Besides coordinating my Chicago neighborhood high school’s International Baccalaureate Programme, I also teach my school’s IB Theory of Knowledge course, which explores what we know through the different lenses of the arts, history, philosophy, mathematics, etc. Basically, it is a fascinating humanities class, which I enjoy teaching. After having everyone do identity charts where students (and teacher) map out what are some of the basics of each of their lives, one of the early assignments I give my students is to ‘illustrate’ their ‘truth’. They can use any medium to do it, but I want them to express what makes them tick and what is important in their lives at this point. It is a way for my students to create a touchstone and it also allows me to see what is important in their lives. The first time I did this assignment with my students I was blown away by the variety and creativity of their ‘products’ and how into the assignment they got. This year, I’m feeling equally excited about their work.

It has been 5 years (give or take a month or two) since I started this blog and I am feeling a need for a writing challenge to reinvigorate Searching for EMWA. There has been a lot going on–Hurricanes ravaging parts of the world I hold dear; lots of ROWing; involvement in an advisory group for WomanLab; teaching and coordinating the IB program in a public, neighborhood high school that happens to be in the 3rd largest public school district in the US and the largest IB school district in the world; and my husband’s Urban Eden project are just a few of the blog pieces swirling around in my head. It seems like I need a touchstone myself and to share what is important in my life as of late. So, I’m creating a challenge for myself this next month, starting today, focused on My Truth with the goal of writing new posts and revisiting some of my old ones.

I hope you read along!