CIVIC RESPONSIBILITIES
I learned that the most of the student population that our group took were from lower income families where they receive grants from the government for their student care fees as well as school fees. Even though our three sessions of implementation did not revolve around the students’ financial needs as well as their family background, as a psychology student, I could not help but take notice of them.
I learned the importance of family relations as well as financial power when one of the student casually said that he comes to the student care corner right after school and only goes home late in the evening, as there was no one at home to take care of him. This got me thinking as it shows that students from such background are usually left alone at home or at the student care corner as both parents have to work to support the family. As such, the parents might not have the time to discipline their children whenever they display an undesirable behaviour. Therefore, the students could have troubles controlling their impulses as the idea of managing ones’ impulses was not reinforced to them as a child before entering upper primary.
This learning of understanding what impulse control is matters because the students will then be able to display less disruptive behaviours. A solution that I can do to help create awareness of impulse control to such students is to volunteer at more student care corners targeting similar student population. This is so I am able to instil the importance of what impulse control is and maybe plan activities that help the students learn about this topic which might not be taught at home or in school.
In light of this learning, in the future I will definitely try to give my time to guide students of such background in understanding the pros of learning self-control through volunteering platforms.
PERSONAL GROWTH
I learned that I could take up more initiative and responsibilities within my group. Being in a group with members that I was not familiar with, we were unclear of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, none of us really stepped up to lead group discussions, hindering the progress of the group project. If I were to step up and take the initiative and responsibility to lead the group in setting expectations and the ground rules, our group could have been even more productive than it actually was.
I learned that taking responsibility brings forth a multitude of beneficial outcomes when I decided to step out of my comfort zone. When it was nearing the end of the implementation, I decided to step up more and lead the group as well as the students we were taking. During celebration, I was able to facilitate games on the spot instead of waiting for another group member to start. Initially, it was nerve wrecking as I was afraid that the students and group members would disapprove of my ideas. However, everything turned out well and everyone participated actively in all of my suggested activities.
This learning of taking the initiative matters because it will not only put lesser burden on my group members who have been constantly proactive, but also allow me to gain experience in stepping up. Moreover, taking responsibility in group projects will make me a more effective member by carrying out tasks without prior instructions. It could also help strengthen the bonds between the members of the group as we would have more faith in each other, trusting that we each do our appointed task without constant reminders.
In light of this learning, in the future I will definitely start being proactive so that my group members will trust me in doing important tasks. By doing so, we would have a steady progress for our projects and meet our deadlines on time. The students we are targeting will also benefit from this as they will get to interact with more facilitators, and possible play a variety of games suggested by others.