Shoe Box? Who Wants a Shoe Box?

Last week in class we did a shoe box activity. I never really thought of a shoe box as particularly important but after this class I found it for someone it could be.

Sydney set the stage for us. We were traveling back in the early 1800's. The wagon was packed with the essentials, and we were getting ready to leave. We were given a box and we could fill it with whatever we wanted to take with us. Whatever we thought was important. These things could be anything, but the box had to close. We had our rules and off we went to fill our boxes.

When we came in for the following class, we were all supposed to share what was in our boxes. It was amazing to see what people had decided to put in their boxes. Some of them went survival and fill the box with things like tooth paste, lighters, water, etc. while others went for sentiment. There was a little bit of everything; some of it had a story and some of it didn't.

I was amazed to find how hard it was to share some of the items in my shoebox. There was nothing in there I was ashamed of but it was the knowing others were going to see what was important to me and the possibility they would find it pathetic or dumb. The moment of vulnerability is hard to put into words.

The insight into the other people in my class was unbelievable. The similarities and differences were so blatant yet never seemed so insignificant. This is an activity I would definitely love to do with my own students some day.