--Anthony Bourdain
We just got back from a huge road trip. It was somewhere around 3200 miles of driving ... but it still wasn't realy enough.
In those 10 days we hugged redwoods and searched for sea glass and ate fresh cherries from a farm stand. We skipped stones in a river and examined tide pools. We learned the Boudin
bakery is still using the same sourdough starter from its beginning in 1849. We learned that the tallest trees have the smallest pine cones and that there are no indigenous fish in Crater Lake. I learned that desert kids are unprepared to encounter snow drifts in June and are also magnetically drawn to them. And we learned that there are numerous markets in Chinatown selling dried things of all shapes and sizes.
We know more now about our world and have explored some of its beauty. We met some cool people -- three
British and Australian couples in San Francisco, lamenting the disgusting American iced coffees they had purchased; and the ladies in the gift shop at the Japanese gardens who taught my youngest child terms for sushi. We ate in more restaurants with translated menus than ever before --Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Indian. New flavors and smells and textures...some scary and some delightful.
And we are changed. I'm sure this trip has left marks beyond the scars on my ankle from sliding down a rock while tide pooling. I'm curious to see what marks will remain with my kids. What will they remember most? What will they want to know more about? What did they learn that they will use later? What new questions will drive them to the library? How will their journeys continue through the books or websites or magazines they explore? And how can I support them in these explorations?
How do these questions help you think about your learners and the journeys they want to take? How do you support their curiosity through rich travels through texts?
The exploration continues. Learning sparks more learning. Enjoy your travels.