To begin this week’s entry, I’d like to quote an excerpt of Closing Time, by Semisonic — “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end”.  That line pretty much sums up what I felt going through this week.  Endings always feel somewhat bittersweet; looking forward helps lessen the sting a bit, but sometimes, I like to look back, relive, and reminisce.  And we shall begin that process with this post!

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Our initial plan for this week was to put together a resource package filled to the brim with art, music, and drama resources.  Of course, this plan sounded like it would tide us over until the very end… well, let’s take a look at what we accomplished aside from that goal:

• Volunteer as an above-ratio staff at one of the Neighbourhood House-run Out of School Care centres from Monday to Thursday
• Submit a good draft, professional version of the workshops we designed for the SHIFT initiative
• Help with food prep for the Volunteer Appreciation Day event hosted by the Neighbourhood House on Friday

Our supervisor’s relaxed and detached management strategy helped my colleague and me settle into a natural rhythm and as a result ended up much more relaxed and productive than if we were assigned specific tasks with performance criteria and deadlines.  I think this might make another intriguing inquiry topic — applications of “choice” to assignment design to increase student engagement as well as the quality of their work.  The Social Studies and Science projects I designed for my units during my practicum showed me a shadow of a response.  It only seems natural, since children are growing up in an interconnected and easily accessible society that bombards them constantly with multiple stimuli, each offering choices that compete for limited resources (time, energy, even patience!).

Volunteering at the Neighbourhood House was an eye-opening experience.  I particularly appreciated the opportunity to work together with a colleague from a different cohort.  Granted, we could have easily chosen to work by ourselves on different projects (we had plenty to choose from) — as luck would have it, my colleague and I got along quite well, we interested in similar things, and both wanted to work together.  Hopefully other students going through the CFE experience benefit from a synergistic partnership!

Also, I found the pacing to be rather nice — I am very thankful that the CFE experience came after our extended practica, as I cannot begin to imagine how enjoyable it would have been otherwise.  Furthermore, the experience felt richer with the trials and tribulations of the extended practicum under my belt — I can definitely say that it informed every aspect of my endeavours as a volunteer!

Finally, I am happy to share that the Neighbourhood House is staffed by a team of diligent, hard-working, talented, and appreciative individuals.  They’ve helped my colleague and I felt right at home, inviting us into their world, treating us like human beings as opposed to being a cog in the big machine.  With the dozens of projects happening simultaneously throughout the centre, it would be very easy to think that!  All the children we’ve worked with are very appreciative of the staff and volunteers — it was very reassuring to see that students, while easily distracted and often engaged in their own interest, are still able to take a break to offer a heartfelt “thank-you”.  Let’s hope we can keep that alive for a while longer yet!