Please answer the following for a discussion on Wednesday, April 6, 2011. The W.O. students will also be responding and blogging as well.
1. What were your expectations for yesterday's visit with the other students?
2. How did you prepare and did your preparations make a difference in the way you felt about the visit?
3. What happened that was beyond your expectations?
4. What happened that you had already anticipated might happen?
5. How will you prepare for our next visit in two weeks?
1. I expected the kids to have some knowledge on the tpoic of recycling but also that we would be able to teach them things they didn't know so we could all learn from each other.
ReplyDelete2.Amanda an I researched the topic of recycling to refresh our minds and to make sure we wouldn't forget to talk about anything but also to make sure we knew enough. We found online quizzes for the kids to take and learn in a fun way. and a song that talks about recycling, to learn in a less academic manner.
I think it made a difference to prepare because we had ways to break the ice with the kids and do fun stuff without being boring and tedious.
3. The kids did not know as much as I thought they might but I was very impressed with their ability to make connections and figure things out with a little push.
4. I anticipated they would be so exited and would all want to talk at the same time like 10 year olds do. ALso that it would be fun.
5. We asked the kids to brainstorm and to bring some drawings so we can put everything together. Amanda and I will bring some colograph plates so the kids can see what it will look like to make this and creates a print.
1. I expected the kids to be able to relate to our topic of recycling because it closely affects their lives. I also expected the kids to be excited to do a project with college students because it is something new and influential for them.
ReplyDelete2. Clem and I searched on the Internet for various informative sites about recycling. We found the website called Recycling Guys that allowed the kids to take fun quizzes about recycling. Clem and I also used the Jack Johnson song called 3 R’s in order to give the kids an easy and fun way to remember some of the most important things about recycling.
3. I was very impressed by how engaged the kids were in sharing what they thought about recycling and ways they could tell family and friends how to recycle more frequently. The kids also really enjoyed doing the online quizzes, got majority of the question right, and still wanted to continue taking the quiz. Their enthusiasm and creativity was refreshing to see.
4. I anticipated that some may be shyer than others, but when it came down to it every single kid took part in the group. I also thought that both team leaders and the kids would enjoy the experience together (which we did).
5. Clem and I asked our kids to come up with some ideas for next week. The kids are going to write down some key words and illustrations that they feel show others how important recycling is to our planet. We also decided that using collagraph plates would be the most suitable printing technique. We can use recycled items for the plate, which goes along perfectly with our topic. When we meet with the kids next time we can show them how their drawings can come together and make an illustration out of found objects.
I did indeed have Great Expectations for our visit to Whispering Oak yesterday. Alexis and I were extremely excited to here the insights of children on the global food crisis. I approached the situation with the conscious knowledge that children are capable of amazing things; their minds are free from the constraints of adult mindsets and the functional fixedness that boxes in our creativity as we grow up. I expected them to be relatively well informed about our topic and to have put some personal thought into the issue. With all of this in mind, Alexis and I prepared an introduction to our project with the assumption that they would already have formed a basis for understanding. We introduced our ideas to the Whispering Oak children through their taste buds! In this way we intended to give them a individual point of reference to the project material—a way to understand it through personal experience. We also chose to outline a few important concepts and terms, to make sure everyone was on the same page. I think these preparations really made us confident in going into the classroom. We knew they were going to love us just because we brought food, anyways! I think I can speak for both Alexis and myself in saying that we were totally blown away by these kids. They were super engaged and immediately willing to share their own experiences, ideas, and solutions. At times it was hard to stick to business, but I think we allowed for fun and tangents to a not-too-distracting degree.
ReplyDeleteAlexis and I asked the Whispering Oak students in our group to think more about the visual expressions they began to create during our visit. We asked them to create sketches and think about printing techniques they would like to use. Alexis is going to bring her recent prints as examples of art on this topic and perhaps we will each come with sketches of our own.
p.s. diamondhands is me, moriah!!
ReplyDelete1. I expected the first visit to be one that was basically an introduction for the students on the subject of development. I knew that they might have heard about some key ideas before, either in class in direct preparation for this, and I just wanted to come together with the kids and see how they went about thinking about a problem and discussing ideas and being visual. I also wanted to maybe take the ideas they might have already thought up and channel them into something that the whole group would be passionate about.
ReplyDelete2. Katie and I prepared for the visit by coming up with a hands-on exercise with cars and brainstorming about the task of running daily errands that would hopefully get the kids thinking about their own experiences and relate them back to the wider topic of development and urban sprawl. Katie also designed a brochure that would give the children visual ideas and examples for what different types of space could look like and how they could affect the surrounding environment. Then we asked the students to draw what they thought the perfect living space would be.
3. I didn’t expect such different reactions from all the students. One girl said “I think we should rip down all cities!” The two boys in the group agreed on the idea of moving everyone underwater into a contained bubble. Another girl came up with a very clever idea about comparing existing living spaces in Florida and weighing the pros and cons of each location.
4. I anticipated that perhaps there wasn’t enough specific information presented to the children and as a result they weren’t able to come up with as many relevant solutions as they should have. I didn’t want to overwhelm them or add ideas and concepts to our presentation that they might not have cared about or been able to grasp. However, these kids are smart and I think if the presentation had been less general and more specific and informative, they might have had an easier time brainstorming about things that related better to our topic of development.
5. I think Katie and I might have to come up with a hand out or something that will talk much more specifically about urban sprawl and its effect on the surrounding environment. We could also have the children draw a wider range of images, maybe already existing environments or comparing different types of development or ask them what they think would be a visually dynamic image.
1) I expected the students to know about the broad topic of development pretty thoroughly, but hoped that I could still share some more specific information about the relationship between population and development.
ReplyDelete2) In researching urban sprawl, mega cities, and green space, I felt that Anne and I would be able to expand upon the students’ knowledge about these topics. Because of this, I was confident that we could introduce some topics that would lead to brainstorming about the implications of the current trends in development.
3) I did not expect the students to have such strong opinions about urban sprawl. For example, Kirsten was concerned with the way in which humans encroach upon the habitats of animals, and wanted a world where animals and humans could live without being scared of each other.
4) I had anticipated the students to trail off at times into unrelated discussions, and while this did happen a few times, it was not nearly as often as I had expected.
5) To prepare for the next visit, it would be helpful to gather even more specific information about the topics of urban sprawl, mega cities, and green space and create activities to help the children compare current examples with possible solutions. This would hopefully help them produce some images to use in the print. Also, getting examples of collagraph, monotype and carborundum plates would be helpful.
The kids were everything I expected and more! They are so thoughtful and interactive, they love to add their opinions and ideas and that just made it so much more fun. I really expected our meeting to be more like a conversation than us standing in front of the class teaching about what we learned. And it was just that. The kids had so many ideas and imputed their thoughts in without us having to ask them a hundred times.
ReplyDeleteWe prepared a power point, an activity that would get us all up and running, and a computer game that the kids loved. We had a great discussion, and we even were able to start talking about different printmaking techniques. We made collaborative drawings using the white board, and talked about different ways in which we could visualize the idea of conserving water. I think the fact that we prepared some fun games made the meeting more enjoyable and less formal. We were able to add a little competition into our learning, and everyone loves a little competitive spirit!
A little boy named Burn in our group was the only one who didn’t really say much in the beginning. The other kids in the group said that Burn was very shy and never spoke. It made me feel sad because it almost seemed like they were picking on him a bit. I made an extra effort to ask Burn questions and to keep him in conversation. Towards the end of our session together, he was actually the one talking to most and putting in lots of great ideas! Turns out he is quite the artist, as well. It was really fulfilling to see the transition he made from the start of the class to the end.
From our first visit to the school, I already anticipated the level these kids were on. They are smart and quick in understanding pretty complex issues. They use and understand big words, so I had already anticipated being able to have an intellectual conversation with these kids.
For our next visit, my group will bring samples of prints and possibly some print making tools so we can familiarize the kids with the various ways to make prints. We will also further collaborate sketches and ideas into three solid print ideas that will successfully communicate the idea of conserving water for our survival and our planet.
1. I expected that the students might have some knowledge of our topic, either through discussion with their teacher or things they’ve learned or observed with their parents. I thought they might enjoy doing the taste test and would probably be able to tell a difference between the conventional and local/organic products. I thought the slide show might be a little more boring for them and that we’d have to do a lot to keep them engaged, and I wasn’t sure how they would respond to our questions or if they would need a lot of prompting to come up with answers.
ReplyDelete2. We prepared by bringing the food/juice for the taste test, creating a slide show, and discussing the kinds of things we were interested in talking about with them and finding out how they thought about those issues.
3. I was completely amazed at how interested, engaged, and informed all the students were. All we had to do was pose a question or bring up a topic and they would all start talking at once and telling us their opinions and experience with things like farmers markets, and gardening at home to grow their own food. They were so excited! It was really cool to interact with them and see how smart and interested they were. When we asked, “What are some things we could do to deal with the food crisis of feeding 7 billion people” the first thing they suggested was getting people to grow their own food. One kid, I think it was Jacob, even asked, “What if people don’t have enough space to grow their own food?” to which we suggested community gardens which they thought was a good idea. I thought the taste test was really interesting. Some students guessed correctly because they thought that the local/organic products tasted fresher than the conventional ones. However, a couple of them guessed the opposite because they thought that the sweeter, more flavorful products should have been the conventional ones because they assumed the chemicals/production methods made the fruit and juice artificially sweeter. I thought this was interesting because it showed that they didn’t realize that real, fresh, healthy food could be even more delicious than the conventional counterpart. Also, I was really excited to see how easily they could transfer their ideas to visual images. They all had really great ideas when we asked them what kinds of things they might want to draw to discuss what we had talked about visually. Their ideas were very conceptual to, which impressed me. Like a couple of them had the idea of drawing an orange with a syringe sticking out of it to symbolize GMOs.
4. I had anticipated that they would have some really interesting interpretations of the problems that we presented to them and would possibly think outside the box for solutions, which is exactly what happened. They didn’t get trapped by the same political and social ropes that adults are confined by, like thinking people will never want to grow their own food, or thinking about the logistics and practicality of a plan for feeding the world. Instead they just focused on what was necessary and good for both people and the environment. I was surprised that so many of them were so excited about the idea of having farmers markets to get fresh food at, and having gardens to grow things in. None of them were turned off by the idea of working for their food, they thought it was cool!
5. The next time we go there I hope to figure out how they want the print to look, what their main ideas are for the project, and how each of them can contribute. I believe it was Trevor who already drew out an idea for the print, maybe we could use that and have all the other kids draw things that relate to it and somehow layer, or include all their drawings in one print.