Best/Worst Teachers
Internet
I could not think of a topic for the life of me. I needed inspiration. So, I read the few proposals that were uploaded to the site. Nothing. So, I read them again, I didn’t have any ideas anyway… When I re-read Brian’s post, I got an idea. I read the hashtag “#firstworldproblems” and an idea sprung. Hashtags themselves are new, a creation of the Internet. I am on the Internet right now, writing this prompt. I wouldn’t be able to do this assignment without the power of the Internet. Even though the Internet is a fairly new entity, is time irreversible? For the rest of eternity will the human race be subjected to the web? If so, it’s a good thing… right?
Well these questions are exactly what I want to ask people. The first one being, “Can you survive without the internet? And why?” I am hoping for very interesting responses. Initially, I suspect many people will say no, how they can’t live without it. But, hopefully after a few seconds to think about the question, their minds wander and they present me with fodder to work with.
Hopefully I stick with this idea, but there is always the possibility that I change it, but I have a few ideas. I want to ask a range of people, like young people to old people for example. I hope to ask students that go to this school, but also professors and others. Maybe I’ll even ask a few people on the train ride home.
Judging by the responses, I will organize them in some way. I am not sure how yet, because I clearly haven’t started asking the question. Judging by the responses that I get, I may ask a few more questions but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. I will be using my iPod to record, and my MacBook to edit. Hopefully the responses I get won’t be too long, but enough to get a few ‘Grade A’ thoughts in there.
The purpose of this project is to see why the Internet is/isn’t important to people, why do we need it, and why was it widely successful. I hope I don’t get generic answers, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough.
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Well, this is my second attempt at an audio proposal. I left the original at the top for my own reference, but please pay no attention to it.
Best/Worst Teachers
I have had my share of… lets say, interesting… teachers. Some of them have been really good, and some of them have been really bad. For me, the good teachers are the ones that stick in my mind. For the most part, I have been pretty lucky with the teachers that have been shaping what kind of a student I am. A few come to mind, especially my 10th grade English teacher and my 6th grade English teacher. The 10th grade one, Mrs. Connelly, was my favorite. She was interesting, funny, and made me actually like the subject. But, she had to undo a lot of the damage that was done in 6th grade. Mrs. Ellis, an elderly woman who was nice, but her teaching style was dry and (honestly) boring. She was a tough grader and did tend to get a bit angry if students’ minds began to wander, which was evident in their blank stares out the window and hushed conversations among their peers about the upcoming weekend. Now let me get to the point of the proposal.
The question I would like to ask people is, ‘Who is your favorite/least favorite teacher of all time.’ This question has the potential to be interesting because I want to know if people are more affected by positive or negative experiences in their lives. In the above paragraph, I tended to talk a little more about my least favorite teacher but notice that I put my favorite teacher first. When I proposed the question to myself, I immediately thought about Mrs. Connelly, but when I remembered Mrs. Ellis, I had a lot more to say… So, hopefully the results will be interesting enough for me to use in this project. I suspect that people will have mostly different responses, and maybe even have a few stories to share. I want to see how people learn, not just what people learn. What sticks with us through the years and why?
3 responses so far
So are you going for the 50 People, 1 Question style?
It seems to be that your question to ask should be “How have your favorite teacher shape your life?” or “Who is your favorite/least favorite teacher? How did he/she change you?”
Those questions direct narrows the thoughts of the people that you are interviewing. It helps them structure what to say and what you expect to hear. If you just ask who is your favorite/least favorite teacher? You’re just going to get a name.
This topic has a lot of sentimental value and ways of exploring the role of a teacher in a child’s life. So you can think about using some sad melodies to go with this.
Also be sure to keep in mind how long you want each responses to be – I say 20-30 seconds for each stories that you share is more than enough.
I hope you’ll get some interesting answers to your question. Good luck.
I agree with Gen. This topic really does have a lot of sentimental value and people do have very vivid memories about their best/worst teachers. Some of my teachers have definitely helped shape the person I am today. I’m still not really sure what the major theme is here. Is it whether people are affected more by positive or negative experiences or is it what people learn and what they remember?
What result are you hoping to come up with? Maybe you could shape your question to get the result you want so that you can make your point strong and clear.
This proposal definitely has a lot of potential! I think once you start asking questions you’ll have a better idea of where this is going and then you can change your question (if you need to) as you go along.
Yes, thanks. I’ll modify the question to be more precise. And yes, the major theme will be if negative or positive experiences are more potent in shaping the lives of people.