Interest Inventory

 I wish I could fly....*

"Interest Inventory" is not a clever title--it's just a handout I give out to my kids on the first day of school.

In the interest inventory, kids answer questions like:

What is your favorite food?  Movie?  Book?  Fictional character?   What do you like to do at home or in your free time?  Who lives with you at home?  What do you like the most about school?  The least?

Some kids have trouble filling out the inventory.  "I don't have a favorite song," complained George.  "Then just pick one song that you like," I responded.  And Michelle had a different kind of problem.  "I live in two houses.  One has my dad, and the other has my mom," she confessed.  "Then just write down the people you live with at both houses."  She was satisfied with that solution.

For the most part, though, the kids enjoy filling out information about themselves.  On this test, the only right answers are their own opinions.

My two favorite questions are:  (1) What do you like least about school, and (2) If you had one wish, what would it be.

Go ahead and guess what most kids like the least about school.  That's right, it's homework.  And I have to agree with them--but I covered that in an earlier post.  Other answers about what they like the least included:  mean teachers, bathrooms, the food, the chairs (too hard), and (gasp) reading.

Sadly, there isn't much I can do about the bathrooms, the food, and the hard chairs.  But I can work on not being too mean this year.  And oh my gosh--those kids who don't like reading are in for a real surprise, because my special project this year will be to get them to love reading.

But my favorite question is: If you had one wish, what would it be?  Okay, a number of kids said they wanted a million dollars.  And one clever kid wished for infinity wishes.

My kids' wishes really reveals their heart and imagination:

• own a restaurant
• have a larger house
• a smart robot that flies
• be on a baseball team
• move things without touching them
• be a super hero (four kids wished for this)
• get their pet back (three kids)
• world peace

Now that I have their voices rolling around my head, I know where to go.  Give these kids a chance to act on their wishes.  They will blog about what they want to do to make their world better.

Sounds like this is going to be an interesting year....

* Superacorn, a Tanguy Desailly's Super Hero - European Free Artistic Licence by Hubert Lombard, Jan. 2007