Reflective conversation #1

The idea for my EE came to me quite fast. I was sure I wanted to do something that could have combined my culture as well as the American culture, therefore, I came up with the idea of researching and studying the phenomenon of the stereotyped Italian Mafia culture of the 90s within the “The Godfather” both in its written and cinematographic portrait. Even though I had my topic ready I found really challenging to came up with a research question that could include all the points I wanted to develop and compare/contrast. As a result, I first did some research and I tried to find as many research papers and material as possible and then I try to come up with a research question that could have combined them all. Moreover, with the material I found and some of the notes I made while watching the movies and reading the book I structure my final outline and discussed with my supervisor.

Category: Extended Essay | LEAVE A COMMENT

May 9

EE WRITING DAY

Today, 9th May 2019, my grade spent the all-day working on their EE research or on their first 1000 words!

After I changed my topic and discussed it both with my supervisor and Ms. Ashton, I started my doing my research and, surprisingly, I came up with some good ideas for my essay structure as well as some interviews ideas that would make my work stronger. I started watching the movies and re-reading the book and I already have enough notes to start my writing! I cannot deny I was a bit concern about my EE topic, especially because I could not find enough info/research papers that were supporting my thesis but, with the new topic, I genuinely feel more confident.

More specifically:

- one thing I’ve learned –> It is worth to rethink about your initial ideas and be ready to change them if necessary.
- what I’m proud of –> My new topic interests me and it is really connected to my culture as well as my initial EE topic.
- what I’ll be doing next –> Increase my research database, keep reading and watching the movie, structure my research question and get enough information for my writing.

#EEDay

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April 16

Lighthouse local service #4 – OL 2,4,5,6,7

Tuesday, 16th April 2019

FINAL REFLECTION

Since my adventure with the kids in Lighthouse motor skills is over, I would like to reflect and draw conclusions on the experience. I can definitely say that this 8 months in the service changed me a lot, not only because I started being more informed about global issues of which I was not aware of, but also because of the happiness and the excitement the kids where bringing to every session made every Tuesday more joyful.

I had the opportunity to learn and practice my sign language and, in some cases, even the kids were teaching me some words. The bond created is really strong and I am really sad not to be able to continue my service experience until the end.

Every game we played and every moment we spent together impacted the children a lot. Because of their disabilities, most of them are not willing to open up with new people, especially because they are not used to have new people around them. Being able to communicate and create meaningful bonds with new people is a big challenge for them and the fact that, in the end, they overcame their initial difficulties made me super happy and proud of the work my group and I have done.

Also, I really appreciated the teamwork that I and the others were able to pursue throughout the all year. Even though just two were the people in charge of each session, the others were always there to support and help when needed. In addition, our communication was always efficient and we never came unprepared to the sessions.

To sum up, I can definitely say that the experience in Lighthouse has been eye-opening. I will definitely miss the kids and I will always remember their smile in my heart.

Gilda

Category: CAS, Lighthouse motorskills | LEAVE A COMMENT

March 12

Lighthouse #3 OL- 2,3,4

Tuesday, 12th March 2019

In my service, we are now planning to hold a musical with the kids. Since we knew they really like animals and songs, we decided to play the Lion King. The kids have already experience with “Just Dance” type videos and they have little difficulty to follow it. Therefore, we found a tutorial for the song on the internet and we repeated it for them. In addition, in each of the sessions we are doing, we are making them learning the steps and the sequence of the song as well as creating the customs and the masks for the show. Most of the kids love it and they really enjoy following the music and miming the animals in the song. Recently, we had an art session where the kids were able to paint their own animal mask. One of the moms in the service operatives is helping us to create the customs, therefore, during the session, we took the measurements of the kids and gave it to her. It was really interesting to see how engaged the kids were and how much they loved painting and dirtying their hands in the paint (especially the ones with sight impairments). All of us in the service know that the decision of the musical is a bit of a challenge but we all agreed that it is good both for us and for the kids to experience something new and thrilling. We are ready to put as much effort as needed and we are confident about the possible outcomes. In addition, the kids invited us for a mini show at their school that will take place at the end of the year. It would be a good opportunity for us to experience one of their typical “school day” as well as getting to know their parents and the other students of the school.

Gilda

Category: CAS, Lighthouse motorskills | LEAVE A COMMENT

February 15

G5 peace activity (IFP reflection) #4 LO-2,3,4,5

Friday, 15th Friday 2019

During this season in IFP, I had the opportunity to organize and lead a mini peace activity (about 30 mins) aimed to G5ers in the school. I was in a group of 5 people and our mission was to plan, organize and lead an informative session for the others engaged in the project. A session of IFP during season 2 was aimed to propose a series of activities to the rest of the group that had to vote and chose the best one. My group won as we proposed some activities that were not clichè but at the same time achieved the purpose. After that, my group became in charge of all process and organized the all session that took place last Wednesday.

It has been a really hard process, especially because of the limited amount of time we had to prepare everything. In addition, we were not sure about what kind of activities would the G5ers like, therefore, we decide to do a run-through during one IFP session. This was helpful to get a sense of timings and possible activities that the kids could have not liked. In fact, after the session, we decided to change one of the main activities that would have been perilous for the kids because there was the danger that they would have fallen down.

During the event, everything went really good and the kids seemed really engaged with the activities. I was really proud of the work I did and both the teachers of the kids and the teachers in IFP were satisfied. This experience helped me to develop more self-awareness as well as self-esteem. In addition, I realized that I can effectively lead orders and achieve with them the best results.

Gilda

Category: CAS, IFP | LEAVE A COMMENT

February 12

LIGHTHOUSE motor skills, local service #2 LO-2,3,4,5

Tuesday, 12th February 2019

Because of a series of holidays, both in our school and in Lighthouse, we have not been seeing the kids for a long time. However, we were kept busy with a fun task the service department gave us: make a catalog of all the stored resources the local services usually borrow for their sessions. Our job was to produce a catalog with some videos of us trying the games in order for other students to have a sense of what the resource is like and how to use it correctly. The all process has been fun as well as really challenging. Not only were we asked to be efficient and precise but also really fast and effective in our job. The amount of stuff we had to try was a lot and, in some cases, it was difficult to understand how the games where working, especially in some cases where the instructions were not there. However, thanks to really efficient teamwork we manage to do everything before the deadline. Some of us were in charge of taking the video and trying the stuff while others were in charge of attaching them in the document. I was one of the lucky ones that were able to try some of the games. I can definitely say the choice we made to work all together was really helpful. One of the good things about my service experience is that my group is not big and this makes everyone be able to participate actively in each activity. In addition, the bond that has been formed between us student is really strong. This makes possible for us to have a cohesive collaboration that brings good results each time. The service office was really impressed and pleased with the outcome of the work.

Here are some videos of our adventure in the service storage room! Hope you like them!

Fitness Dice

IMG_6170

Gilda

Category: CAS, Lighthouse motorskills | LEAVE A COMMENT

December 4

Case studies IFP #3

Tuesday, 4th December 2019

Two weeks ago, for our weekly IFP session, we discussed types of conflicts that could take place in UWCSEA east because of the misconceptions/ stereotypes hold by our school peers. I found the discussion really interesting, especially because some of the topic discussed were very dear to my heart. In particular, I found the case study about NC student and day-students perceptions about us as a way to learn for my self and for the others around me. I came up with an action plan that I think it would definitely help me the next time I will face a situation like that again.

Here is my action plan, enjoy :). Gilda