Our school invited some students to our school. They came from  inferior backgrounds than us. The objective was to help them and share the knowledge that we have gained, which they might use in their life, and this was called “Service Session.” Here, we had to teach the students things which might help them later in life. I chose to help them with Drawing and Painting as apart from the science diagrams that students have to draw, this instills a sense of calmness in the painter’s mind. Colors are fun to play with especially to young kids, and this could be a way to win bread without having any formal education, just practice all you need! With this aim I started to teach what I knew about drawing and painting and this is what I learned in the process:

LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

My strength is Drawing and Painting. I have been learning and practicing it for years and this put me in a better position to teach. I was confident in delivering what I wished to as I knew there is very little chance I could go wrong. Also the smiles and nods from the students helped, I knew they were liking it. An area for growth could be communication. I was able to deliver the content but not make a connect that I share with some of my teachers who inspire me. I think this is because of my introverted way of being but I intend to work on this.

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Engaging with the students and talking to them intimidated me. As said earlier, I am not a social person and it is not ‘me” to go and strike up a conversation with anyone. Moreover, The students, too, were quiet and responded only if asked to. This was a challenging part for me, getting them to talk. To overcome this challenge, I just observed how other people accompanying me did it. I looked at how they got their students to talk, and then I started to ask similar questions and it worked! I think these skills are very important in real life as we do live in society, and I am trying to develop these skills and this was definitely and advancement in the same.

LO5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Working in teams is not at all easy for me. I prefer working alone and I feel it works best for me. During this activity, it was a bit easier for me to work in team because my team consisted art lovers and the tyranny of “What do I talk about?” was absent. Also, I had encounters with them a couple times before as we share the same V.A. room. Also, with blessings of other CAS activities which forced me to work in teams, I have developed these skills a bit, so it was not as difficult as it used to be. Working in teams is becoming very important in today’s times as to thrive in a global world, even an talented individual can’t win against a group of talented individuals and therefore I am happy that I am developing these skills.

LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

The students who visited were very gullible and would learn whatever we teach them. So, it was our responsibility that we teach them to do things right way and effectively. It was also upon us to make sure we made effective use of their time as these sessions were very limited and 12 hours is all we had to teach them something they felt confident in implementing. It felt good to have a positive impact on a part of someone’s life and therefore I ensured these lessons were worthwhile.

Service Session was a lot of fun and I did pick up a few skills on these session and helped few fellows too. It was a good experience.