Hi everyone,
Please give your feedback on the following things for the TY Cards project:
-Do you think that the manpower put into writing cards for everyone was worth it? Did the anonymous cards provide any value to the whole project/students themselves?
-How do you think we could have improved the entire process? To give some context, I thought of the idea in early November and tried to pull it off with the class in a month. But what about the writing/delivery?
-Was this project in line with the goal of being "catalysts for compassion"? Do you think we brought compassion to the student body?
-Should this project be continued next year? Maybe in another form?
It'd also be great if you could give some anecdotes about the project -- maybe some stories you've heard about it or anything else.
Thanks so much!
Amit, Kavya, Shivani, Sally, and the entire class
Pros:
ReplyDelete-overall good participation
-people seemed pleased with the cards
Cons:
-organization: not sure if this is just me cause I was busy with WF stuff, but I honestly didn't know that my buddy and I were assigned 5 classes till like a week before...and so my buddy had to do a lot and if I knew more in advance I could've helped out a bunch
-discretion: basically EVERYONE knew the cards were from ASB. It would've meant a lot more if they didn't know...and from what I heard there were some people in ASB complaining to their friends about how many they had to write and that spread like crazy/didn't give ASB the best image
Overall a good activity but there's definitely room for improvement :)
Pros-
ReplyDelete1)WE DID IT OMG WE DID IT PRAISE THE LORD.
2)Even though it was daunting there weren't as many hiccups as i had thought.
3)Since they were free more ppl were inclined to send them
4)People who got cards felt very happy
5)Got people in the X-mas spirit
6)People sent a lot
Cons
1)TOO much man labor
2)Time consuming
3) Eventually the cards start to get less genuine
4)Let the entire school know more
5)Tell ppl to write down third period if they know
6)Have baskets on the top of the quad so we do not have to sort
7)Since we do not need to sort, we will have more time to send to those who did not receive them.
8)this is a two-tree month commitment,we can't have ppl with one foot in this and one in the other, we become really over loaded.
9)Its hard to put our bets face up for this event, when half of our own class feels indifferent to it :(
10)Maybe give volunteer hours to clubs and ask them to do it.
THANK YOU FOR PUTTING UP WITH THIS HUGE TASK THIS YEAR, LITERALLY NOT SURE ANY GROUP OF STUDENTS ON THIS CAMPUS WOULD BE WILLING TO DO THIS...ACTUALLY>.< Y'ALL ARE THE BEST, SO PROUD OF WHAT WE PULLED OFF DESPITE THE HICCUPS.
Just want to say that I really loved the idea of this event and feel like it should be continued next year!
ReplyDeleteSome general thoughts:
-The class should've known that they were expected to write thank you cards from the very beginning, as a clear expectation. I feel like it was briefly mentioned here or there, but nothing concrete was ever set, and although it isn't a huge burden it still requires a sizable amount of time that leadership students need to account for.
-Going off of that, what role should ASB play in this event? Are we here to facilitate the giving of thanks or are we also here to play an active part? I remember overhearing a group of guys in my grade the day of distribution laughing and jeering at each other "I bet ASB wrote you that". Not sure what the overall perception of this part of the event was, but definitely something to think about for next year.
Will there be something similar to this next year? Valentines grams? End-of-school thanks?
-I liked how the cards coincided with the thank you posters, making it more of a campaign rather than an isolated event. A "month of thanks". Is there maybe more we could do next year? Thankful thursdays? Idk.
-I would comment about the organization of the cards during the writing process, but I think given the number of classes and leadership students that needed to be coordinated, slight discrepancies are a given. Suggestion for next time: Have enough clearly labeled bins prepared beforehand for sorting!
-I felt a little bit uncomfortable with the censorship of the students' cards. I understand it's necessary, but sometimes I felt like people wanted to read through other people's cards more than help out with the project(I'm guilty a bit of this too). Maybe have one student from each grade help read through, and arrange it so that they aren't reading cards from their own grade?
-Classes being distributed by grade level to leadership students of that grade made cards more personal. -> something to consider from the start next year.
Overall, as a first-item event of sorts, thank you cards went well and should be continued(with possible tweaks) next year.
I think that the idea behind this project was really nice, and for a first year try, it went as smooth as could be expected, and will certainly get better throughout the years, if we want to continue with this project!
ReplyDeleteIn regards to manpower, I think that it's only as worth as the card writer thinks it is. I know that some people may put in a lot of effort to make sure the cards they write looked like different people wrote them and had unique messages on them, but I'm just as sure that other people who don't want to write cards in the first place will be less sincere and rush through them, so I don't know if making it mandatory is the right call to make in this situation.
Furthermore, I think it did get out that ASB was "filling in" for the people who didn't get cards, and I know some people felt a little bad because they knew their card was from ASB. Once again, I'm not sure if the advantages outweigh the disadvantages here.
Finally, I'm not sure if this counts as a "catalyst for compassion" either. The cards that I read were mostly pretty superficial stuff, like "good luck on finals!" and "you rock!" type stuff that I'm sure they say to their friends in person already. Like Will said, our reading through them sort of deters the want to put in something truly emotional. It is a nice gesture, but in the end I'm still not sure whether it is worth the huge amount of effort we put into it.
I thought this was a really good idea and it should definitely be continued next year. I think if we go through with this for a couple more years, people will start to write more cards to each other and it'll become less work for the future ASB.
ReplyDeletePros:
-Everyone got a card
-I know a lot of people who were surprised that they got a card
-Everyone seemed really happy
-Free cards at the top of the quad
Cons
-People guessing which cards ASB wrote
-Manpower that was required to write all of the cards
-We weren't notified ahead of time how many cards we would need to write so when I wanted to study for finals, I had to finish writing thank you cards
-A lot of people didn't take the cards seriously at first so when they were given a blank card during third period either they just threw it away or didn't write anything genuine
-Some teachers weren't supportive. I heard that in some classes, the teachers didn't give time to write anything. Maybe we should specify that the teachers should allocate 5 minutes towards writing thank-you cards.
Overall, this was a really good idea and a really good start towards making our student body more compassionate as a whole. It really let people know that there was someone out there who cared.
Pro:
ReplyDelete-I really liked that we spent the time to make sure that everyone received a thank you card. It can be a real bummer to see your other friends get a card when you don't.
-Free cards=Increased participation. So many people had so much to write about.
-Brought a smile to people's faces
Cons:
-It seems very insincere to write thank you cards for people you don't know that well.
-In my opinion, we should distribute thank you cards during the Thanksgiving season and have it simultaneously happen with the Thank you posters. "Day of Thanks"????
-Seemed to really consume a lot of people, time, and resources to put together. Maybe cut back a little on breakout time needed so that people can work on their other projects.
-Most people wrote cards outside of class during brunch and lunch and maybe not during the time we struck down announcements for during 3rd period.
Suggestions:
-Maybe change thank you cards to good luck grams for finals if we're going to distribute so close to Finals week
Like everyone else previously stated, the way we were able to complete a project with this much manpower (relatively) efficiently was great for a first year project. While the "whole school gets cards" idea does have its flaws, I think it was a good idea this year simply because it made EVERYONE aware of the project. Hopefully this increased awareness can set the stage for more voluntary participation next year (or even a long term tradition).
ReplyDelete- While the increased workload that week was okay since the end of first semester is quiet for Athletics, it seemed like other commissions are much busier around this time and rescheduling things next year (maybe moving this to Thanksgiving time as Ken suggested) could benefit ASB.
- I think the one month time frame was fine in terms of conception --> execution. However, I think that the communication with the rest of the class could be improved (a few examples listed in the comments above), which is especially important on a labor and time dependent project like this one. I'm sure it'll improve in the future as the nature of the project becomes more solidified.
- In terms of following the theme of compassion, I think this project was a mixed bag (albeit slightly more negative than positive in terms of student reaction). The fact that we wrote them was obvious to most, and that's something ASB can't really conceal even if we do our best to make every card sincere and personalized. However, like I said before, it definitely got people talking and thinking about the Thank You cards (I don't think it would have been such a topic of conversation and interest if only a minority of people received a card in many classrooms), which bodes well for the future.
- To add on to Will's point, I think we should also ensure that non-ASB people do not see the thank you cards prematurely (which in some cases may be very personal). Of course, someone in ASB must inevitably look over the cards, but I just think the cards should be better concealed when so many people at LHS go in and out of room 506 (after one of our ASBO meetings, many people came into the room and looked at if not sorted some cards).
Overall, it was an ambitious project that worked out very well considering both the cynical nature of Lynbrook as well as the fact that it's a first-year project. A similar "thank you" event should definitely take place next year.
I loved the idea! and THANKS SO MUCH TO EVERYONE FOR HELPING WITH IT!
ReplyDeletePros:
-it was mostly received well with the student body
-it coincided perfectly with the Holiday season and because of that I think it worked better (compared to during a random time in the year)
-I thought it helped bring compassion to the campus, even if it was just a little.
Cons:
-timing. In general I feel like next year (we should definitely do this again) we should plan this a lot more efficiently and make sure that everyone knows what they're doing. This will hopefully reduce the amount of time that people need out of class
- I think that even though people knew some of the cards were made from ASB, hopefully they appreciated the effort. But next year we should definitely sort the cards in a way that makes sure that we try and be as sincere as possible.
-I also think that we need to work with teachers to make sure students have time in class to write thank you cards so that most people do write cards.
Pros!!
ReplyDelete-so many people enjoyed the cards and it made their day
-great way to spread compassion around campus because we don't usually have school unity
-great first year!
Cons:
-we didn't start writing the cards early enough
-many people were cramming the cards in so they were insincere
-also it's hard for ASB to write all of them even though we got help from the teachers and counselors
-we should encourage other students to write to each other
-that spreads compassion because it isn't forced and it's pure
-this year many people wrote cards, but also people didn't think it was that big
-maybe if we do it as a tradition and make it bigger next year people will participate more
-also because we wrote many of the cards in each class, people found out that one person was writing all of them
-people were curious because so many got anons
-some teachers were unaware that they had to pass out thank you cards
I think if we made this as a tradition it would be great for our school and help people bond because we are giving people a chance to show their thanks for the school!!
I think that this was a good project for us to try out. Since it was the first year, there are definitely improvements to be made, but it went as well as it could have with the circumstances.
ReplyDeletePros:
-mostly well received
-while some people in the student body were cynical about it, I did see a lot of people holding on to their cards, so I think a lot of people were happy about receiving something
Suggestions:
-concretely say that everyone will have to write cards at the beginning of the project vs. right before we divide up the classes
-splitting classrooms depending on grade level
-move up the project to start at the beginning of November. It would have been nice to see the cards go out before Thanksgiving. However, with how things worked out this year, it was definitely a good idea to push it back a little
-more clearly labeled places to pick up extra and drop off finished cards
I do think this is something we should continue in future years. People will be more willing to write a card next year if they remembered it from this year. With more time and prior notice, Leadership can write more meaningful cards. Overall, I think this is something that can easily gain momentum if we keep doing it.
Pros:
ReplyDelete-Intentions behind it were completely good and thoughtful
-Everyone got a card
-Good schedule/promo in letting the students know when/where/how to turn in, obtain a card, etc
-timing of the cards was during the holiday season and the end of the semester which I thought was kind of nice to be able to reflect on at least a whole semester of work in your ty cards
-good that some of the teachers I talked to were willing to help out with it (if not wholly, then at least partially)
Cons/Suggestions:
-uneven workload between commissions led to uneven workload among the whole class
-cramming that many cards into less than a week was unexpected, especially the week before finals, at least for me.
-reading through them was for the most part a good thing for the few expected negative cards in there, but many of my classmates that I talked to were deterred by the fact that someone in ASB would read through it and therefore their cards would be less sincere
The effort to give every single person on campus was definitely noticed and people knew it was done with good intentions (some of my friends noticed that everyone in their class got one and told me, "wow I can't believe every single person on this campus is getting one, that's incredible"). I believe if we continue to push this every year, perhaps with a better working schedule, the workload would continue to decrease over the years as people would (hopefully) start getting the hype up about the "annual ty card time", take it more seriously, and take the opportunity to really appreciate even a few more people around them.
I think everyone summarized this event really well. It would be great to dive into the wealth of resources available to us. Moreover, I think this is another way we can incorporate the staff into our ASB activities.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, I think it is important to look at the amount of time that went into this week and what we got out as well. A lot people were thankful to have received a card; however, more time needs to be allocated to make the process more efficient.
Moving forward, it would be ideal to start this earlier in the year when we, as a class, would have more time to dedicate to the project. In addition, we would be able to ask others to assist us throughout the process.