One Student's Struggle with the Dream Exhibition

"I'm done."

That's the refrain I heard almost daily as other students went to work in preparation for the dream exhibition but one "Sam" drug his feet.

"Well, why don't you pull out your project and let's see what we can add," I'd say.

"But I'm done," he'd respond as he'd slouch over to the counter to pick up his poster about the top Major League Baseball teams.

He'd started off the project staring blankly at the brainstorm sheet until I came to help nudge him along in the direction of his baseball dreams. Then, he'd spent two days finding pictures and printing them... very slowly.

"Ok - here's your poster. What else could you add?"

"I've added everything you said. I'm done."

"I just suggested those things to get you started. The point of this project isn't to do the bare minimum and check off boxes; the point is to see what you can imagine and how much you can make happen in relation to your dream."

"But I don't know what to do!"

"Well, I got you started, so now it's up to you. You have to figure out something you can do to make it better - make it more awesome."

"Ok."

I'd had my doubts as to whether he'd actually do something, but it turned out that by the end of the period, he actually had done something, small though it was: He'd used colored markers to write the team name and city above the team logos he'd printed since, he said, not everyone might know that information just from looking at the logo.

It was a small addition, but I was excited and proud of him that he'd actually thought of and done something on his own!

On the bummer side, his general lack of interest and initiative, even in a project that he chose to be centered around something he loved, makes me wonder what in the world we're doing to kids in school to influence the loss of drive and passion that I see in spades in my pre-K son.

How can we better help kids maintain the exuberance they have before they enter school as they go through each grade?

The Dream Exhibition

Well, we had it this week - the Dream Exhibition! It was interesting to watch students as the day drew closer. Some who had worked hard all along were calmly putting on finishing touches; those who had procrastinated were frantically trying to finish; and some who had neglected to ever really dive into the project were making excuses. It was a relief that only a few students came to me saying, "Mr. Call, I won't be ready by Thursday!" And it was empowering to be able to tell them, "Well, that's when we're scheduled to present, and I can't change the date now." Having an authentic audience really forced a lot of the students to have some skin in the game and put in some effort.

On the day of the presentation, we had a handful of visitors each period, and it was neat to watch most of the students put on their A-game presentation faces and share what they did. Here's a bit of a sampling of their projects:

Students...

• Interviewed a counselor and a probation officer over the phone,
• Made a full suit of cardboard armor,
• Researched what it would take to climb Mt. Everest,
• Job shadowed a mechanic and helped fix some cars,
• Compared cosmetology products to find the best and worst,
• Designed objects in a computer program that could be 3D printed,
• Created a magazine layout,
• Spent an evening with a photographer and helped with several photo shoots,
• Researched careers and colleges,
• Mapped out the prevalence of AIDS and the reasons for its spread,
• Recorded music and made a website to post it on here,  
• Did a ride along and interview with a police officer and saw someone get arrested,
• Built a section of roof to show all the layers that go into shingling,
• And more.

Along with all the awesome projects, there were still some students who meandered through the project, complaining it was dumb and bragging that they hardly did anything for it on any given day. I'll definitely share some of those stories in the future, but overall I thought it was a success and am glad it helped a number of students step closer to their dreams, whether it was a job or just an interest.

Here are a few photos of the event:

Dream Projects in Progress

This last week, students had several days to work on their dream projects. I snapped a few photos of examples below, but one that really stands out to me is Megan's. She took the bull by the horns and called up an auto shop to see if she could job shadow for a day. They were happy to have her come, and when she came back to school the next day, she was so excited about everything she'd seen, learned, and worked on. She anxiously showed me the pictures she took and explained her experiences and the differences between automatic and manual transmissions.

Unfortunately, to balance out Megan's awesome experience and the examples below, there are a handful of students who are choosing to be disengaged from the project. They are meandering through the steps of finding information they're kind of interested in and making a basic poster or PowerPoint. It just seems like another box to check for them, and it makes me wonder what I did wrong about my presentation or design of the project. Perhaps these are students who would've struggled regardless of what kind of project we did last week, but I wish I could've reached them better. Hopefully, I can engage a few more next year.

Researching Aids/HIV in Africa.

Designing 3-D models of everyday objects.

Building his 3rd model to demonstrate design principles.

Making a suit of cardboard armor.