This is me with my kids and the bag in July, 2020.

Hello, everyone!

My name is Esther Yang and I am a secondary mathematics teacher working in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. ETEC 540 is my 5^th course in MET program, and I am looking forward to learning with you all this term.

As you probably can tell from the picture on the right, I am a mother of three girls in ages from 2 to 7. For Task 1, I have chosen this “diaper” bag because it reflects me the most at the current stage of my life as a mother of young 3 children. I carry this backpack everyday whenever I am with my children, going to parks, school/daycare pick-ups, or grocery-shopping.  Also, the type of my bag (backpack) says the lifestyle and activity level of my kids as I need to have my two hands available to hold the kids’ hands and carry my high-energy toddler in parking lots. When I had only one child, I used to have a medium-sized shoulder bag to carry baby necessities, but now I must have this backpack to fit all these items in the picture and some extras for my three kids.

Here are the items in my bag:

1. Diapers, baby wipes, diaper changing pad: one of the most important necessities for my youngest child. We have initiated a potty training about a month ago, so I hope that these items would be absent from my backpack by this December when she turns 2 and a half and starts a fulltime daycare.
2. Hair elastics and hairbrush: on some busy mornings, I have to tie kids’ hair at the drop-off parking lot, and I keep them in my bag just in case the kids have messy hair after a nap at the daycare or they loose or break hair elastics.
3. Band-Aids: the ones with popular cartoon characters printed are the best remedy for boo-boos for young children. Product description, instruction and ingredients are digitally printed in both English and French languages.
4. Sunscreen: for kids’ outdoor playing on sunny days. Product description, instruction and ingredients are digitally printed in both English and French languages.
5. Moisturizing lotion: for kids’ eczema and for my hands after frequent hand washing and sanitizing. Product description, instruction and ingredients are digitally printed in both English and French languages.
6. Extra face masks: it has been the norm to wear masks indoors and outdoors for the last 1.5 years. The kids sometimes lose masks, the ear ties break, or they just need to change to clean ones.
7. Epi-pens: two of my daughters have severe allergies to tree nuts so we are the “Epi-pen family” carrying multiple Epi-pens for emergency. The auto-injector has the digitally printed instructions in English and French and a picture to guide caregivers and patients to ensure that they can follow the necessary steps in the emergency.
8. Wallet, coin pouch, receipts: money, banking cards, credit cards, library cards, zoo membership cards, and important identifications for me and my family. Receipts contain printed texts and some of major brand retail companies, nowadays, offer sending electronical receipts to email. I think this is such a great option for people who constantly lose receipts and have to dig their wallets for returns/exchanges/price adjustments. Digitally printed receipts can be convenient to store, retrieve and organize because they exist in the digital space where the information will not be lost unless you purposely delete them.
9. Cellphone charger, external cellphone battery, wireless earphones: during my girls’ gymnastics classes or when my youngest falls asleep in the car, this is the golden time for me to do my assignments and catch up with readings for my MET courses.
10. Cellphone (not shown in the picture as I took the picture this picture with my cellphone): when I am out with my family, my phone stays in the front pocket of the backpack unless I am taking pictures of the kids and the family. Again, keeping the phone in the bag allows me to pay full attention to my people, have my hands available for other things and keep the phone safe and not losing it. I wear a smart watch, so I do not worry about missing calls or messages.
11. Nut-free snacks (for kids and me): hungry kids or adults are not so pleasant to work with. Product information and ingredients are digitally printed in English and French on the package. It is important to double check the ingredients before giving them to my kids. I try to buy nut-free snacks that clearly state the products are made in a nut-free facility. 
12. Rock collection: I was asked to keep these rocks picked by my nature-loving middle child while we were out in our neighborhood. She picks up random things and wants to bring them home then forgets about their existence in my bag.
13. Pen and drawings/pictures/memos from my kids
14. Toys for my youngest to keep her still during diaper change and to entertain her on car rides.
15. Keys, grocery store membership cards, hand sanitizer on a lanyard with my school district name and number printed. The grocery store membership cards are designed to hang on key chains and make them easily accessible. They have bar codes on the back and cashiers scan them or customers scan them on a designated scanner on the cashier counter to get discounts or collect points. Many stores offer digital copy of their membership and there are many apps organize such cards on your cellphones. I understand the convivence of collecting and organizing all the cards in one place, but I have not adapted to organizing things in virtual space, just yet. This reminds me that I really need to organize my folders and files on OneDrive too.

In my bag, the cellphone is the only text technology and I use this technology device to do so many things everyday.

• to communicate with friends and family mostly by sending text messages, phone calls and video calls.
• to document my days and special events by taking pictures and videos
• to organize work, school, and family schedules and appointments and share them with my spouse.
• to do my schoolwork, read articles and watch videos when I am out without my laptop.
• to do online shopping
• to do online banking: sending e-transfers, deposit cheques, paying bills
• to watch news, movies, or tv shows
• to read news articles and e-books
• to check weather forecasts and driving directions on Googlemap

Looking through all the things I do with my cellphone, I realize that I have traditional literacy, information literacy, digital literacy, financial literacy, health literacy.

• Traditional literacy (reading and writing) & Information literacy – I use my phone to study and work on assignments. I can search information, assess the validity of the information, and use it to complete tasks.
• Digital literacy – I can use my smartphone effectively and understand how all the features in this digital device and utilize it to solve problems.
• Financial literacy – I do online banking and online shopping on my phone. I can set my budgets for big purchases and effectively look for deals online.
• Health literacy – I am confident that I can identify products that may contain allergens for my children and when and how to use medications for emergency. I can identify when to see a doctor when there is a medical emergency.

You have probably noticed that I have quite a bit of items for emergency uses. I used to carry more things for the kids when they were younger, such as extra clothes, socks, underwear, more diapers, nail clipper, medications, more snacks, water bottles for each child etc. The age of the kids and the number of years of experience with toddlers have made me realize that I do not have to carry everything and have learned to pack my bag efficiently with only necessities. If an archeologist was going through my bag items in the future, I would be described as a parent or caregiver who had young children with anaphylactic allergies and who spent a lot of time with children outdoors in nature and value time and memories with her children by examining places, traces and pictures she left in her mobile phone. As there is not much personal items for myself in this bag, I would be viewed as a main caregiver who would have prioritized my children’s needs and interests.  Also, the messiness of the inside of my wallet with lots of old receipts would describe me as a not-so-organized person. If it was 15 or 25 years ago, I would have been a student so most of the contents would be for school, such as textbooks, notebooks, writing supplies, and some personal items, all for myself and no one else.

When I am in public with my three children, often I receive comments from strangers like, “Wow, you are a busy mom! You have three children. Are they all yours? They look handful!”

I am grateful for my children and my family, and I truly treasure every minute of my life with my children. I cannot deny the fact that it is challenging and sometimes exhausting to work full time and raise three young children, but I think I want to feel and present myself as a fun, calm and well-organized mom who enjoys challenges that I encounter while raising my children. I hope that my bag items narrate myself as the same way I want to be viewed!