By Bridget Bunten
On December 10th, Sara, Bridget, Erin, and Michelle joined Robbi and Matthew at Galena Elementary School for their first opportunity to pilot the student and teacher surveys. This was the research team’s first opportunity to see Robbi and Matthew’s presentations with a live student audience, so their excitement was off the charts. After months of researching and designing the surveys, the team was ready to learn from having students and teachers fill them out. Our first hope was that the teachers and students had already filled out the pre-assembly surveys.
When we arrived at the school, we met up with Robbi, Matthew, and Rachel Hopkins, the Title I interventionist at Galena who helped to coordinate their visit. Shortly after, students began filing into the auditorium while Robbi and Matthew enthusiastically greeted them at the door. The eager anticipation in the room began to build; we could all feel it! Throughout the morning and early afternoon, Robbi and Matthew led three assemblies with every student at Galena Elementary. There were countless smiles, enthusiastic applause, silly jokes, [adjective] reading, curious questions, and lots of laughter! Through it all, the research team took notes and consummately enjoyed their front row seats to the unofficial start of the data collection journey.
There were many lessons learned from the data collection and data analysis process for the first pilot study in Galena. After adjusting our surveys, we were ready for a second opportunity at HH Garnet Elementary School on April 29, 2022. By this time, our research team had grown to include two student researchers: Avery and Riley! Flo Terrill, the community schools specialist and former classroom teacher, organized the visit and met us at the front of the school. Thankfully Flo had helped immensely with the administration of the online pre-assembly surveys for both students and teachers in the days leading up to the visit.
The HHGES gym was packed with eager students who were excited about Robbi and Matthew’s visit and the free books they would receive. Once again, both assemblies were full of energy, laughter, questions, and moments of wonder for students and adults alike.
Facebook post from HHGES visit: https://www.facebook.com/HHGES/posts/hhges-had-a-fantastic-friday-husband-and-wife-team-robbi-illustrator-matthew-aut/536715814749637/
KCPS News article: (with a picture of us, who knew?!) from December 2021
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