On Election Day, the Otters and the Clouds traversed the busy sidewalks in order to experience being first hand reporters of the election. They first traveled to the Yorkville Community School on East 88th Street, where they were shocked to see a line that wrapped around the whole block. After shuffling past the crowded voters, the students broke up into small reporting teams and positioned themselves on various corners near the polling place. Each team was tasked with stopping random adults on the street and asking them "Did you vote?" and "Why did you vote?" They had a clipboard and a voter response sheet for writing answers (see below).
The students found many friendly adults who were willing to stop and talk to them. Most of the adults who were stopped said that they had voted. Many adults responded to "Why did you vote?" with answers like "It's my civic duty," and "I'm exercising a right." One of the adults who stopped was especially excited about the students' efforts because she was a reporter for a news agency looking for stories on the election. All in all, it was a positive learning experience for all the students and a wonderful opportunity to get outside and talk to someone new about their reasons for voting. |