Games and a Re-Vamp

Today I had a 45 minute (very productive) meeting with Mrs. M-L to talk about the reading guide, as well as our visions for how to re-vamp SING. It was a short day but a productive one. I'm enthusiastic about this project not only because I care about refugees, but also because I want the freshman class to have a positive introductory activity into the upper school. SING is a great way to build community amongst new advisories, but we need to capitalize on the window where they are just getting to know one another. I believe doing service with each other is a great bonding experience, but especially having constructive conversations around WHY they are doing what they're doing. So, as ice breakers Mrs. Morris Long and I have decided it would be a good idea to have the freshman participate in games themed around morals, ethics, and group decision making. They will be playing a game called "Life Boat Ethics", and I will be searching for more games of this nature tomorrow. I also think it is a good idea to try and engage the teachers in these activities, so that they feel more connected to SING regardless of their department affiliation.

Finalized Reading Guide!

Today I finalized my reading guide, as well as watched a TedTalk recommended to me by Mrs. Morris-Long entitled, "The Danger of a Single Story." I will (as promised) talk about the book first. Outcasts United is the story of a group of refugees from a mixture of different countries living in Clarkston, Georgia. For many refugee agencies in Georgia Clarkston is sort of where people go "fresh off the boat". It acts as a transition space for some, but a permanent home for others. The story is set in 2009. Luma (who the story is based around) is not a refugee, she went to Smith College, but after graduating couldn't really find a job where she felt a fit. She bounced around but eventually ended up in Georgia because of a college friend. She'd played soccer growing up and really wanted to coach a team of girls, because her coach had made such an impact on her life. Eventually Luma started having experiences with the refugee community, and decided to quit her job and start coaching a team of refugee boys for free. Outcasts follows many singular stories of individual refugees, but it also focuses on broader themes such as community and the other. A good chunk of the book is devoted to the narration of soccer games, however the reader can see characters grow in these games. I think the Fugees (their team name) should matter to us because in a way, we are all fugees. We all, at times, don't feel we belong, feel awkward, or don't know how to act around a new group of people. I think these questions can hopefully guide incoming Freshman to think more deeply about the broader implications of this book in their lives. I had a lot of fun coming up with these questions because I got to play "teacher" for a few days and put myself in the position of a student (which I am) simultaneously. Moving forward, I will be helping Mrs. Morris-Long craft assemblies for the freshman around refugees and SING.

Why you’re reading this book:

The purpose of this book is to get you (the student) thinking about how your life connects with the lives of those you’re about to go serve in the metro-Atlanta region. Often times, you may find it difficult to connect or find common ground with those that have had different upbringings than your own. However, there are common themes that run through everyone’s life. Whether it is strife with your parents, resilience in the face of adversity, the pressure to fit in, a new (scary) place, or simply the desire to help others. We can all take lessons from “Outcasts United”.

Reading/Discussion Questions:

1. What are some of the major themes you picked up on as you read? How do these themes connect to your own life?

2. Luma changes the course of her life in order to serve the refugee boys in her community. She helps build community amongst people who would otherwise be enemies. What is the meaning of service and volunteering in your life?

3. Surely you have a vision of YOUR Atlanta and it’s probably much different than the one portrayed in this book. Can you identify some of the cultural differences?

i.) How do you think we can support assimilating newcomers while still respecting their cultural difference?

      4.) At times, we all may feel out of place or like we don’t belong somewhere. How did this

book affect your understanding of what it means to be “the other”?  

      5.) You, too are new to a community just like the refugees in Clarkston. With this diversity

comes many different opinions, backgrounds, and experiences. In high school, you will

often be assigned group-work. Discuss one strategy used by the Luma and the Fugees

to build more productive teams that you can apply to your own life.   

6.) Discuss the role of stereotypes in the book, and (maybe) how your understanding
changed as you continued to read. Provide specific examples.

A Depleted Post it Note Package

Today was a productive day of learning and absorbing! I went back through "Outcasts United" and bookmarked with blue post-it-notes the passages that really resonated with me. I also browsed the inter-web for examples of reading guides that teachers from all over the country have used for non-fiction books. I'm not a teacher and I have zero experience creating study guides or any kind of supplementary teaching materials/handouts, so I looked at a lot of the kinds of questions teachers ask to get meaningful responses from their students. I created a word document with random thoughts and my ideas. The book is definitely heavy, it covers hard topics that aren't always easy to talk about. SO my task will be to break this information down and make students really think about and connect with the content they read. Challenge accepted. Just through reading, there have been a lot of instances where I've tried to put back on my 9th grade shoes and think about how my SING experience could've been better and more interdisciplinary. This method of "empathetic thinking" has helped me to create questions as I go. In other news- I hope to link more pictures in my blog starting with this one!                                      

Thursday I had a wonderful meeting with Mrs. Morris-Long, where we talked about ways in which I could help support her in creating the "curriculum" for SING for the rising 9th graders next year. She shared her concerns with the way SING currently runs. She feels that it currently doesn't accomplish its "mission" of being a service-learning experience. Oftentimes students leave feeling like they've done something falsely impactful or meaningful because they didn't have context, or didn't have time to reflect on the experience afterward, or connect it to their own lives. She and I both feel that it in no way engages the teachers, either. It's simply something they have to "get through" to start the year off on a good note. We'd both like to change this, and I especially feel like I have a unique perspective having gone through SING and being a student four years later. So, my first order of duty (and what I will be spending the next few hours/days of my project working on) is to create a reading guide for the book the rising 9th graders will read as a part of their summer coursework called "Outcasts United." They are reading this book because next year's SING will be created around helping and understanding Atlanta's large refugee population. I spent 2 hours reading on Thursday night, and then two hours finishing up the book on Friday. As I read I marked important pages with a post it note for reference. I think the key thing about crafting the reading guide next week will be asking questions that get the 9th graders to somehow relate to the characters in the book. The purpose of the book is to teach empathy in a unique way by telling lots of different stories that make the characters relatable. I think a lot of students can relate to playing soccer when they were younger- and to get them thinking "that could be me" is essential. So, I will be looking at reading guide examples and making my own this upcoming week! I will attach this link along with a more in depth summary of the book when it is complete! I look forward to a productive next week!  

Change of Plans

Monday, 4/11 I changed my game plan a little bit. It was a short work day. I still want my project to consist of a lot of research type stuff, but decided a documentary is more than I can handle having only dropped one class (made this decision after researching all the different components last week). I met with Mrs. Spencer to talk about my plan moving forward. She suggested doing some sort of collaboration with Mrs. Morris-Long working on SING for the incoming Freshman next year because next year's theme is supposed to be centered around refugees. For the rest of 6th period that day I started looking into/exploring websites of the various organizations around Atlanta that seek to aid refugees in there transition here.

A (Bound to Be) Steep Learning Curve

Today I started researching into all the magic behind filming a documentary. There is SO much to learn about the tedious process that is film making. I spent well over two hours diving into the depths of the internet looking for the best equipment, tips, and tricks. Granted, my documentary will be very short. It will be more like a pair of two very well produced interviews. However, it is still important to me that the quality of them as good as possible in the allotted amount of time, and given my minimal budget. Alright, here goes: I learned that it's very important (just like a normal "movie") to have storyline, and a plot. Most of the websites I used recommended taking a decent chunk of time to draw out a story board. The key part here was that the planning stages can be just as important as the actual filming - in fact, they can be vital to the filming's success. So, I plan to brainstorm tomorrow using a graphic I printed out from one of the websites to lay out the order of the scenes and their content. In addition, I plan on watching a "point of view" documentary, "Return to Homs" this weekend as a form of research. I think it is crucial to see how others have done what I'm trying to do so that I can take pointers from the professionals. So that's content. Now on to the technical stuff- and there's a lot of it. Having a high quality camera is important, so I will be using my Nikon SLR camera that has an optional microphone attachment. I think Mr. Silverman will be an invaluable resource during the span of this project because of his vast knowledge of filmmaking. I learned a fun fact today about what the purpose is of a clapperboard (the thing people snap when they yell "action"). Apparently, the snap is so that the audio of the scene can be aligned with the moving picture because they're captured using two different recording devices. The job of a movie's sound mixer is to align the picture with the audio. So, I'd have to cut out camera audio and match the picture with the better sound. Lighting is important, dome lights are preferable if available. I learned I should never start a documentary with a picture, similar to an essay there has to be a "hook". When you're filming someone, you want to make sure they're in 3-quarter profile to make sure their face isn't in the middle because it looks weird. Also, I learned that it's better to put subtitles if you're asking an interview-ee a question instead of showing the person asking the question (me). I will be using Mr. Silverman's premier pro editing software because it is $50/month and his is free :). All in all a great day with lots more learning to do!

Senior Project Day 1!

Today marked the first day of my senior project/thesis! I'm very excited about it as I've been passionate about human rights, politics, and ethics for a very long time now. Today I dove into the first phase of my paper/project: research. I began with basic source collection. I visited the library, paged through books on historical refugee crises, and jotted down a few of my favorite sources so far. Then I hit the internet. I spent a good amount of the hour reading an article published by the Washington Post on the history of human displacement and the largest refugee crises around the world. There were visual graphs mapping the size and duration of the various crises. I'm interested a multitude of aspects surrounding refugees; however, the ones I'd like to do extensive research on include education interruption and the ethics behind countries being "asylum" countries. I will explore 3-4 of the biggest crises in modern history, which will include the displacement caused by WWII, the Partition of India and Pakistan, the establishment of the Jewish state, and most recently the Syrian refugee crisis. My paper will consist of personal interviews, research, and quite possibly the occasional opinion here and there. Ultimately I hope to shed light on the trials and tribulations of refugees, including those caused by established governments trying to help. I'd also like to focus on the good, meaning I'd like to tell stories that include happy endings. I wish to show that refugees are more than just that- they are inspiring and empowered people living lives just like you and I. I foresee it being challenging to interweave these stories into a fundamentally research-based paper, but hope that a resolution to this will present itself as the "story" unfolds. I'm really excited to get a lot out of this process because I'd like to continue to do research in college. I see this as a preparatory step, as well as a healthy challenge! I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Sample Post

Hi sample post! This is Elizabeth, yay for my first post!

Day 1

Day 1