For me, teaching as a very close cousin to researching. It’s a natural next step to ask students what they think after or before or during any teaching experience. I do this for the same reasons anyone does research: to understand, to validate, to improve our world.
Friday, we came home from a three day, two night trip to Catalina Island. On the boat ride home, I asked each student two questions: What did you learn and what did you love about Catalina.
Some response were factual; others shared big ideas. Realizations about themselves and the world. Sometimes the answers to loved and learned were indistinguishable. Filled with facts, ideas, and emotions, each child told what they valued most. Where they are right now. The poem below is my analysis of the data.
Found at Catalina
Plankton
a lot in a little pinch.
Shape affects how they move
hydrostatic skeletons made from the water.
We
depend on algae
our food, the water.
Fifty percent of the shark species is smaller than an adult human.
Sharks die every day because of human actions.
Sharks aren’t that dangerous.
The bottom of the ocean is dark, lonely, and cold
big eyes or not at all they
use senses to find their way
Bioluminescence
stars at night
glow in the dark.
Words.
There is nothing to be scared of.
I can float.
To Read To Write To Be 
How interesting to take your students phrases and weave them into a poem.
A journey like that makes us/them realize what small fish we are in this big world we swim around in. I love when you go on this trip and share a bit from it. How wonderful for the kids!
You captured their voices and their wonder in your poem. What a great experience! I heard Zac Efron talking about sharks on Ellen. They are important creatures.
I love that you asked them all the same questions, and the poem you found as a result. What powerful growth you facilitate for students with the CIMI trip.
What a lovely way to summarise your students’ learning. I’m sure they appreciate it.
I remember reading about your trip last and was so envious. This made me think about how our students’ background knowledge is dependent upon our geographical location. We have caves and forests and you have oceans. I think I see a blog post in the near future about this.
[…] was inspired by Leigh Anne’s My Corner of the World, which was inspired by Julieanne’s Found Poetry at Catalina. “The bottom of the ocean” is directly borrowed from Julieanne’s poem, and I […]