Camp Berea - End of The Activity Reflection

My plan for this activity can be summed up by the three goals I mentioned before.

I planned to experiment with the provided materials and try new things to make art. I hoped that this would help me become more creative. I wanted to learn how to use more materials so that by widening my experience, I would have more options when creating art in the future. And this is what I did. I experimented with string, hemp and marbles while making a monkey's fist. I used duct tape to make shoes, "memory wire" to make bracelets, and painted on slate. I also leaned gimp and rediscovered pipe cleaner animals. After using all these materials at camp, I will remember how they work and be able to use them in new projects. I think it will help me be more creative.

Another part of this goal was to think up three new projects. I ended up making (again) the pipe cleaner animals and also a bandanna hair thing. I didn't meet my goal of three crafts, but I don't feel bad about it. I think this goal was set a little bit high. I also discovered that I learned more about art and new materials by interacting with others. I learned that the campers and sometimes councilors had just as many ideas as I did. We worked together to create duct tape wallets, shoes, and flowers, paintings, a flag, sunglasses and beaded bracelets. By working with them, I was able to help them and also to learn from them. The activities we did were valuable to all of us. It benefited the campers, they ended up with creations they were proud of, and it benefited me, because I learned from them and became for experienced with art.

Because of all of this, I will be open to other people's ideas about art in the future. I will try to continue to learn from them because I learned so much from the kids at camp.

My second goal was to exercise leadership to become a better leader. I was definitely put in a leadership position. During quest, the girl I worked with and I would teach different tables, so it was just me and a bunch of campers. During free time I also had to teach kids how to do projects one on one. I was nervous at first, but it wasn't as hard as I had thought. I interacted with them as an authority figure I guess. They assumed that I was in charge, and I acted like it. They followed instructions and their projects came out well for the most part. I think that this shows that I exercised good leadership; they campers were able to follow my instructions to successfully complete the crafts. This was a valuable learning experience for me. Each quest, I gave better instructions and was a better leader because I strove to prevent mistake I'd made before.

Again, I think this goal was a little bit too high. The monkey's fists were extremely difficult. Many of the campers were unsuccessful not because I gave bad instructions or was a bad leader, but because the project was so difficult. Even so, I kept experimenting and practicing with the monkey's fists and each week, more and more kids were successfully completing them.

Another difficulty was the fact that I often had to teach kids that were the same age as me or older. This was a big "leadership challenge." I overcame this difficulty by treating the Sr. High campers the same way I treated the Jr. High ones. Not belittling them, but I continued to act like an authority, I didn't let them tell me what to do. I also acted confident and in charge. They were very respectful and I enjoyed having them at camp.

This activity taught me that I can be a leader and a teacher. I will use this knowledge to hopefully do more activities like this in the future.

My last and biggest goal was to make a difference in kid's lives. This was really the reason behind everything I did. My plan included acting cheerful even when I was extremely tired, working really hard with kids to complete projects I wasn't told how to do, continuing to practice with the monkey's fists even when they seemed impossible. I wanted to make kid's feel accomplished and confident and I wanted to teach them more about art. This is what I tried to do and I think I was successful. A lot of the time, if a kid came to the craft shop once, he would come again. The campers at the craft shop seemed happy too. I hope that this sense of accomplishment will carry over into the kids' everyday lives. I think that this was a really good goal. It taught me that sometimes, a goal can be difficult, but often the most difficult goals can be the best ones, the ones that have the most impact and make the most difference. I think changing someone's life for the better is worth any amount of effort it takes.

I felt good about this activity. It was a lot of work, but it was also very satisfying. I think I did well. I met most of my goals, even though they were very high. I got to interact with the campers as a teacher and leader, but I also learned a lot from them; they ended up teaching me. I thought the activity was great. It meant a lot to me and was worth all the work because I learned a lot about art and people and life. I think it benefited the campers by giving them a positive experience. I hope that this experience might effect their lives, that it would make them artists and make them feel confident and accomplished. Some of my goals were set too high, but I still think I did a good job with them. I would rather set goals too high than too low. I overcame difficulties in leadership and with craft projects. For example, I was put in charge of high schoolers and I had to teach monkey's fists. I learned a lot from this activity about art. I watched people use different materials such as duct tape, marbles and pipe cleaners and became more experienced in using these materials. This will help me do art in the future and gives me more opportunity for creativity. I learned about people, to take suggestions, that I can learn from the people I'm trying to teach, that I can be a leader and that appearance and organization are important (display case). I also learned about life, that it is so important to stay organized, to set goals high, and that sometimes the hardest things are the most worth it. I also met my learning outcomes. This activity was a new challenge and during it, I undertook many more challenges. Teaching crafts by myself, duct tape shoes and monkey's fists are some examples. I also planned two new crafts, the animals and bandanna hair things, and initiated quests every morning.

This activity not only met my two learning outcomes, but some of the others as well. In this activity, I often had to work together with others, especially the other girl who worked in the craft shop. This was a little bit hard for me, sometimes I just wanted to do everything myself, just to make sure it was done right. This experience reminded me that I really can't do everything myself, there is too much to do, I have to trust others to make good decisions and do a good job. I realized this, and everything went really well. The other craft shop girl and I got along great. We divided up the work, and together I think we did a really good job. I will remember this for the future.

July 24, Duct Tape Shoes

Today was my last day at camp, so I was trying to use the different lessons I have learned to make it the best day.
At the beginning of free time, a boy came up to me and told me he wanted to make shoes out of duct tape. Like the girl who wanted to paint a picture, this was a new idea. Because the painting had worked out so well, I went along with it. The craft shop was well organized, so I was easily able to find duct tape and some scrap pieces of cardboard. This again reinforced the importance of organization for me. I wasn't sure, but I thought the kid was in Sr. High and so were many other kids sitting at the table with us. Because everything went so well during Sr. High week, i wasn't bothered by being in charge of kids older than me. I was still confident and could keep control of the situation. I was able to help the boy making duct tape shoes, teaching him what I knew. Another boy at the table, who had made duct tape shoes before, kept giving us suggestions. Because listening to other people had helped me so much while I was making monkey's fists, I took his suggestions and he usually turned out to be right- it helped me a lot. Like with the pipe cleaner animals, I was working with new materials to create something different. Because the pipe cleaner animals had turned out well, I was confident that the shoes would also. I was also reminded of how important it is for the crafts to be useful. Just like the girls who enjoyed making bracelets during quest because they could wear them, I think the boy who wanted to make duct tape shoes liked the shoes because he could wear them. This is a really important lesson when choosing crafts for kids to do, and I will try to apply it again in the future. Lastly, after we had completed the shoes, I made sure to clean up well and put everything back where it belonged. Organization had proved to be very important again and again.
The shoes also helped me complete my goals and one of my learning objectives. I experimented with new materials, which I hope made me more creative. I think I did a good job leading the camper through the activity, showing him what I knew. The project was very successful; the shoes turned out great. The camper even came back later to thank me and show them to me again he like them so much. I think this also helped the camper feel accomplished and confident and learn more about art. I hope this confidence and knowledge will help him in his everyday life. The shoes were a new challenge, testing me in creativity and leadership. I'd never made duct tape shoes before, and I had to figure it out and teach the craft while being in charge of someone about the same age as me.
I think this whole experience will be very useful to me in the future. Today I discovered that each of the lessons I have learned are really good to know and will continue to help me if I continue to apply them. So, this experience not only reinforced the lesson I had learned before, and completed my goals, but taught me a new lesson: that I should always apply what I learn. In the future I will try to do this.

July 13, High School Kids

This week I have a new challenge while initiating activities at quest, exercising leadership and trying to provide a good setting. This week is Sr. High camp. I mean, yeah, there were high schoolers last week, but not very many, it was mostly Jr. high. This week the majority of the campers will be the same age as me or older. This is a big challenge, especially because the other girl working at the craft shop with me is also 16. Today I was really nervous for quest, and also for free time (when the campers can come back to the craft shop and make anything from the display case if they want). I decided to respond to this new challenge by not telling anyone my age, and just acting confident and in charge. It worked. I discovered that the kids were very well behaved anyway and just assumed that I was their authority. They didn't try to take advantage of my age and did what I told them to do. Maybe they were just a good group of kids, but I was really surprised at how well everything went. Through this experience, I was able to exercise leadership in a new way. I think this will help me to become a better leader. Next time I am teaching a group of high schoolers, next quest I guess, I will continue to act confident and in charge. I think the campers also liked their projects. They seemed to feel confident and accomplished while learning more about art because their projects turned out well. I think this shows that I did a good job of leading the campers in their projects and I hope that that these positive effects will carry over into their everyday lives.

July 7, The Display Case

Last week was Jr. High camp. It didn't take to much to entertain the kids and it was raining all week, so craft shop was one of their only options. We had tons of kids everyday. This week though, the kids are a little older (Jr. and Sr. High) and the weather is better, so we have to try harder to get the kids interested in making crafts. I figured one improvement we could make was on the display case. It was messy and crowded and hard to tell what crafts we had. To fix this, I repainted it, which made it and the crafts look better, and wrote an organized list of the crafts available. I think this made a difference. The campers started asking for crafts no one had bought before. This showed me again how important organization is. When the campers could read through an organized list of crafts, they were able to see their options better and were more inclined to try new things. I think repainting the display case also made the crafts more attractive. When the crafts looked good, more campers wanted to make them. I think this whole experience helped me with my learning objective to undertake a new challenge. I had never had to sell stuff like that before. The challenge was to get kids to want to make crafts at the craft shop. I responded by organizing a list of the crafts and it helped. This was a good learning experience for me and I will try to stay organized in the future.