Kicked ass in our presentation today!

For this assignment, we were assigned particular topics and articles, and we had to create a "materials-rich provocation", which is to say a materials-based activity which was tied to the readings. Then we had to share quotes from the article, and then bring three discussion questions. Ours was about the role of Out of School Time aka OST (lclubs, affinity groups, Boys and Girls Clubs, etc) in how students can grow and thrive, and what we can learn about HOW people learn from these environments. It also explored power dynamics in educational systems, and the importance of students being co-creators in their learning environments. OST has proven that engaging kids in a way that makes them feel they have a say in their learning leads to better outcomes.

We were the last group to present, with other groups presenting on other topics over the past two weeks. Often, other student groups ran short of their 45 minutes. Whether they spoke faster, or the conversation lagged in the discussion portion, it didn't always fill the time the way they expected. For our presentation, everyone was so engaged in every part of it! The discussion was great, and we were going over time and had to cut them off. I was impressed with their connection to the topic, and thoughtful answers to our questioning.

Many students made a point to compliment us, telling us how much they loved the whole presentation style and materials, and one even said it was the most fun they had the entire class! One gal came up as she was walking out and said she loved how positive I always am and how encouraging I am to everyone all the time. I told her, "It turns out, I really like people!" and we laughed. That compliment made my heart soar.

The teacher and TA's also told me as I was leaving that our presentation was fabulous, and the prof was like, "You guys tied it all together so well, and when you wrapped it up with your questions at the end, it was JUST how I would want to do it if it were me!" <===that felt like huge praise.

On the other class days, the teacher and TA's seemed to try to rotate around to different groups, since there are 3-4 groups going at once in different parts of the classroom or building; but the prof decided to sit through our entire presentation herself this time. She participated actively in the discussion (she is very insightful, and I really enjoyed her input), and even asked if we had enough materials so she could take part in the activity. Later a TA came in and lamented that they didn't get to see ours, because they thought our presentation looked fun and they wanted to take part in it.

Our activity was a concept that I created rather spontaneously weeks ago, and I am so happy with how it coalesced. It involved first a discussion of priorities in the K-12 system, who decides them, and how we prioritize them. We put them into small groups to discuss and come up with a list of priorities, based on three categories, and then came together to transfer them to wide sticky notes, color-coded by who thinks they are important--orange for Administrators & Teachers, blue for Parents & Families, green for Students & Learners. I made a point to clarify that no group was a monolith, and that we are focusing on generalities of what priorities are held within group, for whatever reasons, without judging motivation.

Once we felt we had a decent pool of concepts and ideas, we used a poster board to arrange them in a hierarchical list: first of what we feel the education system looks like today. The understanding was that only 4-6 concepts from the pool would make the list, and the rest fall off the bottom. An exercise which ended up with a lot of orange at the top and green (students) falling off the bottom, helping us visualize that Admin and Teachers (aka people with the greater power) tend to get their priorities met first. Then rearranged them based on how we might reimagine the list if we could. Finally we shifted from a hierarchy to a Venn diagram, to see which of these values overlapped--to put the focus on the values we share and how we can best honor everyone's needs and goals in education. 

Finally, we invited them to think about education and this discussion more broadly, pick a value they hold dear, and paint it with paint pens on river rocks we brought in. The word itself, an image, whatever. We invited them to carry that rock with them, put it on their desk, or give it to a friend or mentor they feel embodies that value. They got to continue doodling on the rocks while we went through the presentation and discussion--parallel play meets fidget toy for the win.

Big Man Andrew (my nickname for him), is generally very quiet and shy--a gentle giant. He took on his discussion question beautifully--a question he wrote, along with the corresponding provocation, himself without any help from us--and lead the talk really well. Afterward, the professor made a point to say she really really enjoyed his question. Later, when another partner was leading, I told him what a great job he did, and he tipped back on his heels a second, smiled shyly and said, "She liked me question." He was so fucking proud, and I was so proud of him! Other members of our group complimented him as well and told him he should become a teacher (he is studying education policy).

My girl Kayla was on top of her shi'. She made the initial design for the slide deck, and took on all the parts that weren't mine to build around my activity. Then she did the presentation with the quotes and tying in the themes to the overall presentation, and she ROCKED IT. I thought she must have been looking at notes, but when I talked to her later, she said she riffed. I was so impressed with her ease with bringing complex ideas together on the fly! And her idea to invite the students to read off some of the quotes from the slide deck was a great way to bring them into a lecture rather than just talk at them. It shifted the energy effectively, and I told her so.

Kenneth was super nervous before the presentation, and ended up absolutely rocking it, too. While he was waiting for his turn to lead discussion, I asked him a couple probing questions about his topic, which surrounded how arts can help people express sides of themselves they can't in other ways. He told me about how he is taking a dance class (starting tomorrow) to try to get back to feeling himself and able to express it without fear. "Do you think I should share that story in the discussion?" "YES KENNETH! That's an OST activity! That is the PERFECT anecdote to get people talking." and it set off a fun recollection among the group about times they got to do fun and interesting things during OST and how it made them feel.

Putting this together at times felt like pulling teeth. And we still have one more step to go with writing a group paper about the experience and submitting it, which Kayla put her foot down and told the guys they needed to take that on since we took on the lion's share of the presentation. We'll see how that goes... But one of my favorite takeaways? 

We did a practice run of the presentation a week and a half before. I brought all the materials, including some rocks for us to paint at the end, which elicited gasps of delight, and everyone present made one. Andrew was absent that day. When it came time to do our presentation, and I was explaining the activity and how I encourage them to carry their rock with them...Kayla and   Kenneth both scurried to their backpacks to pull out the rocks they made during our practice run. They had decided to carry their rocks with them! They shared it with the class, showing what they had done and why they chose it. I was almost teary at how sweet it was that they kept them. And then...

Near the end of the presentation, Andrew went and grabbed a rock and drew on one for himself--a tall mug of beer. When I told him it's cool he decided to make one, he mildly sarcastically responded, "Yeah, I'm gonna keep this forever." Okay, Big Man. But ya know...you just might.