Over the weekend I went to see the movie Bucket List. No deep thinking was required; it was just a “feel good, appreciate life” kind of movie. The premise of the movie is that 2 old guys find out they have less than a year to live, so they make a list of all the things they want to do before they “kick the bucket.”
This was not a new concept for me. About a year ago, I read Kris Radish’s book, Sunday List of Dreams. This book has a similar premise, but the main character is a middle-aged woman looking to live a meaningful life after years of fear and disappointment. After finishing the book, I composed my own list of dreams and came up with a top five list. Since that time, I’ve actually fulfilled two of them and have added a couple more.
After watching the movie this weekend, I started thinking about my work. My first year as a TIS is half over. What dreams do I have for the remainder of the first year? Here’s my list of dreams or my “bucket list” for the rest of this school year (not in any particular order):
- To have several teachers from each grade level regularly contributing to our school’s Diigo social bookmarking site as a tool for collaboration.
- To get all 5th grade students regularly blogging.
- To see all our Smartboards hung and teachers using them daily.
- To engage more teachers and students in podcasting.
- To continue monitoring the needs of my teachers and provide whatever support is needed to enhance and improve instruction.
It’s easy to lose focus when entrenched in the pressing needs of each day, but I heard in church yesterday that in order to live fulfilled lives, we must organize our lives around the most important things. I’m going to try to focus on my list of dreams.
Curriculum Connection:
Literacy/Science: Research volcanoes (Diigo volcano bookmarks). Use Open Mind 2 to collect and organize data such as location, size, history, and volcanic activity. Export to HTML to create web pages for sharing. In my opinion, Open Mind 2 is one of the best graphic organizer tools available.
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January 15th, 2008 at 10:09 am
[...] What’s most impressive about Zackham’s screenplay is not just that it avoids the ‘push-button’ tear-jerk scenes, but the way in which he actually predicts your expectation of those scenes. (Does that make sense?) In one key scene, we fully expect some sort of tearful reunion — but instead we get one of the main characters explaining that such a “Hallmark moment” could never happen. The movie’s just a little bit smarter than one would expect from a typical two-hanky older-crowd-pleaser. Cinematical It was a short movie, yet sweet throughout. It really told the story of this strong friendship, and really drove home the point that life isn’t over until it’s over. You can still accomplish, love, make friends, and laugh it up until your very last moment. Would I see it again? Maybe on HBO, and maybe starting from the middle. But You Don’t Look Sick Over the weekend I went to see the movie Bucket List. No deep thinking was required; it was just a “feel good, appreciate life” kind of movie. The premise of the movie is that 2 old guys find out they have less than a year to live, so they make a list of all the things they want to do before they “kick the bucket.” Thinking About Learning [...]
January 19th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Dear Mrs. Foxworth,
Thanks for the comment! In fact your Betty Crocker story is very interesting, and very funny too! Also, did you know that the 4,000-5,000 letters that she got everyday included marriage proposals. Anyways, I really liked this Bucket List post of yours. I liked how you made a list for yourself too! In fact maybe I should start making my list before I “kick the bucket!”