Reflecting on Action

Fifth graders just finished the action component of Exhibition. As usual, we were in awe of what the students accomplished. Some examples of the actions taken are shown above. Osei and Jairan brought in the pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, Joe Savery, and professional boxer, Lou Savarese, to talk to the kids about childhood obesity. Sunnie and Maia went to the Houston Zoo and conducted an interview about how they help endagered species as well as writing, illustrating, and presenting a children's book about these animals. Miranda and Jade wrote a letter to the president of the U.S. asking for help with water contamination and also made a movie to inform other students about the issue. Sharonya and Amna managed to have the entire school take a vow of silence during lunch to symbolize children all over the world who do not have a voice. Amy, Elissa, and Gabby created a painting that will be sold to raise money for a new child abuse shelter. Estelle and Cambre arranged for the Houston Police Department to bring in two different types of service dogs to demonstrate their abilities to all of fifth grade. Believe it or not, this is just a small handful of the actions that our amazing students have taken. Check out the comments to see what other students did.

Action Time!

The time has finally come! It’s ACTION TIME! This week we have been working on our actions for exhibition. Action is when we take the topic we have been studying and we use that to try to make a difference in our community and the world. The actions that our classmates have been working on are really cool and of all different type.

For instance, Mitchell and Zachary’s topic is “How soccer helps under-privileged kids come together.” The idea is that by getting kids from different background; kids who would not usually like each other or even talk to each other, to play together, it will make the kids become friends and develop understanding. Their action is going to be to donate soccer equipment to under-privileged kids in Galveston and other areas around Houston through the Dynamo Charities Program. They are working with the Dynamo to gather equipment that will go to soccer underprivileged kids. Now that is making a difference!

Another example is what Aneil and Bowen are doing. Their topic “Biofuels” For their action, they made flyers about biofuels and handed them out at a local gas station to educate customers about the benefits of biofuels. They encouraged people to push their politicians to require more development of biofuels from renewable sources. They also are making a website about biofuels. The website isn’t done yet but the address will be http://www.biofuels-101.webs.com/ . See even kids can make a difference in their community!

3....2....1...ACTION!

This week, we started planning our action for Exhibition. Action is doing something to help the issue that we have chosen. An example… Say someone was doing "how deforestation affects the environment" for their topic. They could write a letter to the mayor to tell the mayor to make a proposal to help deforestation in Houston. This would be an example of "action". We have up until November 17th to complete our action. Action is NOT easy! It provides us with ability to do something major. Check out our video of Shruti interviewing Brayla and Clara about what they are doing for action and what they feel about exhibition so far.

A Mentor's Point-of-View...

This is my second year to work as a Mentor for students working on their Exhibition projects and it has been such a fantastic experience for me both professionally and personally. It amazes me the amount of creativity and enthusiasm that these students bring to their research and action components of the project. They are also genuine in their wish to have an impact on others through their projects. While it is difficult to simply guide and mentor while the teacher side of me wants to model and show, in the end their sense of ownership and accomplishment are evident and make the entire process a very powerful learning experience for everyone involved. As a Mentor, the best advice I can give to both students and to other mentors is to look very closely at the research methodology used and the organization skills needed to make sense of it. In today's Digital and Information Age, we have limitless access to the information we need during the inquiry process. The organization of all the information they find though is a skill that most students need our help with. Not by our doing it for them, but helping them learn how to do it for themselves.

By Mr. Auden Sarabia