Celebrating Life this week with Ruth Ayre's here.

As I awoke one morning, thinking about creativity, this photo I had taken years prior came to mind. I began composing a poem in my head in an attempt to express my interpretation of the beauty in the clouds revealed by the sun's rays streaming through on this sailing trip to a festival nearby.

Tucking the poem aside that morning, I began my daily preparations. As I went on with my day, the poem and the photo would creep back into my thoughts. I realized that it was a calling to honor my creative expression.

When I have viewed and appreciated others' photography on blogs, I wondered, "How do they place writing on their photos?" or "How do they place a © on the photo to protect the ownership?" So I started searching, on my keyboard for symbols, and on YouTube for instruction. Why didn't I think of YouTube sooner? Well, I found my answer, a video on "adding text to a picture in Google Docs".

This question had been nagging me from the previous week, after trying to show my students how to add a caption to a picture on their informational writing piece. We had used Word documents, years prior with success, but this year, students were using Google Docs for writing. Try, try, try again, I couldn't find the "add text box" on the Google Doc menu.

Now, after viewing the tutorial video, I learned to add a "drawing" from the menu, and then add the text box. I also made another discovery this week on "how to" add a voice comment on students' writing. Kaizena!

When consulting with our school's technology director, I was advised that it was an "add-on" to Google Docs. After giving my students the sign-on and uploading directions for their Docs to Kaizena, I commented on each of their documents that evening. The excitement in the room the following day was evident, as students listened to the comments, and were eager to try a suggestion or answer questions about their writing. They reread, wrote to clarify meaning, and elaborated as they wrote.

Reason to celebrate: Igniting students' passion for learning and creating.

The smile on their faces when they realized they had the ability to apply their new learning to their own writing was heartwarming. Appealing to students' creative expression by helping them realize they can blend art with writing, or writing with art to feed their personal expression of self is a celebration.

My celebration this week? Honoring my personal creative expression, and encouraging wonder and curiosity in my students.
(It's almost like the oxygen mask instruction on the airplane.)