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Wow, I am still decompressing from last weeks class prompt. I had done this very same assignment about three years ago in another class. I cannot even begin to tell you how much of "where I am from," has changed. This writing prompt made me sit still and reflect and definitely accept that life and all of our experiences come and go so quickly. That while we are making plans and moving towards our future, life is happening right now. I am appreciative of the moments I have and share with people who are sharing the same experience right now. Getting to hear a snippet of everyone's past was refreshing and incredibly brave. Even though we all share the same goal for our future, we come from a culmination of different pasts and experiences that have shaped us into who we are and what we represent. While finishing up Other Peoples Children one theme really resonated with this exercise, the notion that "in order to teach you, I must know you," I know that in my undergrad studies I was rarely asked or given the opportunity to talk about or express where I came from. Throughout our last six weeks we have had the chance to speak about where we are now, where we have come from and our struggles along the way. I feel like this is a beneficial tool for any teacher and I personally plan on using these personal narrative essays and I am from... as ways for my students to have a voice and be able to talk about what it's like to walk a mile in their shoes. I feel like this is so important and is an essential ingredient in creating the community within the classroom. Although with all the pressures of teaching to the standardized tests and trying desperately to tailor curriculum to be accessible to all learners I could see how this could easily get put onto the back burner. Furthermore it is a literacy exercise and could be linked to a language arts standard, Synethstesia!