Monday, December 2, 2013

Pt. II: Take a Poll

Today's prompt was to "take a poll and share the results."  This post is not about the poll or the results.

I woke up early today to do some things before work, checking my email for the daily prompt being among those "things."  After reading the prompt, the musician in me spoke first and suggested an inquiry on favorite songs, favorite Beatles albums, underrated and overrated bands.  I declined to go the music route, mainly to force myself to think about something that wasn't music related.  I already think about music quite a bit.

Putting the question on hold, I started to think about how I would go about getting responses from people.  Texting and Facebook came to mind.  I didn't think any further on the matter.

The first half of my workday came and went.  I'm a full-time aide for a preschool class at a public elementary school, working with 2 older women (both mothers with kids in high school or graduated) to help improve the literacy and social functioning of 10 endearing children.  Sitting alone in the faculty lounge on my lunch break, I decided on "What is your favorite Disney movie?" as my poll question.  It's a question nearly everyone I've ever met could answer, would be excited to answer.  And I was curious to know.

I pulled out my iPhone, posted the question on Facebook, and headed back to work.  I didn't think about it for the rest of the workday.

As of the current moment, 18 of my 1,296 Facebook friends responded.  In other words, 1.389% of my social network (or most of it) responded.

This isn't a post aimed at exposing the failings of Facebook. While it frustrates me, I ultimately believe its resourcefulness is too great to walk away from.  This isn't a post designed to guilt-trip my friends who failed to comment on my status.  I'm thankful for those who did respond.  That is all.

This is a post about my own social failing.  I'm upset that failed to make the effort to call or text any of my close friends and family.  I'm upset that I didn't think to ask any of my students or their parents when they came to pick them up from school.  I'm upset that I didn't use the poll as an opportunity to spark conversation with the staff at my school.  It's embarrassing to think that a primary responsibility of my job is to encourage positive social interaction amongst my students, yet I completely whiffed at an obvious chance to discuss, debate, and celebrate one of the most shared and beloved collections in our culture.  Good grief.

I learned something today.  And that makes today a good day.  Here are the results of my poll in case you were curious:

Beauty and the Beast (4 votes)
Lion King (2 votes)
Alice in Wonderland
The Nightmare before Christmas
Mary Poppins
Peter Pan
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
The Kid
Cool Runnings
Swiss Family Robinson
The Fox and the Hound            
The Little Mermaid
Mighty Ducks: D2
Make Music Mine

And my personal favorite: Robin Hood

This post is part of Think Kit by Small Box
Today's post was "Take a Poll"

No comments:

Post a Comment