Creatures from Another Planet...

I made this little video to introduce an essay project I'm having my seventh graders do.  The idea behind the project is to have the students explain what school is and what it feels like to go to school to someone who knows nothing about school.  But since everyone in this country--and in most places on this planet--spends such an incredible amount of time in school, it was hard to find an audience that the student could consider that had no prior experience with school.

Thus Malakingo23, High Chancellor of the Kobolese, was born.  I'll let him or her (my students couldn't figure out which) speak for his or herself:

The kids found Malakingo23 pretty strange.  Some thought he or she was "creepy".  Many noticed that sound came out but lips didn't move.  They also had lots of really funny practical questions.  Like: "Why did he come seek you out?"  Or: "Why is it humanoid?"  Or: "Why would an alien care about school?"

A few of them, of course, picked up on the fact that I had made the video; they're just past the age where they believe in the Easter bunny, but I bet they still like to hunt for eggs and eat the candy, which is kind of what I was going for.  I obviously didn't expect them to really believe that a creature from a planet named Kobol had come to collect evidence about school.  But I wanted to give them something strange, something "unschool-like" to shoot for.  Of course what they are going to be writing about is "school"--and their experience of it.

It went much better than I expected it to.  I suspect that I'm still partially oriented towards 9th graders; I haven't put my finger on the 12 year old mind yet, but I'm getting there.  It was just goofy enough and just serious enough that I suspect many of them will find some fun in trying to explain what they experience everyday at school.

One of my students asked me "why do you want us to write about school?"  And I hadn't really thought about the answer to that question, at least not consciously.  But I had an answer, and I was pretty happy with the way it just kind of flew out of me. The reason I want them to write about school--and this school and their experience--is that I am extremely interested in what this place is like for them.  As my regular readers know, I often feel like a creature from another planet here.  And I suspect that the students do, too.  So that was my answer: I want them to write about this because I am genuinely interested in what they have to say about it.

And that seemed to satisfy her curiosity.