VIUEdExpo Reflection

Reflection of process and product for Assessment Class

I partnered with Kurt and Trevor for this project.
This project began with my focus on the problem that there was no environmental assessment for products created in my daughter's grade 6 Entrepreneur program at her school. Kurt was also interested in environmental/sustainable fundraising, and Trevor's passion is in sustainable practices in the classroom and school. We decided to partner to present a booth to reflect our concerns.
I had most of my contribution done a month before the expo. Kurt created the website, while Trevor focused on a wormbin and environmental resources. The most challenging part of the group dynamic is that one person kept having 'new' ideas and changing things even up to the night before the event. This was frustrating for me however some of the ideas were good and we incorporated them. Flexibility vs preparedness!

We met on Sunday eve for set-up of our station. Kurt has lots of experience running booths at craft fairs, and was able to assist us in thinking about participant’s ‘flow’ through our booth station- he was great at focusing on the participant’s experience at our booth.

Our presentation was three-pronged. We first engaged participants with the question of what sustainable schools meant to THEM, and invited them to contribute towards the creation of a poster (on the table cloth). This was our assessment tool and engagement strategy; If they had no ideas we would direct them to the other ideas that had been written down already. These guided questions lead into the discussion about the website resource we had created, which included an environmental impact study for school Entrepreneur programs, sustainable fundraising ideas (such as garden to market school programs), and a list of environmental activities and projects for schools (such as how to create a worm bin).  

After we discussed our online resource, we invited participants to plant a seed, with the intention that ideas can grow. They were invited to take a ‘seedling selfie’ and to post on social media using the #VIUEDEXPO hashtag.

Our Station and Presentation went well- it was warmly received and people were eager to discuss the topics of sustainability in the classroom. We learned of many schools where best practice is in place, such as on Saltspring Island. People contributed to our poster with many different ideas. Both Kurt and Trevor spent a lot of time staffing the booth, while I provided relief for them to see other booths and take workshops. I also bought water and snacks. This was fine as I did a lot of the pre-expo work and the team still worked well together.
We did adapt our ideas prior due to the review of the criteria, namely, including the co-created poster. We were going to also have the chicken but Trevor decided not to bring it that morning. I wish we had the chicken. :(

Prior to the expo, Avi listed to our concerns and gave encouragement to our ideas, namely the ‘seedling Selfie’ poster. He also liked the chicken idea.

The formative assessment process of this expo booth creation was very good, in that it helped us fine tune what were were presenting to match the expectations. We were all strapped for time and some things were done last minute, for example one part of the website was updated only the night before. This is hard for me to handle as I tend to do things way in advance. But, the final product was great and it all worked out in the end, even without the chicken.