A great start

Last week I spent several days introducing the project to the students. They started by taking the online survey I created which went very quickly. I am really glad I decided to include several open-ended response questions because they give me some more insight as to the specfics of why students do what they do. For example, looking at why students do like participating in class versus not participating. Also, why they like or do not like writing. Although in retrospect I think it would have been better to clarify what I meant by writing. I had many students respond as if the writing were creative writing instead of content related writing. SurveyMonkey worked great. The results were all calculated rather quickly and it give me a great starting point for looking at my data.

We also started watching "An Inconvenient Truth" by looking at clips I had pre-selected for them to view. I also had some questions before hand for them to write about. This is the phase of the project where they are writing by hand rather than on the computer or in the blog. I really tried to focus my questions on feelings and thoughts. Such as, "What kind of reaction do you have to seeing where the level of CO2 is going to be when you are 60 years old?" Many of them had very strong feelings. Also, in this portion of the project they were only able to discuss through traditional means- by raising their hand to share or if I called on them. They were many students who wanted to respond and share their thoughts. I found myself trying to give time to anyone that wanted it. This certainly slowed down the progress of the project a bit.

What was exciting to me is how riveted they were to the movie. Now, to be honest not all of them were 100% invested but the majority were. Also, you have to understand that we were doing this the last few days before their mid-winter break where attitudes and focus tend to be a bit lacking. Yet, most watched, weren't talking during the video, and had something to write when it was time. What was also interesting is that many had side conversations but about the topic!!! They were truly interested in what was being said. In addition I could hear "wow"'s and sighs in reaction to what they were seeing. Also, after day two there were quite a few students who asked when we would be watching the movie again. When they would have a chance to learn more. YES!

The last question I asked them on day two was, "Do you want to know more? Why or why not." I thought this would be a really telling way to find out exactly what they were feeling at this point. How interested are they? After looking the papers over the vast majority of all the students wanted to know more.

This week I am off of school for mid-winter break. I plan to focus on the video I collected so far including the pre-interviews. Also, preparing everything for launching the blogs when we return. So, even though I am on break... I am still working!