CAS group project

On the beginning of the year 2015 me and my two colleagues from IB course, Marta and Kinga, have started our CAS group project. We have decided to organise series of art classes for children from Guardian Angels' Charity.

First, we have met with tutors at Guardian Angels' Charity to discuss our propositions, to set the rules and to assign duties each of us would take care of. It was not the first time when I had to work in group, to exchange ideas and to cooperate, but no matter how often one works with others, it always is a challange. In different groups there are people with different personalities, views and attitudes; one has to adjust to them and not to create conflicts, but also one should not hesitate to express one's ideas with confidence and should be sure of one's value. During our meeting we managed to attain compromise, though at the beginning we had quite differing views on the project. As we talked, we understood each other and appreciated each others ideas, which resulted in general agreement and in coherent plan of action.

We have finally decided to organise 3 art classes, concerning techniques of origami (Kinga's classes), decoupage (Marta's) and quilling (my task); each of us also had to prepare conspectus of her lesson, rules which should be obeyed during classes and a poster encouraging kids to take part in our project.

It is essential for people working with children to set the rules indicating proper behaviour and containing punishments for not obeying them; on our classes we have used the system of yellow cards which had been already working in Guardian Angels' Charity, so children were familiar with it. For each forbidden behaviour we were to give yellow cards, and if any child had more than 2 yellow cards he/she could not participate in our classes and had to leave the room. Rules were really helpful in maintaining order, but to be honest, I was not able to punish participants for their behaviour. I am only 4-6 years older than these children, so I was not sure that they would respect me as a tutor and obey my comands. Also I was afraid I could exaggerate and overreact or do quite the opposite. Neither of us had any experience with that kind of situation, so workers from the charity were present at our classes to keep an eye on children and to evaluate our lessons.

Few days before the first classes I had asked Kinga to show me how to fold each figure she wanted to introduce to children. I was familiar with the technique, but not with these specific shapes so I had decided to practice them in advance, so I could help children to fold the paper properly. Decoupage was not a problem to me because I have been using this technique to decorate plenty of boxes, jars and vases during art classes while I was attending middle school. However, I had never used quilling before, so I had to learn this technique from scratch. During preparing my poster I had a chance to practice. I had started with shapes for the beginners and with each trial I had been and more confident in what I was doing. Then I had chosen the easiest, the prettiest and the most colourfull ones to decorate my poster. I have found out that quilling is really simple and produces attractive effects without much effort when using basic shapes.

My poster and a list of volunteers

When the day of origami classes had finally come I was really stressed out even though I was not the one to lead them. I was afraid I would not manage to help the children or I would seem not confident and not competent so they would not like the classes. When we started I could not help thinking how chaotic it all was; children were loud, sometimes not attentive, and were easily discouraged because the figure they folded was crooked or they could not fold something properly. Yet despite this we cooperated with children quite well. We managed to encourage them to keep trying untill they finally succeeded to fold the paper properly. After the end of the classes tutors from the charity evaluated our work and gave us hints for the future. We had heard that the classes were a complete success, that children loved them and that we have done well. I was surprised at what they were saying, because I kept in mind the memory of chaos I could not control; I thought that we had done very poorly. On hearing this, I came to a conclusion that I cannot control everything what will happen. On the following classes I had just kept in mind that these classes are also about having fun, and not keeping strictly to the programme. I was more relaxed and confident, especially when I had heard that children on seeing the poster announcing the next classes looked forward to it.

My classes were organised last, so I had more time to get experience and to prepare myself to the role of the tutor and the leader of the group. I was not as stressed as in the case of our very first classes. I was rather excited, because it finally was my turn to see if I can cope with the task. I have brought a great amount of colourfull straps of paper and ready versions of the shapes I was about to introduce as example for children. At the beginning it was difficult to me to focus on one person, because other children wanted my help or my opinion about their work immediately. But as the classes went on I have managed to pay attention to everyone, to be accessible, helpfull and encouraging. However, I still have to learn how to cope with naughty children; I am aware that I am not able to control them or to punish them if it is needed. Fortunately, there were not any children that behaved badly enough for receiving the warning or the punishment. I know that I could not cope with that kind of situation, and that is the area in which I would like to improve as a tutor. 

Kinga and I during quilling classes, helping children

I was happy to see that children enjoy the art classes and are eager to learn. Thanks to this kind of activities they develop, improve their skills and have fun at the same time. It especially developes their creativity and imagination as they try to come up with their own patterns to use during decoupage or try to arrange their own compositions of colourfull circles during quilling. It can also broaden their interest; maybe thanks to our classes some of the children felt passionate about origami and Japanese culture. It is important for kids to have a contact with plethora of different ideas, cultures, hobbies and activities, so that one day they can choose something to be passionate about, something that develops them, is challanging for them or just simply gives them joy.

Thanks to the CAS group project I have fulfilled some of the Learning Outcomes:
- Increased awareness of strengths annd areas for growth

- Undertaken new challanges

- Planned and initiated activities

- Worked collaboratively with others

- Shown perseverance and commitment

- Developed new skills