Working with West Adams can be challenging, especially because it is hard to get the students interested in the project. In order to get the most out of them, here are some suggestions and tips.
1. Don't start to film on the first site visit because this seems to make the students uncomfortable.
2. Make sure that you know exactly how to explain the project. Dont make it seem like it is a project to study them or their community, but that it's a collaboration.
3. Always have a plan for the day. Creating a lesson plan will help. One of our plans was to show the students several documentaries, to divide them into groups based on their interest, and to get them to work on a project. We had each group write down lyrics for a song, and some of them performed the song at the end. This was effective because it was fun, organized, and we managed to get a lot from the students.
4. If you give out flip cameras, make sure that you give them a specific task. We did not give them specific guidelines so a lot of the footage was not helpful to us.
5. Try to get everyone to participate. Some students are quieter than others, but they all have wonderful insight.
6. Bring donuts!!... the students work better and talk more when you bring food.
7. Make sure that everyone is there on the first site visit and that everyone is enthusiastic about the project. This makes a difference and the more time you spend talking to the students, the more they will open up and be enthusiastic themselves.
8. Share personal experiences too. I worked with the students that were interested in talking about college, and I often gave them tips and told them about my experiences and what I do.
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