Update: Summer service journal entry #2
Summer service journal entry #2
For my service work this summer break I worked with a non profit organization, Celebrate the Beat (CTB), in Colorado. During the school year me and my project partners crossed paths with one of the founders of the organization. She then came to our CAS class and we were able to learn more about her project and we shared ours with her. Then she invited us to intern with them for their POP HOP camp where for a week they teach a group of kids (this year it was over 120 kids) and then the kids perform in the Vail dance festival. We were able to join them for the first 2 days of the camp. Our plan was to learn from them and use the teaching techniques that we saw in our own CAS project with Cepia. The first learning outcome that this service work connects to is demonstrating engagement with issues of global significance. Most of the kids that attended the camp are from poorer areas in Colorado, which is where the CTB usually works. The camp is to inspire creativity in the kids attending, to teach them hard work and push them past their limits. They look at the same global issue that we do in our CAS project which is that lower income families don't have the opportunities to participate in the arts that families with more stable incomes do. Another learning outcome in CTB’s POP HOP was to examine the ethical implications of your actions. We did this by meeting after all the kids had left the camp to reflect on the work we had done that day. We would discuss what the kids needed to be able to succeed and be ready to perform at the end of the week, along with what teaching techniques would make them feel most comfortable. I learned that there is a WHY for everything that they do at CTB and it inspired me to be more mindful of my actions and their effects. The last learning outcome used with CTB was demonstrating the skills and recognizing the benefits of working collaboratively. I had to work with people that I have never met before and I was learning from them so they were the ones in charge and I had to follow their lead. With over 120 kids in the work we all had to be attentive and help the kids out because that is a lot of people to manage and teach. Even though I was only assisting I still had to work and use some of the teaching techniques to make sure that the kids knew what they were doing. Also they used a lot of communication. We all joined a zoom call 3 days before the camp started to discuss the details and we arrived 30 minutes before the camp started to learn the new coreo and discuss our roles for the day. The meetings after the camp ended were also a way to communicate the plans for the next day. This is my biggest takeaway from the camp and motivates me to work more on my communication with my project partners.
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