One Student's Reflection, Spreading Knowledge Through PAS, by: Seyni Ndaw It’s 2014 and the PAS third floor is at it again! For the third year in a row, middle school students are spreading knowledge throughout the school about environmental issues in real time. Every week the eighth graders go to their designated classrooms to either make a presentation or hand out surveys to collect data - sometimes even both! Taking it behind the scenes, this essay will serve as an exposé as to what happened in order to prepare for the "Unless Project 2014."
Currently, all of the middle school students involved in the project have huge responsibilities concerning the "Unless", but the team leaders, Sabrina Lai and Monet Thigpen, share the largest load. These two eighth graders orchestrated and organized the visuals and happenings of the project overall. When asked about the complexity and work ethic it took to construct the surveys, Monet says, “When crafting the surveys, I had to first come up with the main ideas: Palm Oil, Tigers, and Sumatra. Then I had to come up with questions reinforcing the facts.” In addition, Sabrina says, “The responsibility was overwhelming at first, but it was pretty easy to adjust. Working with people you have known for so long can be really fun and can also be really effective." As you will see, the preparation for this project does not just happen with the snap of the fingers.
The hard work of the eighth graders was clearly demonstrated when the students went to their designated classrooms to present. In pairs, the eighth graders would communicate new information to their classrooms each week, along with a new survey. Asking some of the pairs, I received several opinions from the paired students on the experiences they had during weekly visits. Fahima Shobarna, visiting Ms. Ottinger, Ms. Sharp, and Ms. Carter classes stated, “The kids were focused and happy to participate and also very cooperative during lessons.” Malachi Johnson, visiting Mr. Lowe’s classroom, stated, “The kids seemed shocked after I brought up the example of their homes being damaged.” This is obviously in comparison to the Sumatran Tigers’ habitats. Cristian Fernandez, visiting Ms. Waters (Second Grade class) and Ms. Bebian, stated, “There was a lot of participation and the children seemed to learn a lot in a short period of time about the Sumatran tigers.” This, in light of, the limited time the students had to not only gather the information together but also communicate it. With one week to spare, the students had to convert the recently collected data into graphs, and decide on the format.
Although all the classroom students may not have been paying attention, the teachers certainly were. After interviewing a few teachers, we received some positive and negative feedback. Ms. Johnson, a third grade teacher, stated, “The student who came to my room could not have done a better job in communicating why she was there; and what was happening to the Sumatran tigers. The student definitely raised awareness to a large portion of the class.” Ms. Bebian, a first grade teacher, stated, “I feel the Unless Project is an excellent way to make the children aware of what’s is happening in the world and how the products they commonly use affects the environment. I do think some more interactive visual lessons could have helped because of the age group in my class, though.” Mr. Lowe, a kindergarten teacher, says stated, “I feel the student communicated great to the kids. However, I think some hands on lesson may have made a larger impact on the kids, due to their age.” As students, to know, we have successfully demonstrated our purpose and message is great. Also, a few critiques never hurts either!
In conclusion, all of the Unless Project students had a huge responsibility and played different roles in structuring the Unless project. Through crafting new lessons and surveys every week, the students hard work was clearly demonstrated when presenting to his/her designated classrooms. Making sure to interact with each class, every lesson we planned consisted of new information and facts to broaden the horizons of the students. In addition, the project students’ hard work was confirmed by the teachers of the classrooms. Hopefully, this yearly tradition will continue, and carry on spreading knowledge throughout Penn Alexander.