Friday, November 13, 2009
Communication Strategies
We have been discussing communication strategies using the Thanksgiving Food Drive to test out our ideas. In this blog, discuss the strategies that have and have not worked and identify any problems that you might be encountering. Use this space to share ideas and to respond to the problems that others are encountering.
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In Mrs. McGauley's homeroom Mike and I seperated the homeroom into two groups and have them competing against each other and then we told them they also have to work together to beat the other homeroom's. We tried not to promise them anything but Mrs. McGauley said she would bring them in something if they won so that idea was shot down.
ReplyDeleteIn Mrs.Peacock's homeroom Ryan and I told the class that they each needed to bring in 10 cans. This way if they can only bring in like 4 or 5 then that is still above what is needed. So even if they bring in a smaller amount then 10 cans that will still be a good amount of cans to have and will most likely be over 80.
ReplyDeleteIn Mr. Donovan's Homeroom, John and I gave backround information on what and where the food we donate will be going to, and whom it will be helping. We told the student's the facts and tried to explain that this will have to be a group effort in which all of us will need to contribute, we made ourselves a part of the group. We then set goals, and gave each student a number of cans to bring in, setting a high standard for our homeroom. We have not yet used any incentives as motivation, right now we are trying to get them to donate because it is the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteIn Mrs. Reiley's room, I gave the sophomores the information regarding the food drive. I made the calculations before homeroom that Mr. Scott did during class, and used them as a guideline to show them how important it is for our homeroom to reach our goal of 80 cans. Some of my homeroom seemed to be listening intently while others not so much. I plan on talking to the students individually over the next week, and if worst comes to worst I will offer each student a cookie from the cafe if they bring in their 4 cans.
ReplyDeleteIm Mr. Carey's homeroom Sean and I worked with Mr. carey and layed out a plan for how we were going to approach things. The first day, thursday, he spoke to the class and gave sort of a pep talk and on Friday Sean and I spoke to the class on a little bit of a deeper level asking kids their opinion on how many cans, by when, etc. The concept of one unified team seems to work very well and we'll see what happens by the end of the drive.
ReplyDeleteIn Mr. Lewis' homeroom, Joe and myself commenced in stating the overall objective of the food drive. We went on to explain where the food was going and why it was going to that place. As a whole we established a goal of 120 cans which averaged out to about 5 cans per person. It was stated that we must not rely on the guy next to us and must take ot upon ourselves to bring in as many cans as possible. The bottom line was that if we didn't bring in enough cans, people would not eat this thanksgiving. It appeared as though we connected with our homeroom, howeveer at this point it is too soon to tell.
ReplyDeleteIn Mr. Palermo's homeroom, I first provided the students with backgroud information on the situation and these families situation. Then I went on to stress the fact that "we" need to step up and help these families, I challeneged these students to step up and do what is right. I feel the concept of putting the weight on these freshman students should sink into them and make them realize that this is real and these people really do need us.
ReplyDeleteIn Mr. Donovan's homeroom today, we had Mr. Donovan talk to the kids and used his authority to help us get the attention of the students, as only me and Mr. Donovan had brought in cans so far. If they don't start bringing in money tomorrow we might have them just bring in money so that me and Brendan could go out and buy it for them.
ReplyDeleteIn Mr. Jordan's homeroom, we tried using the technique of issuing a challenge to the freshmen. We stated that Mr. Carey's homeroom had raised the most food three years in a row and that we wanted to collect more than them. none of the students responded so far, so Mr. Jordan has made an agreement to give them no homework for the next to weekends if they all bring in three cans by tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteIn Mrs. Eberly's homeroom me and mike have found that setting the expectation level higher then what we actually want is working very well. We told the kids that we wanted to aim for 100 cans overall, even though 80 is the expected goal. This sets up a win win situation so even if the kids don't get 100 cans we will still have over 80 cans
ReplyDeleteSome advice that i can offer and that wecould all use is that in my junior homeroom, John Mackie split us up into two teams and he used the incentive that which ever team brings in the most stuffing will get a whole box of candy. HE lso gave us all munchkins today. Just a friendly thought if thins aren't working out to well
ReplyDeleteToday Durham and I both brought in cans as a way to kick off the drive. A few kids had already brought in cans today but it seemed that when Christian and I brought in cans it helped to spark an intrest in the kids which I had not seen before today. It might work in some of the other homerooms that are having trouble with raising cans, as it can be seen as a way as trying to connect with the students.
ReplyDeleteim having a problem having the kids in my homeroom focus. They seem like they dont rele care about the drive at all. I was thinking that if a good amount of cans arent brought in by tomorrow, that we may need to institue some reward for bringing in enough cans. I know this throws away the whole meaning of our participance, but we do need to bring in cans. Fabrice and I were thinking about telling the kids that if they had the most cans in the mid school that wed give them a pizza party. The thing with this idea is that Fabrice and I believe that this goal will not even come close to being achieved, so to ofer something that they most likley wont get makes it easier for us, and also motivates the kids. Let me know what u think, is this a good idea, or are we useing manipulative tactics to get what we want?
ReplyDeleteAfter school today I went to Mr. McGonegal to talk about an email that could be sent. I informed him about our situation and why it is important. Unfortunately, CM does not want to get in the habbit of sending too many emails to the point of annoyance for the recipients. So what he did decide to do is inform all people of our efforts through CM's website, twitter and facebook accounts. This is the best that he could do, so i wrote up a paragraph of what we aimed to inform the readers. Hopefully this will have some sort of positive effect.
ReplyDeletethe kids in my homeroom dont seem to care about the people who will go hungry on thanksgiving as much as they should. Since empathetic leadership does not get through to my homeroom, i thought of a better way to motivate them to bring in cans. Depending on how many cans they bring in tomorrow, i will offer them a pizza party if they bring in more cans than mr. carey's homeroom. i think this will motivate them to reach or goal in the homeroom.
ReplyDeleteToday in Mrs. McGauleys homeroom we started to collect money which worked well and also for those who are aving trouble getting their kids to focus try having a 1 on 1 conversation with the kids because that is sometimes easier for them to focus on then if you're giving a speech to the class
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