BuzzingBOTS! Very Helpful Mascots Ready to Teach, Comfort, and Guide K-8 Students Through The (Re)Opening of Schools
By TEACHER KRISTINE TSUNG
Overview
BuzzingBOTS are very helpful mascots ready to teach, comfort, and guide K-8 students through the (re)opening of schools. On a daily basis, I have used BuzzingBOTS in self-contained elementary school classrooms, as well as in distance learning for middle school to help students identify feelings and emotions, process abstract concepts, express themselves safely, and come together for a greater purpose. With its San Francisco Bay Area origins, BuzzingBOTS is ready to speak to the diverse community of Los Angeles, a leader in the youth entertainment and fashion industries.
As more and more public schools (re)open, communication needs to be clear. Especially for younger children, who are learning to read, information needs to be easy to understand and remember. Words alone cannot say everything. BuzzingBOTS friendly mascots are ready to help students receive information in more enjoyable ways. They announce, warn, instruct, advise, share news, explain, and help ease the way through confusion by using cuteness and charm.
We hear about the gap between school and pop culture. Often young students resort to pop culture to escape from school. And often pop culture has a lot of negative influencers. BuzzingBOTS, on the other hand, is a positive way to fill in this gap. The mascots are inspired by “kawaii” characters in mainstream Japan. The word “kawaii” means cute. Kawaii mascots reflect current design trends and have the potential to grab young people’s attention in a subtle way. BuzzingBOTS are not pop stars, but rather work along the sidelines of pop culture to ensure the communication of information, concepts, and emotions.
In mainstream culture, the Japanese have used kawaii mascots as tension breakers. Kawaii mascots have become mediators especially in situations of conflict such as the aftermath of an earthquake or fire. In the Reconstruction after WWII, the Japanese had a three-part plan: 1. massive, huge, heavy (referring to the shipping and steel industry) 2. quick, light, communication (referring to computers) and 3. community, entertainment (referring to feeling emotion). Perhaps this plan for rebuilding communities in Japan is a positive precedent in the world for the (re)opening of schools in the USA. And, perhaps, we could add a fourth component to this plan: connecting and relationships.
So why BuzzingBOTS? BuzzingBOTS are not only cute, helpful mascots here to guide the way, but also, their designs connect visually like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Each BuzzingBOT therefore represents a tiny part of a greater picture. Together BuzzingBOTS exist to connect different people’s ideals, goals, dreams, experiences, skills, education, and realities of everyday life. In addition to our physical environment at school, BuzzingBOTS is here to enhance communication, relationships, and learning. Detaching us from the sad reality of the global pandemic, offering us a healthy new way to cope and address the aftermath of COVID-19, BuzzingBOTS is here to help us transform our communities, starting with our students as we (re)open schools.
Expected Impact
At school, my fellow teachers and I have used BuzzingBOTS for: affirmations, superlatives, positive reinforcement, rewards, symbols, lesson hooks, friendly reminders, social emotional learning, common core & NGSS, behavior management. BuzzingBOTS have helped our students identify feelings and emotions, process abstract concepts, express themselves safely, come together for a greater purpose. In addition to our physical environment at school, I have seen BuzzingBOTS enhance communication, relationships, and learning.
Adopt & Adapt
Because BuzzingBOTS is a collection of graphic images, it can easily adapt to any curricula or policies from any organization or group. A BuzzingBOT or a group of BuzzingBOTS can function just like any school mascot or even the same way as a welcoming series of Olympic mascots. BuzzingBOTS concept and style is versatile. On Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT), teachers have used BuzzingBOTS and wrote positive reviews. BuzzingBOTS is very implementable; at the same time, although BuzzingBOTS has received awards and acclamation and has a global licensing history, it just needs a style guide to give it a more professional shine and a successful roll out plan to be implemented to its greatest potential. Please see www.BuzzingBOTS.com for more information.