Tonight I filled in everything that I could in the ‘Happiness and joy’ column of my new story bank; I filled up all of the available slots on the spreadsheet. I thought 49 rows would always be more than enough when I set it up. Doing this has really been a great exercise because I have been able to recover so many fading memories. It is easy to say that a fair number would have been lost forever.

Part of the list is just from my past. Some things on of the list are things that I anticipate will happen in my classroom. Most if it is from students. I would post it… but I feel that the list itself is better as a mystery.

But seeing it all together is really a powerful thing. Yes, it’ll be useful for storytelling, that’s how it got started. Yes, I it will help me remember more instead of forget.

But I am realizing that mining myself for these stories feels like it is making me more expansive… more capable make these types of things happen. The sheer number of possibilities is almost overwhelming; I can’t help but smile at the opportunity to teach this fall.

I am so glad that I am doing this.