Raelyn Tang

         Blog #9 Aloha Kakou! On this Passion journey, what were some highlights or lessons that were observed: Students who shared their passions spoke with confidence, know who they are and what they want. They have goals, dreams, and plans. They articulated their passions to others.  Students who attended years of language classes/music lessons unwrapped their passions that resulted from years of discipline and routine not recognizing it as a livelihood.  Students learned to have an open mind, and to have a willingness to try a variety of things, because passion can come from being curious and it can expand from that.   Most importantly,  students learned passion is high energy, and contagious. Passionate people will go above and beyond for something they believe in.  Passionate people are resilient, and are driven by purpose, passion and enthusiasm. They have grit.   Please click on the final link to view students' exemplary Fin...

Blog #8 Aloha Kakou! Final steps for passion speech: Students prepare conclusion Students will combine all tasks/steps for Final draft Students discover the conclusion of a speech is just as important as the attention grabber.  Once again, students viewed Kid President's and Kid Black's videos for 30 seconds and only at the end of their speeches.  Students were able to observe verbal and non verbal cues and apply to their script or not. For some, this was not an easy task. Last step, students combine approved slides of attention grabber, 3-details script, and conclusion. Please click below to view student conclusion and final draft samples: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12v4oIOEy_MMU0jyYHV0tPSERv8af-iAX962ypA1qZYE/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1aC777n-GgTh8ZQGDbkWBO8YTCKYr9FOUwkblXnwTOFA/edit?usp=sharing Ahui hou!

  Blog #7 Aloha Kakou! The next tasks for passion speech writing: Students review their mind maps Focus on three main details Update information to first draft After reviewing students' first drafts. . . we were reminded students were returning from seven months of distance learning and writing skills were at an all time low across campus. This added task allowed students to apply more information to each detail on each slide. Students could focus on key points for a better flow of the script. Please click to see student example: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18USikSRedpATnJVaibMxmSY6Ygvw1nNhWa5jGgKpfLw/edit?usp=sharing Happy Blogging!  

  Blog #6 Aloha Kakou! All aboard . . . Students have chosen at least one topic to do their passion speech.  Next step,  to prepare their attention grabber.  Students learned an attention getter is used at the beginning of an essay to grab the reader's attention.   As they learned in Kid President and Kid Black's videos, they could use quotations, statistics, or questions, and stories.  This task wasn't an easy flow as it was difficult for students to decipher, verbal/nonverbal cues into a passion speech. Please click on the link to view Kid President and Kid Black's samples and a template for students: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1zzjdluVGO3E5kBoSJ1WaPrV4fVQSJFpBgQ4NRvoFKVg/edit?usp=sharing

  Blog #5           In preparing for passion speeches, task #3 is followed by another jam board.  Students observed passion icons Kid President and Kid Black  for a second time.  For two minutes, t hey wrote all visual, verbal/nonverbal cues to be a good speaker.  Please click on the link below for the results:                                      https://jamboard.google.com/d/1vW-DubYq-1mHy5EwvRCKSzpbBYtk63Hmk80m9DZDIs0/edit?usp=sharing Aloha Kakou,  This project entailed not just finding passions in the life of our students, we discovered it built trust, camaraderie, and collaboration, after physically being away from school for seven months.  Happy Blogging! Rae Tang

      Blog #4: Task #2 - Elimination Zone In task #1 students brainstormed passion topics.  In task #2, students will select three passion topics and create mind maps on their passions .  Here's the clincher: topics of goals, future plans, daily tasks, that included chores, homework, sleeping, and watching television were eliminated and must return to jam board to reassess topics.  Please click below for example of task #2:  students finding their passion project. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NZA0v403h4M1w35weUAri0hPSIi-JcQssEr0GVShqTI/edit?usp=sharing Aloha everyone, We learned how extremely challenging, (not to mention) time-consuming this project started out.  It also was a great way to start a new year, (after seven months of COVID) to help students focus on something really important, themselves.  They just didn't know it yet!    A hui hou, Rae Tang

What did we learn in finding a passion among middle schoolers? Many students couldn't distinguish the difference between passion and goal. Some didn't have interests, collections, or talents to talk about. Others didn't include elementary music lessons, foreign language or sports activities. Below if you click on jam boards, you will get a glimpse of our 7th/8th grade passion topics for SY 2020-2021: https://jamboard.google.com/d/1EGHpIXfPb9N6a6NOAODnLakdQAKZFxRTEp5-vhjgyPQ/edit? usp=sharing https://jamboard.google.com/d/1kTct5r36QMqd3j5aqCiX6Z4ygQOkRcmLbeCx_1lxjVo/edit?usp=sharing https://jamboard.google.com/d/14eE57IQy_CsKBdo8l_r9OGZMbUKlYSNzFLDCkG0_FlM/edit?usp=sharing https://jamboard.google.com/d/1lEe9N7xad09dQInotoIIVM8_4hWRzT_xJYajPPBm28k/edit?usp=sharing

To begin our Passion journey, we brought two infamous icons to share their stories with our students. https://youtu.be/l-gQLqv9f4o

  We believed January 2021 was a year of New Beginnings . . . and things will change.   President Bided would be a part of that change with unity, heart, and healing.  Amanda Gorman stole the hearts of millions with her passionate poem of "The Hill We Climb".  It was a no-brainer, when we assigned a passion speech project for our middle schoolers. What did we learn in finding a passion among middle schoolers? They didn't have any. Couldn't distinguish the difference between passion and goal. Many students did not have any interests or passion about anything in general. Students involved in extracurriculars outside of school didn't consider sports/activities/talents a passion even if they were active since elementary. "Follow your passion" is a cliche and problematic advice in the 21st century. We need to encourage our teens to develop a passion rather than follow the passions of others. My purpose for this blog is to: Reach out to others and share how th...