Introduction
I have learned how to prioritize work. I enjoyed making the agenda for Alton. It makes me more excited to go spend time with the kids at Alton Middle School. I did find it frustrating that we were not able to go to Alton sooner but that is out of our reach. I feel I definitely exceeded the collaboration goal and I want to contuine that for the rest of the semester.
When our group first started going to Alton I felt very nervous and shy. I didn’t want to talk much in front of the kids because I am not very good at talking in front of others. One week I was teaching a lesson plan we had laid out, I described something to the kids wrong and after I felt really embarrassed that I did not know what I was teaching them. I ended up saying the right thing just in different context. towards the end of the semester I felt more confident teaching and talking in front of the students. I am still learning on how to talk in front of people confidently but this was a good start. I believe this whole after school program was a risk I took. originally I would not have taken this opportunity becuase it is out of my comfort zone. I’m glad I took it and went somewhere I don’t know to meet new people and make a difference in the students week.
Goal 1 (10%)
Civic Engagement- A
Demonstrates ability and commitment to collaboratively work across and within community contexts and structures.
My team and I worked together to create an after school program at Alton Middle School. Here we had to create many worksheets and lesson plans for the kids, and make sure we incorporate what we wanted to teach the kids while we were there.
Goal 2 (30%)
Intercultural Knowledge and Competence- B
Demonstrates sophisticated understanding of the complexity of elements important to members of another culture in relation to history, values, politics, communication styles, economy, or beliefs and practices.
Football is very important to the students I worked with. Making sure football was the main part of their story was mandatory considering they value that sport so much. They way they told their story was very important as well. We tried something different from the other groups and wanted to tell two stories in one video. Since we decided to do this, the audience needed to tell when one story was being told and when the other story was ending. Taking all of this into consideration, communication style was very important. Next time I would like to have more time with the students so they can make their own video. I loved their stories and how it turned out, but this was my work putting it together when I wish it was the students.
Goal 3 (10%)
Skills for Lifelong Learning- B
Pursues knowledge and educational experience beyond the classroom.
These are some of the websites I have found crime data on to help our research plan. While looking data up I had to use key words like “Alton” or “Youth violence” to make sure I was getting the information I needed to help support my class. This skill will help me for my future career within the State Police.
Goal 4 (10%)
Oral Communication- A & B
Uses clear organizational patterns and is skillful at presenting content cohesively. Uses compelling, appropriate delivery techniques.
[add an artifact or two here and a few sentences about how the artifact demonstrates your learning; you should talk about process. How did this assignment help you develop a new skill, push you to try something new? What might you do differently next time? Note that when you have a heavily weighted goal, you should include more than one artifact]
Goal 5 (40%)
Collaboration- B & C
Facilitates collaborators by building upon their contributions and noticing when someone is not participating and inviting them to engage. Works independently towards goals by contributing and meeting deadlines.
Here is the schedule and research document my group and I made for our after school program with the kids. This took a lot of collaboration with the class to make sure we are talking about everything we want to before our time runs out and gather the reasearch we needed. We found it difficult to try piece everything together but once we got a hold of how we wanting things to go it started to fit together very smoothly.