Patana News Volume 22 Issue 19

Connections in the Rye – Reflecting on the Year 8 Connectons Project Antonius Berghuis, Senior Teacher (Key Stage 3, Curriculum and Assessment)

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is what this Connections Project that we’ve just done was about, what it was like, and how all us kids were occupied the whole time, and all that kind of stuff, and you know what? I actually don’t mind that much telling you all about it, if you want to know the truth.

In the first place, the Year 8 Connections project was where the teachers organised this terrific role-playing simulation project that ran over near 5 full school days. On Monday 6th January, all us Year 8s got told we came from this made-up country that the teacher didn’t even tell us the name of. Then he told us our country got all sort of messed up and had some kind of civil war, and that all us kids hopped in these boats that just happened to be available and put out to sea as a bunch of refugees like you hear about in the news sometimes.

Anyway, so we were supposedly just drifting around in the ocean and then this storm came blew us all over the place. Then the teacher tells us the killer part – all us Year 8 refugees got split into four groups of about 40 kids each, and each group had been blown onto a separate island and we have to start a new civilisation. I don’t usually like phony stuff like this but the teacher did a good job of selling this to us. He really did.

Each island was different. One island was geographically Scandinavian, another was like the UK, the third was like Greece, and the last was like Thailand. A Geography teacher told us about the islands. I forgot to tell you that.

So us kids all scrambled and tried to get organised. It was pretty crazy when I think back on it because we really didn’t know what we were doing, and the teachers were just watching us getting more and more frustrated.

Eventually, we figured out what we were doing and we got ourselves into different roles which all that tasks to do that would help create our new island nation. There were roles like Media, Island Architects, Economics, and so on. You probably get the point. Some kids even got to be in the Government, if you can believe that. We finished with a big, crazy auction where each island got to bid on assets which would help make our island countries successful. I forgot to mention that, too. Our goal was to make our island nations as successful as possible. All the Year 8s loved that auction. Everyone was in the Theatre hollering as the auction went on depending on what was won. It was a great day. It really was.

After that first day, we were back again the next day and we were sort of inspired right from the start.

Then we had this crazy big break for about 20 days. When we came back to get on with our islands, lots of crazy things had happened to our islands and we had to fix all the problems. It was kind of messed up, if you ask me.

By Tuesday 28th January, all our work was done. It was amazing to tell the truth. I still can’t believe how much amazing stuff we created – videos, posters, research, national anthems… It was good quality work, too, if you really want to know. The teachers said they were impressed and proud of us. And they weren’t being phoney at all - I

Having to work with other kids usually drives me mad. It really does. This Connections project was all about that, too – working with other kids. For three straight days. We all had our moments, but we pretty much all of us got through the tough, frustrating bits and got stuff done.

On Wednesday 29th January, our parents came to school to listen to a bit of a speech by one of the teachers before he let the parents loose and they all came to our displays and we got to tell them what we’d done and how awesome we actually were. The parents all came around and listened to us explaining this and that. They did their bit by being interested and asking us lots of questions, which made us say more, but we didn’t mind at all.

The whole Year 8 Connections project was a lot of fun, to tell the truth, and us kids got a kick out of the whole thing. It was worth all the time and blood, sweat and tears we put into it, and we were glad we got to share it with the parents. We really did surprise ourselves. It was a blast, if you really want to know. I get very happy when I think about it. Even now.

Life is difficult and it isn't fair, but the best we can do is forgive, forget and move on… life is short and there is no point wasting time worrying about one thing.

Amolwan (Dana) Na Thalang, 8K

It’s harder and more stressful then I thought. Everyone's opinion matters and sometimes you will have people that don’t agree with you but you have to do the very best you can.

Nathasorn (Eim-Aim) Sorakraikitikul, 8L

I learnt that you can't always work independently and expect things to go the way you planned. There will always be challenges you will face but it is more important to overcome them as a group rather than by yourself.

Jennifer Greenbank, 8L

That putting effort in will eventually help you… it might seem like it is a waste of time at the beginning but you will have helped your future self a lot.

Harriet Bastin, 8R