Our school had organized service sessions in which they invited unprivileged children from government schools and different rural areas and we had to teach them some activities. The activities were art, craft, football, basketball, cooking, and volleyball.  Among these activities, I believed that I was good at arts so I chose arts. I was made the team incharge so I along with the team had to plan the activities for children. We had to take these sessions for three consecutive weekends so we planned the syllabus accordingly that the students not only learn what we teach them but also enjoy the time spent with us. The plan had doodling, shapes, making objects with two or more shapes, scenery, introduction to painting and stone painting.

The learning outcomes that I achieved through this are :

Learning Outcome 1 ( Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth): Through this activity, I identified that I am good at teaching children. Also, the activity I chose was arts and drawing is something which I like a lot so teaching the children what I like helped me make a connection with the kids.

Where I lacked was handling the children. This was the first time when I had to manage so many children at the same time so that was something I worked on. But as the sessions passed I understood that it was important to for me to work on this so that the children feel comfortable with us. So I took an initiative by talking to them, listening what they wanted to say and also by making them play some games which made them feel comfortable.

Through this activity, I got to identify some of my strengths and weaknesses and also I realized this is important because it helps you to know more about yourself and to work upon the areas you lack.

Learning Outcome 2 ( Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process): The most challenging thing here for me was two things. First was making the plan along with the team about how we will plan the activities for these sessions, how we will have to divide the time and what will the students be able to do. I am not a commanding kind of person and also I have never been in a situation like this so controlling so many children at the same time so that turned out to be a tough task for me. But with the team’s cooperation, we were able to handle the situation.

Another thing that was challenging for me was the language. Most of the children who came only knew the Gujarati language whereas I understand the language but I didn’t know how to speak the language. For this, I had to take the help of my team members but gradually I tried my best to manage so that I could converse with them properly and they understand what I mean.

Being a leader helps you understand what challenges actually are and how to undertake them and also that developing new skills help you prepare yourself for the future and deal with the situations efficiently.

Learning Outcome 3 ( Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience): We had to make the plan for what we were going to teach them and in which session. We divided the plan according to children of two age groups. The first group had children from 7-10 years of age and the other from 11-15. Making the plan was a tough task, especially for me because we had to think and make the plan according to the capability of the children.

Also, there were some clashes in the viewpoints of the team members also so we had to understand everything and then finalize the plan . The planning was the tougher thing whereas initiation was quite easier for us. Through this activity I learned that planning is essential before the start of any activity, it makes a person more organized and prevents any kind of trouble in the future.

Learning Outcome 4 ( Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experience ) : This activity involved a lot of commitment because we had to come for these sessions on three consecutive weekends so I had to  reschedule my studies which were to be done on the time of the sessions which I did not like in the beginning but once you enter the room and see those beautiful smiles of the children the rescheduling turns out to be worth it .

Also, perseverance is something which I was not really good at but through this activity I have become lot  more perseverant because during the sessions the children used to forget what they did last time and there were some children who used to come for one session and did not come for the next saying that they want to go for some other activity so every session we used to have some children so we had to teach them from the beginning and we also had to make sure that they understand everything . So this activity made me understand that commitment and perseverance is the main key to make something successful.

Learning Outcome 5 ( Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively): We worked in a team of 8 people where in the beginning we had to make a plan of how and what we will teach the children. We divided the plan into 2 categories , the first one for the children of 7-10 years of age and the second for the children of 11-16 years of age so during the planning we had some conflicts among our group but I being the incharge tried to understand the viewpoints of every member and then we finalised a plan to which everyone agreed .

During the session, every member was given 4-5 kids and the member had to look upon that how were the kids doing the work given and had to help them. Working in a team has never been a difficult task for me because team allows the workload to be shared and with more people in the task, the work is done fast and efficiently.

Learning Outcome 6 ( Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance): The issue in this activity was the lack of education and opportunities for the children. Through this activity, I got to contribute my part in eradicating this issue. During the sessions I met some kids who were really good with arts but were not knowing much about it because of their backgrounds, they were not able to identify their talent and make full use of it. During this we made sure that the children were appreciated and encouraged, we also gave them some stationary items at the end of the session so that they can work upon their talent.

Now after the activity I feel that this is a very important issue which needs to be improved and the children should be given better opportunities.

Learning Outcome 7 ( Recognize the ethics and consider the ethics of choices and actions): During this activity, we had to be very careful about how we talk to the children and how we behave with them. The children came from a lower stratum and not very educated backgrounds so we had to ensure that we as a team do not hurt them through any of our actions. We had to be humble with them and it was our responsibility to make them feel equal to us. Our team took care of this aspect and ensured that none of our members was impolite or uncooperative.

The IB learner profiles that I acquired through this activity are Caring – because we had to look after the children, Communicators – we had to converse with them and understand their say, Open Minded – we had to understand the children’s background and act accordingly and Balanced – because I had to reschedule my studies for the studies and manage the time .

This experience is something which I will cherish forever because it made me realize that ‘Only a life lived in the service to others is worth living’.