Week eleven 23/6/20

23/6/20

We were to present our findings and analysis of the articles that we’d chosen.

Source: Vecteezy

Playground is an uncovered school
The need to instil play through school. The importance of education or academics can be instilled in the CCAs as ways for the students to not only have fun but also to learn. The purpose of this study was to stress on the importance of developing a holistic individual among students.

Effect of CCA on development of social skills and children with intellectual disability 
Specialise CCAs for certain groups of people. Despite the awareness present in society, special needs students are still very much kept in the dark or forgotten as they were considered as “difficult”. The need of CCAs are meant to provide opportunities to everyone who are different.

CCAs and it’s effect on social skills

Source: Verywell Family

Concept paper, there is a need to implement CCAs as means to improve interpersonal relationships of students. The purpose of CCAs can also enrich the students’ lifestyle and talent. The skills which CCAs can cultivate includes: relationships, collaboration, teamwork, proactive to change, communication, conflict management and leadership. There were also negative impacts of CCAs which may cause an imbalance in the students’ lifestyle causing them to be unable to properly manage time as well as to neglect academics.

Promoting students’ interest in learning English through CCAs
Increase the use of CCAs with English. The importance of English collides with the lack of priority by some schools hence the purpose of this research. As an attempt to install the use of English, a number of English- related CCAs were proposed which included: Reading club, weekly lecture, wall-poster presentation, student seminar and discussion groups. Despite the positive reception the intervention received, the research still had validait and reliability issues which the data collection method was limited to 1.

Impact of CCAs on personality development of secondary school
It studies the need of CCAs which will influence a student’s personality. Despite the clear message that the study was trying to prove which was the importance of CCAs in schools, there was bias present in the research as the demographics of the participants as well as the CCAs chosen were very male-centred which destroyed the purpose of the research and also affected the validity and reliability of the study. Not only that, the data collection methods were not reliable as it was only required for the participants to answer a questionnaire.

30/6/ 20

We discussed with each other about the completion of the video. We have finished the contents and are currently at the last stages of editing.

Week nine 9/6/20

9/6/20

It was an activity based lesson on the 2nd June. But the lesson was mainly about incorporating CCAs with curriculum. The purpose is to ensure that the students understand the purpose of learning these subjects taught in school. This is to also to make them value and to be able to link their knowledge to the real world.

Issues related to CCAs

Source: Network World.com

Time

There are occasions where certain activities of the CCAs couldn’t be executed due to time constraints  for example, martial arts or skill-based CCAs require extra time for the students to master and completing such skills within an hour or two may not be easily achieved.

Logistics

Due to the different natures of the CCAs, it can be challenging when executing certain activities due to the lack of resources or the suitability of the environment which may affect student morale.

Student safety

blaineschools.org

There are activities that require risk-taking and sometimes, students may get overexcited by them leading them to be slightly difficult to manage, there are also cases where the parents over-sheltering their children and they don’t agree with the type of activities planned by the CCAs even though some are essential or the backbone of the CCAs.  

Resources

There may be lack of funds or qualified professionals to manage the CCAs and this may lose the quality of the CCAs and student morale.

Policies 

The school has to find CCAs that have to be aligned to their policies and aims. There are times where they may affect the interests of the students, the flow of the CCAs and even consistency of the school aims and CCAs.

Source: Audiophile News & Music Review

Opinions

Different schools have different aims, parents also have diverging perspectives towards CCAs, academics are usually prioritised by most Asian families leading them to be ignorant, indifferent or even dismissive of their children’s CCA achievements.

Community

There may be some friction or lack of communication between aphte school and the parents which may interfere with the execution and quality of the CCAs.

Source: Pinterest

Culture

When planning CCAs, the school also has to take their student and teacher demographics in consideration as different there may be certain activities that are not suitable for them due to culture or religious reasons.

Continuity

While budget is one of the major factors that can affect the quality of the CCAs, continuity can affect the CCAs when qualified resources, school management and student interest may affect them.

16/6/20

Assignment 1 presentation

There were 4 schools involved in this presentation:

1. Pine Hills International School
2. Taylor's International School Puchong
3. Taylor's International School Kuala Lumpur
4. Fairview International School 

Each international school has its unique way of organising its CCAs. Some schools do prioritise their image and others prioritise their students' wellbeing.

What I found out from this session was that there are some similarities and differences between the aims and visions of the schools but in the end their goal is to cultivate their students to become successful individuals for the future. One of the most prominent feature that almost all schools have is to become a holistic individual which is based on the philosophy of essentialism, just like the purpose of CCAs, they are to ensure that each student has some form of balanced skills and knowledge in order for them to survive and adapt to the ever changing world. 

Week seven 26/5/20

26/5/20

Challenges in managing and organising CCAs

The term “co-curricular activities” means that the activities must at least be able to co-exist with the main academics such as the topics, lessons taught in normal school hours. This is to ensure that the students know and understand the purpose of learning these subjects in school.

School
When selecting CCAs, the school must ensure that they are aligned to their curriculum design. When that is achieved, the school also has to consider whether they have adequate resources such as funds or even the qualifications of the teachers who will be acting as advisors in the CCAs. Not only that, they also have to ensure whether there are enough staff or teachers to man the CCAs. This often times happen in public schools where they rely on the funds set by the school or the parents to ensure the quality and the quantity of the facilities of equipment of the CCAs.

Ways to overcome:
Determine whether the CCAs are achievable by student standards, such as if the CCAs will cause more workload to the students’ schedule. The school can also shut down CCAs that are not active. Professionals and alumni can also contribute to the quality of the CCAs.



Teachers
Due to the workload, the teachers also face difficulties in time management as they not only have to create lesson plans, mark student homework, but also to manage CCAs. This will cause the quality drop in the CCAs and will affect student morale. Another major factor that contributes to this challenge is that some teachers may not have the necessary skills and experience to manage the CCAs.

Ways to overcome:
Teachers can plan the schedule of both CCAs and their timetables to ensure the activities go smoothly. Discuss the budget the with school. Teachers can also seek help or receive training for the necessary skills to contribute to the morale of the CCAs.



Students
Students may experience stresses from school work and CCAs, this will cause them to not only unable to properly manage their time, but it will also demotivate their interest in school. Another reason is due to that they don’t feel like they’re a part of the school, there are cases where they don’t get the chance to choose their favourite CCAs.

Ways to overcome:
The activities should be accommodated to their timetable so that they don’t feel overwhelmed. The school should also ensure that the students are given the choice to pick CCAs they are interested in. And finally, in order to boost the quality of the CCAs, the school should also encourage a balance between both aspects so that they students will value the implementation of both CCAs and academics.



Parents
There are times where parents have little regard over their children’s progress and performance in school due to their dedication to work, and sometimes, their ideology of prioritising academics which also result in their children to lose their motivation and interest in school and even in CCAs. Other factors include financial difficulty when contributing to the funds of the CCAs, lack of good relationship, trust and even commitment from the side of the school.

Ways to overcome:
The primary suggestion to ensure the parents are educated and informed about the purpose and importance of CCAs. Not only that, it is suggested that transparency and communication are needed in order to improve the quality of the CCAs and even the school. This will not only allow the parents to see the value of the efforts of the school but also motivates the students in participating in academics and CCAs.

2/6/20

We were tasked to pick 2 categories of CCAs and to design activities that must match with the curriculum.

Beverly
Transportation research club and film makers club

Transportation research club

Source: Steam Engine Evolution

It is a cultural club where the students will build train models from the course of history, they will learn and discover how trains have changed and evolved, such as how steam engines changed to bullet trains.

Film makers club
Both a club and society, students will make use of their ICT skills and create a film in a topic they are interested in. They will take the opportunity to use different types of film-editing software ranging from Adobe, Final Cut, iMovie etc.




Xin Tian
Kendo
A combination of uniformed/ sports based club with a touch of history and art. Students are given a chance to design based on the history of kendo and the uniforms such as the materials and designs available during each era. Once they have designed their uniforms, they are to test the practicality and sturdiness of the uniform.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Irdina
Performing arts and cultural club

Source: WebStockReview

Performing arts
Students are given the opportunity to showcase whatever talents they have on stage to convey a message. They can express their knowledge about art, physical education, literature, language, history and even global education.

Cultural club
Students will organise a cultural conference to educate people about the various cultures of the world. They can use multiple skills such as organisation, speaking, communication and even creative arts with a touch of history and some moral values from the themes of different culture and history.



Ainsley
Tabletop and computer club



Tabletop club
Students will make use of their scientific knowledge to stop the spread of the pandemic around the world in a tabletop game called Pandemic which is related to the current issue.

Computer club
Influenced by the current pandemic, students are to design an interactive website that gives prompts for users to do everyday. Students will have to use their English to provide to write out as much prompts or ideas as possible for the website.



Tong
Basketball and performing arts club

Source: The Badger Herald

Basketball club
This sports club involves mathematics when carrying out this activity. Students will record themselves on how many balls can they throw in the loop, how fast can they dribble the ball in 5 seconds and calculate the average.

Performing arts club
Each student is to say out a word that fits a story given by the teacher, but they must ensure that the story makes sense.





Link to presentation slides here.

Week five 12/5/20

12/5/20

Also a continuation of week 3-4's task

Performing Arts

Source: DLPNG

There are 3 categories, namely:

1. Music- Choir, Jazz, Marching band, Glee, junior voices etc
2. Dance- Traditional dance, ballet, cheerleading etc
3. Drama- Theatre, storytelling, Improv etc

Aims of Performing Arts:

1. Develop musical proficiency
2. Encourage and develop creative expression
3. Improve various skills
4. Develop understanding and appreciation on historical and cultural context
5. Improve intra and interpersonal communication
6. Improves one as a human being

The benefits of this CCA includes:

1. It allows us to appreciate culture and the beauty of arts throughout the generations
2. Boosts our confidence as we gain proficiency in performance
3. Improves our intra and interpersonal communication skills 
4. Allows us to be adaptable towards different situations
5. It allows us to become cooperative as performances require good timing and chemistry in order for the performance to go very well

Performing arts, though can be popular or unpopular depending on the culture and values of the school. The 3 major challenges this CCA faces are the culture of the school, as mentioned before, the implementation of this particular performing art project could be based on the demographics of the school, at the same time, there is also a possibility that the students are not interested in the culture and arts of their heritage, another possibility is due to the fact that they prioritise other types of CCAs besides performing arts as they sometimes, may not be good at performing or creative arts are not something they are interested in. And finally these 2 factors may also contribute to the funding of this CCAs, should there be a demand, the supply will appear. It could also mean that the school lacks enough funding for it despite the popularity of the CCA.

Clubs and Societies 

Source: Lancaster University

Definition of clubs
An association of people united by a common interest or goal.

Definition of societies
A group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large
social group sharing the same spatial or social territory.


The aims of these 2 CCAs are to:

1. Develop a sense of belonging to the school/club
2. Develop responsibilities as an individual
3. Develop people skills
4. Develop personal/professional interests
5. Acknowledge one’s talents and abilities

How clubs and societies are organised

1. When the establishing a CCA, the school must ensure that they have aims and values present in order to choose for the suitable CCAs.
2. The school will search for CCAs are are suitable for their school aims and values.
3. They will set out to look for qualified professionals from both the school and external sources to establish the CCAs.
4. Once the school and professionals have established a particular timing, a timetable will be given out, where the students and parents are notified about the availability of the CCAs in the school.
5. Once the students are enrolled into the CCAs, the professionals will start developing and cultivating their talents and interests.
6. The students will be given the opportunity to make use or showcase their skills in competition, their achievements will be acknowledged.

19/5/20

There was no class, but we were tasked to watch a videos about the importance of creative arts in CCAs and schools.

Creative arts in primary schools

Even though it is a no brainer, but learning arts as a child does change a child’s perspective as it develops their cognitive capacity.

Source: Anaheim Elementary School District

A lot of schools especially primary schools don’t usually incorporate art into education but rather to treat it as a separate entity in the children’s learning experience. The benefits of incorporating arts into education include allowing students to be able to link ideas from one to another which it enables the students to have a broader and wider perspective in seeing things. It also develops their creativity which also causes them to become critical thinkers.

Students or individuals who are well versed in creative arts are more likely to be able to think outside of the box and are much better at creating linkages between 2 separate ideas into 1. This is due to the fact that critical thinking from their creativity has enabled them to see things through a different perspective rather than those who are used to a single view point. This also makes these individuals flexible and adaptable.


Here are the points from the videos regarding the importance and benefits of creative arts:

• The digital age demands that creative arts should be included in the co-curriculum
• It requires us to be creative and have visual literacy
• Individuals need to be able to express well
• Need to know different ways in disseminating information
• There is a Demond for us to interpret the information correctly
• To function in creative and innovative way
• To negotiate meaning
• Observation is one of the important skills in creative skills
• It results in visual interpretations
• Cognitive and motor skills develop when they observe and mimic
• Executive function: cognitive skills
• When doing something hands on in creative arts, you engage in many ways
• Allows diverse ideas in our brain
• Creativity allows children to strengthen gross and fine motor skills allowing for good eye-hand coordination and it allows them to explore especially through play and social interactions
• A good outlet to express emotions and self
• Self-expression through art helps individuals manage their emotions
• Satisfaction is obtained from self-expression and increases self-esteem/ self-identity
• Helps develop new views, identities, feelings, beliefs and thoughts
• Develops respect and understanding and respect for diversity
• It encourages imagination and expands on children's creative potential
• New ideas are borne from imagination
• Creative arts strengthen the creative thinking skills
• Individuals become better communicators and collaborators and have the ability to respect others
• Life is full of ambiguity and people can be overwhelmed by them if they don't engage in creative arts
• It helps individuals cope with different ideas and stresses

Importance of creative arts

• Allow children to explore their creative potential
• It fades as we grow older so it should be nurture from a young age
• Despite the importance and features of incorporating creative arts in schools, it is not prioritised by education and society as they are viewed as skills that are not immediate and income-driven.

Week three 28/4/20

28/4/20

We were to present a particular CCA group where we had to think of the aims and how the CCA group is organised.

Student associations 

Aims

The formation of a student association. The purpose of the student associations is to encourage unity and a sense of community among the students in the school such as to develop school culture which encourages the students to have a sense of belonging. The aims of the student associations are to improve student well-being, to function as the middle person of the school administration and students, to establish a healthy environment for the students and many more. The process of organising and managing a student association can promote democracy in the school, where the students are involved in the improvement of the school.

Source: iecabroad 

How to organise student associations

1. Come up with a black and white document with the aims/vision/purpose/goal of the student association (SOP/guideline).
2. Inform the students about the student association (notices to parents as well as school assembly, and talk to each class).
3. Have a short, informal interview to join the council.
4. Set up specific meeting dates/ days where they will meet and the council members and teacher advisor can bring up issues and matters.
5. Set up a platform for students to access and express their thoughts in order to allow students to have a voice. The students will manage the website and keep it up to date.
6. Create surveys and get students to participate in it for them to select between options that are proposed by student council.
7. Propose/ organise events according to timeline prepared in the document.
8. have a post-mortem meeting after every event including reflection, analysis, feedback to improve etc.
9. Make announcements such as bulletin boards specifically for the student council only for activities that will be carried out/ current events/ important notices from the school.

Uniformed groups

Source: The 9 uniformed groups in Singapore 

Aims

1. To make good citizens of students by imbuing a spirit of service to others
2. To build character and discover their identity in society
3. To develop discipline and perseverance in each individual
4. To develop a sense of unity among students
5. To develop life skills useful for student’s future (leadership/communication skills, first-aid/survival skills)
6. To acknowledge the people of service in society

Organisation

1. Come up with a black and white document with the overall aims/vision/purpose/goal of the Uniformed Groups (SOP/ guideline)
2. Decide on which Uniformed Groups to organise
3. Come up with a black and white document with the aims/vision/purpose/goal of each Uniformed Group (SOP/ guideline)
4. Inform the students about the Uniformed Groups (announcements)
5. Organise schedule for activities (what to learn/where/when)
6. Conduct a ‘Trial day’ for students to experience the gist of the CCA and to recruit potential members/for students who are interested to sign up
7. Go through aims.schedule/procedure with members (uniforms/precautionary steps)
8. Amend schedule with members (Add excursions/events)
9. Hold activities/events according to timeline prepared in the document
10. Make announcements for any special events via posters/bulletin board to encourage other students of the school to participate

5/5/20

A continuation of the presentation of a selected CCA group

What I've learnt so far:

The aims of implementing sports and games in primary schools include encouraging a holistic experience in education for the students, induce morals and values in them, and even developing ether sense of responsibility/ discipline as a human being.

The organisation of the sports and games in CCAs includes a step-by-step process when establishing one.

1. Guidelines- which includes the aims and purpose of implementing a club
2. Listing- selecting a number of sports and games that are suitable for the students
3. Qualification- to ensure the CCA experience is of good and consistent quality for the students who participate in it
4. Meeting- an agreement established between teacher-advisor, school and coaches outside the school to maintain the quality and routine of the activities in the CCA
5. Notification- allowing options and time for the students and parents to pick out a suitable CCA
6. Communication- teachers/supervisors set up a platform to communicate with the participants go the CCA 
7. Activities- setting up suitable activities that are both achievable and challenging at the same time to keep the members/students of the CCA engaged and motivated
8. Post-mortem- to conduct a timely update and meeting regarding the progress of the CCA

The Aims of the CCAs (uniform, clubs and societies and performing arts) are more or less the same. They include:

1. Developing the individual.
2. Promoting team work
3. Developing a sense of community 
4. Incur a sense of responsibility of the individual 
5. Allowing the individual to discover their talents and interests.

Organization

1. Guidelines: a document for aims/ goals/ purpose of sports and games CCA created by school
2. List out suitable sports & games clubs (eg. rugby may not be suitable at primary level)
3. Teacher/ Coaches: ensure they are qualified and hire external coaches to lead clubs (differs for each school/ depends on school)
4. Meeting: meeting of teacher supervisors external coaches to discuss details (which should be approved by school before being implemented)
5. Notify: inform students & parents given time to choose CCA clubs they find suitable
6. Communication: teachers/ supervisors need to have a platform where they can communicate w/ each other through websites or Whatsapp group
7. Club activities: find suitable club activities/ competitions that are eligible for students to participate
8. Post- mortem: Conduct timely post- mortem meetings between supervisor and teachers

Role of Teachers/ Coaches

• To be a good planner (so that the activities are carried out systematically throughout the year)
• Be an opportunity provider (be active in finding ways for them to excel in CCA)
• Be innovative: introduce creative and fun activities (Eg. basketball club; vary the trainings)
• Be proactive in club matters/ activities: not just observing , some matters need teachers input
• Be encouraging: appreciate students efforts and success
• Provide meaningful feedback: how to improve
• Be a role model: set a good example 
• Provide challenges for the club and students (Principle: have potential to be successfully, give the room to make mistakes)

There are also challenges (as well as suggested solutions) presented in implementing this CCA which includes:

Time - some are held after school hours so they may be tired from academics

Solution:

1. CCA done during school hours

Unqualified supervisors

Solution:

1. have training & workshops for teachers
2. To get PATA to help out
3. To get alumni to come back and contribute

Non- committed - some teacher supervisors ‘give up’ halfway

Solution:

1. school management and CCA coordinator needs to play a more dynamic role
2. Teachers should not be forced to take on a club if they are not willing

Week one 14/4/20

14/4/20

The first week of lesson wasn't exactly hectic as we were only introduced to the module and what would be expected hence there weren't too much things to do. Though we were given a class task on Google classroom.

What I've learnt so far:

Everything comes with a purpose rather than just instilling an addition of effort for the students in primary schools. The original purpose of CCAs were meant to complement student learning such as to put what they have learnt in the usual classroom into their clubs or societies they ahem joined in such as the Toastmasters club, where they get to practise their speaking skills in English. Also, the purpose of CCAs are meant to assist and improve the students' personal development such as allowing them to discover what their personal interests are, shaping their personality and even their interpersonal skills etc. Most of the times, CCAs help in improving an individual as they get to invest their effort in something they like while they get to learn something new simultaneously.

The downsides of CCAs can at times, cause students to not be able to develop themselves holistically even though that was the original intention of CCA implementation in general. Not only that, it can also cause some students to lose confidence in their own skills as there may also be competition, such as the school or the instructors picking another member of the CCA other than them, and this may result in some psychological effects on students due to the competitiveness. This problem has been ongoing even till secondary schools, especially in Asian countries where the parents mostly prioritise on their children’s achievement rather than their progress. This type of extrinsic motivation is more often counterproductive than not.

21/4/20

What I've learnt so far:

There are 13 types of CCAs which involves the development of the students. Here they are in categories:

1. Academic- Subject clubs, debates
2. Aesthetic- Poetry, flower arrangement
3. Cultural- Student council, traditional music
4. Emotional- Camps, peer-support groups
5. Leisure- Photography, culinary
6. Literacy- Speech contest, reading competition 
7. Moral- Community services
8. Physical- Athletics, dancing
9. Productive- Knitting, gardening
10. Social- St. John, International Awards
11. Scientific- STEM club, science exhibitions 
12. Spiritual- Aikido, Taichi 
13. Multipurpose activities and projects- International Awards, Nature's club

Source: Wellington College China