LO1, LO2 & LO5

When we got back from our term 2 break, the COVID-19 virus outbreak meant that the kids will have to wait until a few months until they’re allowed to visit us again. During this time, we were able to evaluate on what we have done so far, and plan ahead on what we can improve on.

This past season allowed me to reflect on my strengths and areas of improvements in this service. I noticed an increase in my awareness of the kids’ attention span – as I worked with them more, I was able to adapt to their short attention spans to keep them engaged and still develop new skills. A lot of us had trouble keeping their attention on us while we provided instructions, however through this challenge (which I also faced) I was able to notice a strength which I expressed – I am quite strong in communicating with young children efficiently, especially as my patience improved when working with these kids. The way I communicate with young children is something which I believe I am naturally good; I believe having experience with my younger cousins also helped me develop good communication skills with children around that age group. For me, a key strength is also in balancing out discipline and freedom – I noticed that between my peers, I tend to be a little more strict. I think this is an important skill because I do have an interest in being a teacher, and working well with different age group is an important skill to learn. Patience is also important as it helps with challenges in the future, since it helps with perseverance.

It was a collective challenge for all of us to stay in control with these kids and managing our sessions – it was easy to be influenced by the kids and let them do their favourite activities because we wanted to keep them happy and engaged. That’s why in the future we need to stick over our plans and not go with the flow on the day. I think another challenge I faced was being creative and challenging with our planning – we tend to stick with the same activities because it was easier to do something the kids already knew, than to reteach a new concept. What we can do instead in the future is we should plan out a new activity each week, followed by activities which the kids are comfortable with and enjoys as a reward. Perhaps that could increase their engagement and motivation to challenge themselves.

Another challenge I am facing right now is the lack of communication within our group – I definitely need to be more attentive in the planning stages, but I have been improving in my listening skills recently; hopefully by working on my attentiveness, I see an improvement in communication.

At the end of the day, seeing the joy in these kids is what motivates me the most in this service.