Overall Reflection
Current or Emerging Childhood Issues
One issue that was really popping to me was parental involvement. Singapore is a very fast paced society, encouraging both parents to work. Based on what I have observed, usually the grandparents and helpers are the main caregivers. Through the Capstone Project, I read the 2017 NIEC Early childhood Commentary on learning and education, emphasizing the need for parents being involved. And hence, my team and I crafted the idea of help parents reinforce the curriculum
Learning points from Interview and Feedback
First, one thing I learnt was that there is no perfect school. Every school has their flaws, prestigious or not. Through the interview, I saw that an enriching place for does not reflect parental reinforcement. This taught me to never be complacent and strive to improve.
Second, I learnt how important simplicity and security must go hand in hand. Our teacher had feedback how good our idea is but how unsafe it was. That was eye-opening and we had forgotten about security. It has taught me that when planning, I need to consider every aspect before finalising to create the best event for children.
Organisational Skills
Through this project, I had picked up the strategy of a timeline and task checklist that was very useful when doing the assignments. Due to packed schedule filled with assignments, I decided to try out the timeline strategy that Ms. Eunice heavily encouraged to all students. I took the time to plan out all the important events and slowly but surely, allowed me and my team to have a clearer idea of what we must do and when we must complete them. It also made delegating work easier as well. I feel that this timeline and checklist strategy would be increasingly pivotal as I join the industry, as I must juggle between curriculum planning, curriculum execution and possible school events such as workshops and parent sessions.
Communication Skills
This project taught me to be more receptive to other opinions. As a person that has very strong opinions, I learnt how important being receptive is. Whenever we did work together, I would strongly advocate for my own strategies. After a heated debate on strategies, I requested that they shared their strategies. What they shared surprised me and made me humble myself and listen. It also helped improve our synergy with one another. Debates became discussions, and feedback became effective in creating solutions. We were always adding and improving on each other’s suggestions, providing an answer all of us agreed upon. This receptiveness also allowed me to help refine my teammates, such as the bible verse “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend”.
In the industry, I will be working with a team and not alone. In order to create the most effective curriculum, I need to be able to understand and work together with my teammates. I also need to understand their situations and interests, allowing us to build rapport with one another and create an effective learning environment.
Problem-solving Skills
Through the project, I learn the importance of goal setting and objectivity. As we really had to work with so many perspectives of different parties, it was easy to become subjective when approaching the assignments. Hence our team had to create clear goals to ensure we don’t go off track. Once I suggested an entirely new theme due to the interview and my team commented that it was not appropriate as I took the perspective of parents alone and not considered the teacher’s perspective. Hence, we had set the goals of 1: Our strategy must accommodate to all parties, 2: It must not hinder the main framework of the school as much as possible, 3: if possible, work with what the school already created. Through this goal setting and objectivity, we crafted the Framework for the E-workshop as we 1) Accommodated for everyone 2) Does not hinder the framework to a large extent 3) Worked with what was already in place.
In the future, I will one day work in one of those perspectives instead of being a third party, making it even more challenging to be objective. Hence, I must set goals to ensure equity between all parties that will ultimately benefit the child in all aspects.
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