Post-Reflection (Delta Senior School)

Introduction

The service learning project took place over the course of October to November, with most of the time spent planning the project. There were 2 main days where I interacted with the DSS students, the 25th of October when I visited their school, and the 17th of November when they visited NP. On the 25th of October when I visited DSS, only half of the students from NP and half of the students from DSS were present. This is because the visiting was split into 2 different days presumably because there was not enough space in the DSS classroom which only catered to about 15 students. When the DSS students visited us, all of them were present and their mentors, us, were all there to guide them through the activities we had planned. The teachers from both schools were also present to facilitate the project but had minimal interactions as they wanted us to take charge.

On the day that I visited DSS, we were greeted by a teacher who introduced us to the school and took us around for a school tour. The school consisted of facilities such as a hotel room, a minimart, and even a clothing store which was sponsored by UNIQLO. The facilities were all meant for the students to simulate what it would be like to work in the real world. After that, we were brought into a classroom where we met the DSS students for the first time and were assigned partners to mentor. Me and my 2 other friends were assigned to Dennis. Dennis is a cheerful guy who is enthusiastic about learning and would always answer the teacher’s questions. We were then tasked to assist the students while they carried out activities such as simple programming and designing posters.

On the day where the DSS students visited NP, we welcomed them cheerfully and brought them to our school building. We started off the day by serving them breakfast, which was important as I volunteered to be one of the food servers. I was responsible for gathering the students and forming the queue to ensure that they would all get their food quickly. I also took the initiative to bring more chairs out from the classrooms so that the students could seat while eating. After eating, we proceeded to the classrooms where we carried out the main activity of the day, teaching the DSS students how to edit a video. There were a few of my classmates who were in charge of teaching the steps to the entire class, while the rest of us guided our partners through the steps individually.

During both days where we interacted with the DSS students, I didn’t notice anyone in particular who was not doing their work or slacking off. I felt that all my classmates were interacting and helping to guide the students as best as we could. At the end of the day, I felt that it was a successful project and am proud of what we managed to accomplish especially the workshop leaders who took charge and planned the programme out.

Academic Learning

The skills which were required to teach the DSS students were mainly IT knowledge. Firstly, while in DSS, we had to teach students a simple programming language, Scratch. Scratch is a visual programming language which helps to explain the basics of programming as engagingly as possible. Using the programming knowledge which I had acquired during my course of study such as Python and C#, I was able to quickly understand how scratch worked even though I had no experience with it. The next instance where my IT knowledge came into use was when the DSS students came to NP and had to learn how to edit videos. The software which was used to teach the students was Adobe Spark, another software which I was unfamiliar with. However, being from the School of ICT has made me tech savvy and during the preparation and planning I was able to research on the features and functions of Adobe Spark and apply it on the day itself. Other skills included picture editing skills for when the students had to create a poster, and communication when serving the food and teaching which I am very familiar with through the countless group projects I have completed in NP.

In conclusion, I feel that the students were all able to develop a new skill in video editing and maybe even a newfound interest. I am confident that they had acquired the video editing knowledge, for Dennis at least, and Idil, who I assisted as he only had one mentor at the time, as they were able carry out the steps required to insert content into the video after teaching them the steps for a few times. This meant that they understood the foundation and could continue on their own after being taught in the beginning. Thus, on a scale of 1 to 10, I felt that I have applied the skills relevant to the service an 8 out of 10. This is because although I was able to successfully carry out the project with my existing skills, I felt that there was more which I could have done, but due to the limited time, we could only teach the DSS students so much.

Personal Growth

I felt a sense of happiness throughout the entire experience. Although it was time consuming and we had to take time out of our personal schedules, seeing the smiles on their faces were worth it. Before the project started, I was unsure about it when I was informed that we will be helping people with special needs, I thought that I would lose my patience teaching them because they would be “weird”. However, during and after the project, I realised that they are just normal people like us who think differently and need a little more time to understand.

From this experience, I learnt that we should be grateful for what we have in life and how privileged I am. Seeing the students from DSS who were not as fortunate in their lives to be seen as “normal” made me appreciate that I am not discriminated like they are. I have seen cases where people would laugh and mock at special needs students just because they are not “normal”, and I am also guilty of that in the past. However, despite all that, the DSS students I saw were all very happy and grateful for what they have regardless of life’s circumstances. They were very excited that we took the time to understand and help them even though it was just a few days. They did not complain about the slow internet during the video editing activity and were patient, which is another value I have learnt from them. Therefore, I am not only grateful for this opportunity to interact with these students which has allowed me to change my views on them but also the views on my life and how I should be grateful of what I have and stop comparing myself to others.

Gratitude is being thankful and showing appreciation for what you have. I learnt it from the DSS students as mentioned earlier, they were contented with their lives and were grateful to be able to learn despite the slow connection. I can apply gratitude to my own life in many ways. In my family, I will be more grateful to my parents for all the hard work they do everyday just to raise me and my siblings without ever complaining. Although my siblings may be annoying at times, I will be grateful for them always being there for me. As for my friends, I am grateful for them to help me throughout my life struggles, whether it be studies or just everyday problems which I may encounter. I will stop comparing myself to my siblings or friends as I admit that I get jealous easily, and just be happy with what I have or have achieved as I have a choice to not be jealous but just be grateful.

Ngee Ann Polytechnic does a great job of teaching us to be grateful to our lecturers. NP gives out School Teaching Awards, where students can show appreciation for their lecturers/tutors by nominating them for the award. I have personally participated in the awards by nominating a teacher in Semester 1 whom has helped me greatly in transitioning to post-secondary life and spark my interest in the module, EIS. I did not realise how great of a lecturer she was if not for the School Teaching Awards, where I nominated her in Semester 4, only then was I able to recall and appreciate the impact she has had on me as a freshman entering a new environment. However, I feel that NP should have a similar award for students, where we can vote for our peers who have made an impact on our lives. I realised the impact that our friends have on us when I went for an OIP trip recently where we had to write thoughts on our groupmates at the end of the trip. Writing that reflection really made me value the time I had spent with them and made the trip much more memorable.

Civic Learning

From the service learning project, I have learnt that no matter how different we may appear, at the end of the day we are all the same, and we should help one another improve our lives. We all have our part to play as a society and helping others through education like during this service learning journey or other means is important to succeed together. As the saying goes, “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link”. Although the DSS students were different from “normal” people, I have come to understand that we should appreciate them for who they are and that way we can also appreciate ourselves and create a better society for all.

Delta Senior School exists to provide education to students who have mild intellectual disabilities. It gives them an environment where they can be given more attention and understanding to learn better. Without Delta Senior School, which enables people with special needs to be part of an inclusive society, the students would become outcasts as they would not be able to cope with the high standard of education in Singapore. Something which I would like to know more about Delta Senior School is how I can continue to support them even after the service learning project. I feel that I can relate to them better than with the elderly as they are the same age as me and I can empathise with them. After some research, I found out that on Delta Senior School’s webpage, they provide information on how to volunteer and donate to the school, which was great news.

Delta Senior School is just one of many Special Education Schools in Singapore run by the government. The differences between other special education schools would be the type of disabilities they cater to, but they are all set up to provide education to Singapore’s citizens regardless of their background or conditions. At the moment, I do not see any disadvantages to these types of schools and am grateful that I am a part of this society which cares about everyone. In conclusion, I feel that the Singapore Government is doing an excellent job by not discriminating people but creating an inclusive society where everyone is given an opportunity to succeed, and we as individuals should do the same and not exclude others just because they are different.

Articulate Learning

As a result of completing this reflection, I learned that I am not grateful with what I have in life as I always compare myself to others and get impatient at times. This negatively impacts my life as I become less happy and complain more when there is no reason to. I need to learn to be more grateful and appreciate myself and others around me, which will result in me not affecting the people around me because of my negativity.

I learned this when I was interacting with the students from Delta Senior School. They were all carefree and happy despite the circumstances they are in, with their disabilities. They would always interact with us smiling and also amongst each other and the teachers. They didn’t care that they were not “normal” but just accepted who they were and appreciated their lives. For example, during the video editing tutorial, the internet connection was slow especially when uploading video clips into the video. Despite the technical difficulties, the students still had a smile on their faces and were grateful for the opportunity to learn something new. If I had such a slow internet connection at home, I would probably get angry and take it out on my parents.

This learning matters because being ungrateful will impact my emotions and more importantly my interactions with others. For example, when I was younger, my parents used to limit the time I had on the PC and I would cry and throw tantrums at them when they cut off the connection. When I grew older, I would even leave the house when they restricted me from the PC. However, I now understand that this only brought sadness to my parents seeing that I was angry at them and probably caused them to worry when I would leave. On the other hand, there are also many examples where I showed gratitude towards my parents for helping me through tough times and even just saying “thank you” and “I love you” would make not only my parents feel happy but myself too. Thus, learning to be grateful even for the smallest things in life will not only benefit me but my relationships with others too even if I didn’t realise it in the past; this service learning project has made me more aware of how gratitude can impact my life positively.

In light of this learning, in the future I will learn to be more grateful in my life and hopefully in the long term teach others to be grateful too. Starting from today onwards, I will try my best to show my appreciation for even the smallest of things. For example, when the auntie at the canteen clears my plate or when someone holds the lift for me, I will thank them with a smile. I might not know but I might make someone’s day and all I had to do was a show a little gratitude. As for the long term, I will remind my friends to be more grateful for the things that we have. Despite the stress and the little time we have, I will prove to them that being grateful is not difficult at all, and it might even help them to become less stressed by taking the time to slow down and appreciate the things we take for granted. Thus, I believe that learning to be grateful will improve lives and create a better society and world for everyone to live in.