Here is our research journal where we record our hardships, worries, joys and surprises. These are the evidence of our unforgettable experiences.
- Our Footprints >
- How we get startedDate (2011)EventsOct.10Hosting our guests
TECO Technology Foundation invited Lai Je Primary School students, who are Tsou tribe from Alishan Chiayi Province, to perform their singing in “Aboriginal Children’s Night”. Due to the shortage of expenses, they faced accommodation problems. As we were informed with their difficulties, our students and parents volunteered to open their homes and invited the aboriginal children as their guests of honor.
The children stayed with us for three days and two nights. They sat up in classes and participated in all of our school activities.Oct. 13Deciding our research topic
After we hosted the aboriginal children in our school and open our homes for them, we came to know that TECO Technology Foundation also sponsored their trip to Taipei. Thus, we would like to know more about the community services done by TECO Technology Foundation. To further our knowledge on TECO Technology Foundation, we plan to visit the foundation and conduct interviews with the staff.Oct. 20 ~ Oct.25Observing award winning websites
We viewed some previous cyberfair projects and discussed about their merits and dismerits.
Then we used web concepts to analyze their structures.
- Reporters on fieldworkDate (2011)EventsOct. 31 ~Nov. 3Forming interview questions
We discussed about our interview questions for they will be conducted to different interviewees: TECO staff and volunteers, ROC vice president and aboriginal groups. We brainstorm our questions and tried to focus each group of questions into different topics. Finally, we modified and rephrase the questions.
Ms. Dai reminded us about interview etiquette:
1.Be sure the interviewees understand the background of our questions.
2.Never interrupt when the interviewees are answering the questions.
3.More follow up questions can be made for pursuing in-depth information.
4.Be polite, and mind your manners. You should ask for approval before recording or photo taking.Nov. 5The TECO Award Ceremony
We attended TECO Award Ceremony and also conducted our interviews. We formed into three groups take on our tasks. Two groups didn’t go well. One group met with the Li Dao tribal children. They intended to ask them a few questions but the children just giggled and ran away. Fortunately, they were able to finish their interviews by asking tribal teachers. Another group had an appointment but got stood up. Thanks to quick action of our parents, they were able to find the interviewees. The third group interviewed adults and interacted well with them.
We were really thrilled to see our vice president Vincent Shiew in person. We took some pictures with him. He was friendly and always give us a nice smile. That’s why he is dubbed Smiley Old Shiew!Jan. 17, 2012TECO Technology Foundation headquarters
We took the bus to the foundation headquarters. At first, we were so nervous because we would be meeting the staff. Before then, we have been learning about the foundation from their website. When we arrived at the office, the staff welcomed us with warm smiles. The vice CEO Ms. Su briefed us about TECO foundation with powerpoint introduction and films. Then, we proceeded with our interviews. The staff was so friendly. They answered all of our questions and we had nice small talks. Our fears had subsided. From the interviews , we realized that doing charity work requires more than compassion and enthusiasm. Knowledge of culture and professional skills are also needed to work effectively. - Christmas Shoebox ProjectDate (2011)EventsDec. 6~Dec. 9Planning for the project
After we learned about the Exclamation Foundation and their charity work toward indigenous people, we decided to raise donations. As Christmas is coming, we thought it would be nice to give the aboriginal children Christmas presents. Ms Dai thought that was a good idea and she proposed to promote a campaign called “The Christmas Shoebox Project.” We are going to donate some stuff like toys, stationaries and candies and put them in shoeboxes then wrapped them up as Christmas presents to send for children in remote places. As we planned to get everyone in our campus involved in the Christmas Shoebox Project, it is important to start promoting. Thus, we started to make some posters. Basically, our team is formed up into three groups and each group is responsible for an age level. Our posters will contain some information like this:- 1.Time of donation
- 2.Recipients of the presents
- 3.Recommended stuff to donate:
Dec. 12~Dec. 15Doing promotions
Each of our group started off every first morning hour to the assigned grade levels. We shared our tasks: one does talks about the shoebox project, the other two do the demonstration. The initial response was lukewarm but after a few rounds, more people volunteered to donate their presents.Dec. 16~Dec. 19Packing and delivering Christmas presents
We collected over 300 shoeboxes! The presents were piled up from floor to ceiling in the Parent Association office. Our parent volunteers have been busy working with the Christmas shoeboxes donated by our students. They would check the contents: name tags, greeting cards, quality of presents, etc. Then, they would wrap up the shoeboxes with beautiful gift wrappings. At the final day, our team helped the volunteer parents packed all the shoebox presents into big boxes. Then, we are ready for our Christmas delivery. They will be send to five different schools.
We can’t wait to see how happy our aboriginal friends would be when they receive our Christmas shoebox presents!Dec. 28Greetings from our aboriginal friends
What a big surprise! Our aboriginal friends sent big boxes of letters and greeting cards to express their thanks and show their sensations. Most of them are delicately handmade with pretty ornaments! Some letters were even written by the principals and teachers telling us how excited their school children had been. We are so happy beyond words can describe. - Setting up our websiteDateEventsNov. 17, 2011Website registration
Today we are in the computer room. We learn how to make registration of our website. We key in our team: The Exclamation Task Force; our title: The Exclamation Story and the information of our school.Dec. 15~Dec. 29(2011)Structuring our website
We brainstormed the outline of our website. It took us a lot of time! We even observed other website and referred to some of their title and subtitle. More discussions followed before we worked out some categories.Jan. 4 ~Jan. 10(2012)Writing up our reports
It’s time to organize our data that we have collected for three months. Again, we form into groups of three and each group is responsible for writing a particular topic. On the other hand, we also design our webpage. We talked about pictures we had in mind and sketched out a rough draft. Finally, we voted for a basic pattern: a nice exclamation mark by Chen Shu De with TECO logo, and aborigine pictures, marked with Yang Yeh’s glowing rays.
