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Assignment
5: Reflections on Relationship between Various Class Projects for
This Quarter
By
the end of this quarter, our class will work on several different
projects with the children and teachers of Wilton Place Elementary School. These
projects include our weekly site visits to Wilton Place classrooms, a booklet of student writings
from the five classes of children, a tour of UCLA for the children,
and an end-of-the-term reception for the children and their parents
at Wilton Place.
In
most UCLA classes, it is easy to see assignments and projects separately. However, in this class it’s important for students
to see the relationship between these projects and to work with
children and teachers from this perspective.
For
this reflection journal, write about how you see the relationship
between the various projects in our class.
In other words, how will your work with the children on the
booklet connect with your weekly site visits and the end-of-the-term
reception? Similarly, how can you use the various projects
to help teachers and their ongoing work with kids on improving reading
and writing skills?
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Teamwork and Community Relationships
By Eriko Suzuki
In this class, there are several projects — UCLA
tour, the booklet, the reception—but considering them together,
each one has an important role and all of them are essential. And
all of projects are related. That
is to say, they emphaize “teamwork” and “community relationships.” These two themes are key words of this project.
First, teamwork is very important in many situations.
Without this, this project cannot be perfect
for both the kids and us. In
this case, teamwork means “among kid(s),” “between kid(s) and us
(college students),” and “among us.”
In addition, parents and teachers will also join with us
in part, and teamwork is crucial element to complete the booklet. I can say the same thing about the end-of-term
reception. Teamwork makes
the reception complete and enables people to have fun. As Glenn mentioned in the last class, the factors
of critical awareness and self-confidence are important for elementary
school students. These and
“teamwork” look contradictory, but the truth is that they are related
to each other. Through teamwork, kids can identify themselves objectively.
Also, they can gain confidence by writing for
the booklet and participating in other activities.
Here, let me talk about my personal experience
in terms of the importance of teamwork when I lived in Japan.
In junior high or high school
in Japan,
“team teaching” style has become popular. This means there are two teachers in one class,
and they teach together. The
most popular subject is English. Especially
in junior high school, there is a regular English teacher and an
ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) in one class. There
was an ALT when I was a student teacher, too. We
needed teamwork skills very much. The
more we promoted teamwork (cooperation), the more students understood
the class and had fun. As
we know, teaching something is very difficult. But
teamwork often facilitates teaching. Thus,
teamwork is very important for work and getting along with partners
or in neighborhoods. One of the goals of our project is that we will
help the kids obtain this teamwork skill. Of course, we can also gain it though the process
of this project.
Second is “community relationships.” We don’t have a chance to relate with kids usually.
In a way, school is one community.
But we have to know other
communities where there are different generations. The UCLA tour is a precious experience for kids
to know what college is. Also,
the other projects — the booklet and reception — are also very precious
experiences, not only for kids but also for their parents and us
to help the kids and community around them. I
want kids to know that there are many different communities, and
it is important for people to connect with a community actively
as a member within it. This connection makes the communities vivid.
I hope that our projects help to connect the
community, kids, parents, and us.
In conclusion, all our projects are related to
each other, and among them, “teamwork” and “community relationships”
are very important. By obtaining these skills, not only the kids
but also we college students can have a chance to recognize the
importance of cooperating in the community and society and can contribute
in some form. These projects —UCLA tour, booklet, and reception
— are very meaningful for us to improve teamwork skills and relate
to our community. Moreover,
all the projects require the understanding and trust of each other.
We have to let all people who join this project
know our goals and importance of “teamwork” and “community relationships.”
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