't think it really got me reflecting so much, then I realized I didn't have to reflect on each one. My reflection was on the the fact that one of these list was harder to construct than the rest. MY BUCKET LIST!

Photo Credit 

Why was that so hard? Perhaps because what I want to do most MOVE - MOVE Forward and let the energy from what happens in my life keep moving me forward. Sometimes I think what I do put ingredients in a pot, stir, and see what gels. But I seem to have a hunch for the right ingredients and good stuff always seems to come out of it. That is why I have chosen to call myself a "free lance" educator, because the word free lance seems to give me the "free"dom to move with the energy that comes into my life. Seems like writing a bucket list narrows down what might happen to a LIST OF THINGS that I want to do today, but that might NOT be tomorrow.


Here's my attempt at the Random Facts About Me

Five random facts about me

1. I have over 100 first cousins ~ Dad was one of 12 and Mom was one of 8 children. That generates a lot of 'cousins' 
2. French was my first language, but English is my stronger language. We grew up on American side of the US/Quebec border, where many of us started first grade not knowing any English. 
3. I grew up in a house with 5 girls (6 counting Mom) and only 1 bathroom and 1 phone (a party line at that) 
4. I currently live on the road full time in a 1983 Vintage Bluebird bus. 
5. Sister Edmund told me I could only move my lips in Chorus because I was so bad at singing, yet I gave birth to 3 incredible musicians.

A recent family reunion with about half my cousins

Recent 5 sisters reunion

On my bucket list

1. Learning to dance - perhaps because its about movement - and I like to move 
2. Visit a pyramid - have always wanted to visit Egypt for it seems like an amazing miracle with the tools that were available at the time they were available 
3. Go on a vacation with my sisters - we need to spend more time together. The years we 5 girls grew up together seem too far away. 
4. Go on a safari? It's a natural world that seems so different than the one we live in. 
5. ????? 

This year as an educator I hope to 

1. Make something really cool and more complex than the things I've been making before 
2. Kick off a mobile maker space 
3. Connect educators and students around all things STEAM 

Two things that make me cry as an educator

1. All the ways there are in the world to keep students trapped in poverty 
2. The fact that people value creativity, but dismiss opportunities for some amazing creative ways to engage students in learning to AFTER SCHOOL or OUT OF SCHOOL activity

One more thing I wish people knew about me

I'm really a lot more fun than you might think, People think all I do is work - because that where I'm in the public eye the most, but the French Canadian people (even those of us born in the US) are filled with a desire to have fun and when we get together, that desire is amplified. Ask anyone who has been at one of our family reunions, or the people who came to my 50th birthday party - (which I planed for myself because I wanted it to be REALLY FUN with live music and dancing and friends and family.)

Photos courtesy of Joanne deLaBruere