This is my (Amber's or mfm964's) piece that I also posted on WebCT:
My results from this survey told me a lot about my students (well Kelly
and my students).
I would say that the racial majority of the classes was African American
with a small mixture of White, Hispanic, and Asian students. All the
students are between the ages of 11-14 and come from many different
families (single parent, no parent, and grandparents). Of the 12 that I
surveyed, 8 are girls and the other 4 are boys.
4 out of 12 students that I surveyed, like Math (this was a Texas
History class) and even like to think about Math!
3 out of 12 students that I surveyed, like something to do with music;
either playing the guitar, drums, or listening to new music.
3 out of 12 students that I surveyed, like to think of the future; these
students want to learn new things that can benefit them later in their
lives.
2 out of 12 students that I surveyed, like to learn about the past and
the unknown (Space and mysteries).
All the students seemed to have some artistic ability and play sports.
From the surveys, I found that most of the students know what it means
to help someone in need but they were really just good deeds. I think
that these students would really benefit from a service learning project
in order to make more connections between school, community, and their
lives.
Something that I also noticed about these students is that they all have
a somewhat negative attitude towards history. They find it boring and
pointless for their lives. They also seem to have difficulty
understanding Texas History and its relevance in their school career.
**this is a great start. Think about this data and build it in to your service-learning project. What can we do with their strengths in math?**
As of yesterday, 2.18.09, only three students observed has participated in a
service-learning project. It was the graffiti project performed last semester
at Ed White. What really concerned me was when I told them if they had done a
service-learning project in the past, they had no clue what I was saying until
I mentioned the graffiti project. I asked them if they had done any other project
but all I got were blank stares. Next week, I plan to ask again because I never have
seen these students before because of the different block day. I usually go on A
day block but it was B day block because of the holiday on Monday.
On 2.25.09, only two more students have participated in a service-learning project.
It was, again, the graffiti project performed last semester. It seems that the
students really don't remember what they learned from the project because they
just remember performing the act and not what they did afterwords for reflection.
